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Kirk v. Lizard Man - Arena

This is an easily remembered episode, and also a highly moralistic one.  Quick summary: Kirk fights lizard man in one on one deadly combat, Kirk finds mercy, there is hope for humanity.

Seriously though, that’s the episode.  It’s the episode where Kirk gets forced to battle a Gorn in one on one deadly combat after the Gorn ship destroys an Earth outpost and the Enterprise pursues.  A more advanced species decides that since all both species can understand is violence, they will settle the issue by forcing the captains of the two ships to engage in combat.  It includes Kirk wrestling a man in a giant, rubber, lizard suit, almost dying and inventing a makeshift gun to defeat him.

It’s a fun episode, but there’s really not much else going on here, so I’m not going to drag out the analysis.  Humanity’s ability to choose to be merciful is their saving grace, so always remember mercy.

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The Squire of Gothos

Life has been kind of hectic, and I haven’t had much time to update lately, but I’m back with the next episode in The Original Series: The Squire of Gothos.  

This episode uses a pretty common trope. Basically, it’s an outsider’s far outdated view of humanity.  Trelane traps members of the crew on the surface of Gothos, in a tiny portion of the planet’s surface capable of supporting life (likely due to some sort of mechanical intervention), and refuses to let them leave because they’re entertaining.  The portion of the planet Trelane lives on is done up to look like an approximation of the Napoleonic era (not entirely surprising since Trelane greatly admires Napoleon), and he refuses to recognize that humankind has moved past that point.

Hijinks ensue, and Trelane ultimately sentences Kirk to death, but agrees to a hunt in the forest so he can experience the thrill of it.  Ultimately, it turns out that Trelane is the child of powerful lifeforms, who appear as green glow to scold him and force him to return home.

Trelane’s powers, which include the ability to transform matter at will, appear to foreshadow the Q Continuum, however unintentionally (since I don’t recall a clear appearance of the Q before The Next Generation, and here we are only in TOS).  I don’t know if there’s ever been an official line drawn between the Q and Trelane, though I don’t recall such a thing in any of the tv series, so if so it’s likely in the novels.  Regardless, this episode actually reminds me a fair bit of a later TNG episode Hide and Q, just without the power of the Q being granted temporarily to any members of the crew.

All in all a fun episode.  Trelane’s attitudes about various things are questionable, but if he’s essentially a child who has been wholly informed by spying on Napoleonic era Earth, that’s probably not surprising. XD

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The Failures of Pure Logic- Galileo 7

Life has been busy, so I’ve gotten behind. But here’s the next episode!  As someone who often tries to be more logical than I really should be (until I lose the ability to do so), this is actually a pretty interesting episode. 

Spock, Bones, and several other crew members end up crash landing on a planet, but the Enterprise’s sensors are experiencing major interference, and it’s worse than looking for a needle in a haystack. To make matters worse, the Enterprise needs to make an urgent rendezvous to deliver much needed medicine for a plague-ridden colony and a Commissioner is breathing down Kirk’s neck over the deadline.

The planet has breathable air, but that’s all that’s particularly hospitable about it.  There are large, hairy, giant inhabitants that present a very real danger to the stranded crew.  Spock, being Spock, and the ranking officer, takes command and takes every logical step, but two crewmen die despite his efforts.  It is, in fact, in an act that seems more emotional than logical, that he saves the rest: he jetisons the shuttle’s fuel after they manage to take off, creating a flare effect.  Doing so, unless the Enterprise sees it, will doom the remaining crew members to death as the orbit decays. But it does work, and the five remaining crew members are back on the Enterprise, heading for the rendezvous.

This is an interesting look at why logic may not always lead to the best results.  Spock isn’t necessarily well suited to command. He makes the technically “right” choices, but in doing so he, at least temporarily, alienates other members of the away team and, indirectly, causes the death of two of the crewmen (red shirt death count is zero, though, unless I’m crazy, the only red shirts on the mission were Scotty and a female Yeoman who doesn’t seem to do much other than be scared, and they both survive).  It is only when Spock appears to act out of emotion and not logic that he saves the day.  Logic would hold that it is past the time the Enterprise would need to leave, and that jettisoning the fuel ensures the crew’s death. It is an act of desperation...and one that saves the day.

It’s also an interesting exploration of Spock as a character.  We’ve seen bits and pieces of who he is, but this episode is more closely focused on him.  Of course, a lot of what we see is Spock’s logical side. But we also see him going to find a dead crewman. We see him finally agreeing to give the two dead burials on the planet, and we see him make a choice that doesn’t appear based in logic. He gets a bit more dimension as a result.

Logic is important. Cause and effect should be considered carefully. But sometimes it’s just as important to make a spur of the moment decision when there’s no good option.  Logic can’t necessarily tell you what to do when there’s no good solution to a problem. 

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McCoy’s Adventures in Wonderland - Shore Leave

The crew of the Enterprise is exhausted and in need of a break, when they apparently have conveniently come across a perfect planet for shore leave. Though the environment, and just about everything, is ideal, sensors and a survey show there are no life forms on the planet. To me, that would seem a bit odd...how do you have a perfect Class M planet with flowers and everything and no life forms, not even bugs? But hey, it’s pretty cool!

Of course, it isn’t that simple.  While surveying the planet, McCoy makes a comment about Alice in Wonderland, and suddenly there’s a white rabbit in a waist coat with a watch saying he’s going to be late and a little  blonde girl in a blue dress following him. More than a little baffled, McCoy calls up to inform Kirk, but Kirk think’s he’s trying to convince him to come down and take a break.  Spock, however, has more luck convincing him to do so, tricking him by reading the Doctor’s report on his condition without telling him who it’s about, and getting Kirk to order the unnamed crewman to take leave...before telling him that it’s actually him.

So now we have Kirk, Yeoman Barrows, McCoy, Sulu, and another pair of crewmen down on the planet, and there’s actual evidence of, well, McCoy’s strange encounter with Wonderland. Before too long, other odd things pop up, many of them not so innocuous. Kirk gets in a fight with the man who bullied him in the Academy, Sulu gets chased by a samurai, there are tigers and bombers... No one knows what’s going on, and despite Kirk telling him to stay put, Spock beams down when the ship loses communication with the landing party.

Tragedy strikes when McCoy is apparently killed by nothing less than an “knight in shining armor” and everyone is desperate for answers.  Luckily, it all turns out that the planet is an “amusement park” pulling from the visitors’ thoughts to give them what they desire as a means of relaxation. And McCoy isn’t really dead, because those who run the park fix him up just fine before the “caretaker” comes to inform the crew what is actually happening, finally realizing that they are utterly clueless.

The Captain decides to allow the crew to take shore leave there and enjoy the situation, with it heavily implied that he spends his time with a recreation of his old flame (I believe also from the Academy days).

Ok, this episode is kind of fun.  The trope of “place that gives you want you think of” is definitely done often, and it works pretty well here.  But there are a few things I’m kind of not so fond of.

First: Kirk and his old flame.  There is something super creepy about this to me.  It’s kind of like...creating a sex doll of a real person and then just assuming that’s totally ok.  It’s not. it’s weird. It’s stalkerish. Do not want.  This is something that Star Trek does AGAIN with Geordi and Leah Brames. And I don’t like it in either place. If you want sex, have sex with a consenting individual, or, you know, use normal sex toys or something. The idea of sex with a duplicate of a real person is just so not ok with me. It essentially reduces a HUMAN BEING into a sex toy. Just NOPE.

Second: the decision to actually have shore leave. Ok, so, they know what’s going on and that it’s presumably safe and everything. That’s good. But it seems like a pretty risky choice to say “you know, we know nothing about the beings running this place, so lets ENTRUST OUR MINDS AND BODIES TO THEM SO WE CAN HAVE FUN.” I...don’t think that’s a particularly good life choice, is all.

Third: there is overall a “women need big strong men to protect them!” theme in this episode that really rubs me the wrong way.  Yeoman Barrows declares herself a “woman to be protected and fought for,” for example. I’m not going to delve too heavily into it right now, mostly because I feel like giving it a bit of a pass because it IS a product of it’s time, but.

That’s about it. Other than those, I find this episode fairly fun. There’s nothing amazing about it, but it’s enjoyable.

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Suddenly, Romulans! - Balance of Terror

This is the episode that introduces the Romulans, so that’s pretty cool.  The Romulans are definitely a major race in Star Trek, so it’s fun to see the genesis of them as an enemy of the Federation.

Kirk is officiating a wedding when the ship goes on red alert, delaying the ceremony indefinitely. It turns out that multiple outposts have gone out of contact, and that one is currently under attack.  This is how we are introduced to the Romulans and the Neutral Zone, two things that will be significant in Star Trek for many years to come.  We soon learn that the Romulans are apparently an offshoot of Vulcans, leading to some racism towards Spock from one of the crew.  We also get the First taste of the Romulan cloaking device.

I’m not going to get too deep into the plot here. This episode is really a bak and forth between the Romulans and the Enterprise, trying to outsmart each other without violating the treaty from the Earth-Romulan war 100 years ago.

Other than “hey! Romulans!” I don’t have much to say about this episode. It’s got the cleverness of a Star Trek episode, but is also very much a space adventure battle episode.  It’s a setup of what will become an extremely important conflict as the series continues, and it draws heavily from the Cold War.  Also, the heartbreak of knowing that the young man who was supposed to get married at the start of the episode dies, and the grief of his fiancee, is heartrending. 

Interestingly, this episode is apparently supposed to be a touchstone for Star Trek: Discovery. Se we will have to see how that goes.

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Adventures in Shakespeare - The Conscience of the King

I haven’t posted for a little while, but I’m back with the continuing adventures of the USS Enterprise with “The Conscience of the King.”

In this episode, the Enterpirse has been diverted because of a claim of a new synthetic food that could eliminate the risk of famine on another planet.  That was just a lie to get them there, however, instead Doctor Layton wanted Kirk to come because he is convinced an actor in a troupe performing Macbeth is actually Kodos the Executioner, who seized martial rule of a colony 20 years before and slaughtered half the population, killing 4,000 people. Kirk, Layton, and as we later learn Lieutenant Riley, were amongst the few survivors who actually saw Kodos.

Kirk isn’t so certain, convinced that Kodos died, and upset that he was drawn off course on false pretenses. He does look into it more, and when Dr. Layton is found dead, Kirk clearly becomes more suspicious.  He convinces the ship that is supposed to pick up the troupe of performers to leave them, so that they will end up on the Enterprise.  As the story unfolds, unsuccessful attempts are made on both Riley and Kirk’s life, and we learn that they are the only two witnesses who saw Kodos who still live. 

Kirk becomes more and more certain, but dos not wish to act without knowing for certain, while Riley overhears McCoy and goes after Kodos himself. Kirk talks him down, while the players perform Hamlet for the crew. We soon learn, however, that while the suspected actor is indeed Kodos, it is his daughter who has been killing the witnesses. In fact, it seems that Kodos himself feels regret for what happened. As his daughter threatens Kirk with a phaser, Kodos tells her he never wished her to be stained by his past actions, and steps in the way, taking the shot and dying.  The death of her father sends her over the edge to clear madness, and we learn at the end that she has been placed in care, and doesn’t even remember her father’s death.

This is a very interesting, and heart breaking, episode. I find it rather compelling. Here, we have a man who has done absolutely horrible things, though, it is important to acknowledge that Kodos thought they were necessary at the time, which is something I glossed over above, but appears to have come to regret them, and has made every effort to distance himself from his past. And we have his daughter, who he wants to protect from his crimes, but who instead tries to protect him through more murder and bloodshed.

I think it’s obvious that, whatever the reason, and whatever his regrets, what Kodos did was unforgivable, and it was not just for him to try to escape the punishment for his crimes and build a new life for himself. I’m all for acknowledging that criminals can be reformed, and that that should be the focus of criminal justice, and I’m also extremely against any sort of death penalty, but I’m not supportive of allowing a mass murderer escape any sort of punishment for his crimes.  Revenge isn’t justice, but regret does not bring back the lives of those lost. I don’t want to wander too far down the rabbit hole of crime and punishment here, so I’ll leave it at that.

Kodos’ daughter is heartbreaking. He only wanted to shield her, and instead she fell into madness trying to protect him from his own crimes.  And, perhaps, that is Kodos’ final punishment: realizing what the daughter he loves has become.

The ending is, perhaps, the weakest part. We go from a heart wrenching scene where she kills Kodos and then utterly falls apart, to a calm bridge scene, where we learn of her fate. I assume that her belief her father is still alive is from her own madness, and her brain’s unwillingness to accept that he died by her hands, rather than some sort of brain wipe. Because if it’s the later, I’m disappointed.

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Return to Talos IV - The Menagerie Parts 1 and 2

I blogged previously about the The Cage, which was the original Star Trek pilot, and featured the Enterprise under the command of Captain Pike. That episode wasn’t actually released for quite some time, instead, they used the footage for this two part episode just a little less than midway through the first season.  Here, we have Spock risking court martial, and possibly the death penalty, to bring the severely injured, with no hope of recovery, Captain Pike back to Telos IV.  I’m including both episodes here, since they are a pair.

As mentioned previously, these two episodes use footage from The Cage. As a reminder, The Cage has the Enterprise respond to a distress call from survivors of a crash many years prior on the never visited Talos IV. It turns out that there is only one survivor, and there are aliens with a strong power of illusion who try to hold Captain Pike so he can have children with the lone female survivor and provide them with a workforce to rebuild their world. Ultimately, the Enterprise and Pike get away, and the female survivor chooses to remain, where she can appear beautiful and young.

The Enterprise arrives at a Starbase, much to the surprise of the star base crew. Spock claims he received a transmission from Captain Pike diverting them, but no such transmission was sent. Indeed, we learn that Captain Pike was severely injured in a space accident, left unable to move or speak.  Soon, we discover that Spock has hatched a plan to commandeer the Enterprise and kidnap Pike to take him to Talos IV.  Spock puts the Enterprise under computer control, leaving Kirk behind on the Starbase.

Kirk and Commodore Mendez give chase in a shuttle.  When the shuttle runs out of fuel and falls low on oxygen, Spock inputs commands that pick up Kirk and Mendez, and has McCoy place himself under arrest.  We soon learn that even Kirk can’t override the computer control of the Enterprise, and the ship continues towards Talos IV while Court Martial proceedings begin against Spock, with Kirk, Mendez, and Pike (who is not mentally impaired, but can only provide yes or no answers through a blinking light) presiding.  Spock uses video from the visit to Talos IV as his explanation, though at first it is unclear how the footage exists. It doesn’t take long to get  an answer, however, as the Enterprise receives a transmisison from Starfleet Command relieving Kirk of command and placing Mendez in command: the transmissions are coming form Talos IV itself, in direct contravention of Star Fleet General Orders.

Spock tells Kirk that it is important that they watch all the transmissions, and that it is Spock’s life, and Kirk’s career, that are at stake.  That said, it appears that there is little choice, as the Keeper on Talos IV has taken control of the screen, and continues to transmit the footage.  The Talosians are, however, very considerate of Captain Pike, stopping the footage temporarily when he is fatigued so he can rest.  It is then that we learn that the Talosians want Pike back alive for some reason.  Mendez asks why, but Spock won’t answer, stating that they will understand when the footage is finished.

After, in the footage, Pike manages to shoot through the window and take a Talosian hostage, the footage stops and Mendez comments that it appears the Talosians have abandoned Spock.  Mendez calls for a vote, with Pike, Mendez, and Kirk all voting guilty as charged.  In the meantime, the Enterprise has entered orbit around Talos IV, and Spock notes that Talos is in control of the vessel before the footage picks up again.  As the old footage finally ends, Mendez vanishes.  Apparently, the Talosians had created an illusion of Mendez, using the court martial to slow Kirk’s ability to regain control.  The Talosians inform Kirk that Pike is welcome to come and stay with them, and that the choice is Pikes.

Kirk tells Spock that he could have come to him, but Spock notes that that would have put Kirk at risk of the death penalty, and that one of them was enough.  Uhura then quickly reports that the transmission was also visible on the Starbase, and that the General Orders prohibiting contact with Talos IV have been suspended and there is no action contemplated against Spock. Pike decides to go down to Talos, and Kirk calls Spock out on his emotionalism, to which Spock replies he has been purely logical about the whole affair.  The episode ends with a transmission of an apparently whole and hearty Pike and Vina walking hand in hand on the planet’s surface.

First, I have to note that the image of Captain Pike in his motorized wheelchair is weirdly similar to a Dalek, minus the whisk and plunger. I don’t have anything else to say about that, really, it just struck me as interesting.  Pike’s situation is also pretty awful.  His brain is fine, but he has no physical movement and can only communicate in binary “yes” or “no” answers, so he can barely communicate at all.  Not a life I’d want, and the illusion life he ends up with on Talos DEFINITELY seems like a step up, given that there’s apparently no possibility of improvement, even if I’d normally object to using an illusion as an answer to all your problems.

It’s an interesting look at The Cage, as well, since when these episodes first aired, The Cage hadn’t been seen.  Seems like a nice way to work all that footage into the storyline without actually airing the episode.

We also get a first episode that really explores Spock a little bit, and the first instance of, perhaps, the conflict between his human and vulcan sides, which is definitely something the series revisits over time.  It’s interesting that Spock insists that he was being purely logical at the end, though he risked everything to bring Pike to Talos IV.  True, he had a detailed, well thought out, plan, but it seems unlikely that he took that risk without basing it on emotion to at least some extent.  My recollection is that Star Trek deals with this duality more cleanly in other episodes, but hey, this a first attempt!

One thing I really don’t get: why is any and all contact with Talos IV punishable by death? It’s even noted that it’s pretty much the only way to get the death penalty. That seems...extreme. I can understand wanting to keep people away from the Talosians illusions, but the Talosians have already said that humans aren’t suitable for their purposes, so it’s not like they’re worried they’re going to be enslaved.  It could really have used a bit more explanation there.

The episodes don’t gel perfectly, but there is definitely some drama there, and they aren’t half bad. It was a bit weird watching it after having watch The Cage so recently, though. I think these episodes would definitely have worked better as they originally aired: with The Cage never released.

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Weird Glowy Things in Space - The Corbomite Maneuver

In The Corbomite Maneuver, the Enterprise encounters a weird glowing cube in space, and everything seems to go wrong. The episode deals with first contact, but perhaps more importantly with human emotion under pressure.

The Enterprise is surveying an as yet uncharted section of space when the ship encounters are…strange glowing cube in space.  The cube-bouy won’t allow the ship to continue or retreat, and Spock calls for an alert, summoning Kirk to the bridge.  We get a brief cut away of McCoy giving Kirk a physical and refusing to acknowledge the alert light that Kirk currently can’t see, much to Kirk’s annoyance.

Ultimately, Kirk does get to the bridge, but nothing has really changed. They have no idea what the cube is, or why it is behaving the way it is, and the cube begins emitting dangerous radiation.  Crewman Bailey is on helm, and he is becoming increasingly agitated as the episode progresses and is, at times, unable to perform his duties efficiently.  Ultimately, Kirk orders the destruction of the cube, and Bailey is slow to react, but does follow the order when it is repeated.

In search of the builders of the cube, the Enterprise continues on, and Kirk orders the crew to conduct drills as their reaction times were not up to snuff.   Out of the hearing of the crew, McCoy questions Kirk’s orders, pointing out that the crew is tired, but Kirk isn’t willing to hear any of it (and apparently is quite displeased by being served salad by Yeoman Rand).

Before long, the ship encounters another strange glowy object in space, this time an orb of sorts.  Ultimately, it looks like the Enterprise and her crew have about 10 minutes before being destroyed by the glowy orb.  As Kirk tries to soothe the crew, and most of the bridge officers search for a solution, Bailey becomes more and more agitated, ultimately launching into a tirade and being relieved from duty.

Kirk finally settles on trying to bluff Balok, the commander of the glowy sphere, and claims that there is secretly a substance called Corbomite built into the ship that will destroy Balok if he attacks.  Bailey returns to the bridge, requesting permission to return to his station just before the ship is set to be destroyed. Balok doesn’t destroy the ship, but also doesn’t let the Enterprise go, instead using a tractor beam to tug it behind a much smaller vessel that emerges from the large sphere.  The Enterprise uses a risky maneuver to break free, and shortly thereafter there is a distress signal from Balok’s ship.

Ultimately, we discover that this was all a test, and Balok is alone on the large ship, and lonely. He is also very small (played by a very young Clint Howard), requiring that the away team of Kirk, McCoy, and Bailey stoop when they beam over.  It is decided that Bailey will remain with Balok for a time, so that they can learn more about each other, before Balok takes the three on a tour of his ship.

At times I really liked this episode, at others it felt a bit poorly paced.  To me, the most interesting part was probably Bailey’s breakdown.  You’d think that the crew of a ship like the Enterprise would be very in control, but even the most in control person can crack under the right sort of pressure, and this was an interesting exploration of this. I found his return interesting, and I can’t decide whether or not I buy it.  His reaction was pretty intense, and doesn’t seem like it would be easy to recover from. That said, I know when I get particularly agitated, sometimes just leaving the situation and belting show tunes at the top of my lungs for a few minutes is enough.  So I guess I choose to imagine Bailey doing just that.

I want to bring up continuity here, as well.  I believe this episode was filmed third, but it aired 10th.  This creates some weird inconsistencies. Spock hasn’t quite fallen into the role he ultimately assumes, McCoy and Kirk are less bantery… But I’ll admit, the thing I noticed first? Uhura is in yellow.  This is also the case in Mudd’s Women, though I had too much to rant about there to bring it up.  While I’m mentioning Uhura’s costume: I always love those neon green hoops. They are gloriously 60s.

Anyway, and interesting episode with some pacing issues and some continuity questions. But it’s very Star Trek.

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So I accidentally reblogged this here instead of my main blog. And I usually delete posts when that happens. But you know what? I’m leaving it here. Because it’s important, and honestly ties into some of my thoughts on representation and female characters in Trek, so I’m just going to pretend it’s relevant XD

“why is wonder woman even so important???”

me:

Wonder Woman teaching young girls about feminism. Superheroes is not only for boys. Young girls finally has representation. Its so important

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Or as Chekov would say it, RCA Wictor.

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Lady Psychiatrist for the Win! - Dagger of the Mind

The Original Series may put pretty much all the female crew members in skirts that barely cover their asses (to be fair, I somewhat regularly cosplay a character from another show who has a fondness for equally tiny skirts), and Kirk may flirt with almost all of them, but sometimes the women of the Enterprise are pretty badass. Dr. Helen Noel in Dagger of the Mind is one instance of these women.

Dagger of the Mind centers around a penal colony. Specifically, the Enterprise delivers some cargo to the colony and takes on one case of research material...and unwittingly a man.  The man who stows away is dangerous, and apparently not all there, but other than knocking some people out and stealing their clothes/a phaser, the worst thing he does is threaten Captain Kirk with the phaser in a request for asylum (generally probably not the best way to request asylum, for the record).  The penal colony is aware that the man has escaped, and notifies the Enterprise.

The knock out the stow away, who turns out to be Dr. Simon Van Gelder, who was assigned to work as Dr. Tristan Adams’ (the head of the penal colony) assistant only about 6 months earlier. While Dr. Van Gelder is restrained in sick bay, McCoy, and eventually the others, grow suspicious that something is not quite right here. Dr. Adams claims that there was an accident, but McCoy refuses to buy it, and Kirk beams down to the planet accompanied by Dr. Noel, who is a psychiatrist with a background in rehabilitative therapy.

Of course, because it’s TOS, Kirk and Noel have some background, and she tries to flirt with him, though he’s having none of it and is visibly annoyed (and understandably so, honestly, do your job woman! Luckily, she does a lot better later and is totally awesome).  She, in turn, seems to trust Dr. Adams a lot more thank Kirk does, and is noticeably resistant to Kirk’s concerns. That is, until, when testing the device that apparently caused Dr. Van Gelder’s injury on Kirk, she is overpowered by Dr. Adams and one of his associates.  

It turns out there’s more to the device than they’ve been letting on, and Dr. Adams implants the idea that Kirk is madly in love with Noel, before getting him to drop his phaser.  He tries to get him to drop is communicator, too, but Kirk gets one last call into the Enterprise, before apparently blacking out. 

Kirk wakes up in a private room with Noel, and tries to resist the conditioning Dr Adams planted in his mind.  He manages to send Noel through ducts to turn off the power so that the security field will be lowered and Enterprise crew can beam down.  This is where she first gets super badass, she crawls through the ducts and is just about turn off the power, when a member of the staff finds her.  She fights smart, letting him think she’s down before kicking him and succeeding in her mission. 

Spock quickly transports down to find Kirk trying to ardently kiss Noel, who is pushing him away, reminding him that this is Dr. Adams’ conditioning.  And that’s another way in which she’s badass. She clearly was flirting with Kirk before, but she recognizes, and acts on the fact, that it is 100% not ok to kiss him when he can’t honestly consent. YAY CONSENT!

Anyway, when the power gets turned back on, Dr Adams ends up dead, Dr. Van Gelder is ok, and the Enterprise continues on their mission.

I liked this episode a fair bit.  We get some solid, appropriately exaggerated, acting from Shatner, and the actor who plays Van Gelder totally owns it.  On top of that, we get the first instance of the Vulcan Mind Meld, so that’s pretty darn cool, AND a badass woman being badass, which is always appreciated.

It is also a very Star Trek episode.  There’s some really interesting morality in this episode, and some very clear questions about good, evil, and how the human mind can be corrupted. Dr. Adams was supposed to be a good man, and yet he’s pretty blatantly evil here.  We never do learn how he became corrupted. Was it power? Was it “for the greater good” like in What Are Little Girls Made of? We will never really know.

It’s also interesting for a look at prisons and mental institutions.  Initially, we are told that the penal colony is supposed to be a not bad place to be in the line from Kirk to McCoy, but that is clearly not the case in reality.  It’s a good reminder that we need to pay attention to how we treat other people including, even criminals.  If we don’t treat everyone with respect and empathy, then we are failing in one of the most important ways we can fail

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Well That Was Weird - Miri

Miri is weird. I’m just going to say it. It’s super weird.  It’s so weird that it probably shouldn’t work. And yet...it kind of does.  it’s the kind of weird that is so strange it works.  It’s got a bit of “Lord of the flies in space,” mixed in with some super awkward commentary on what it means to grow up and some exaggerated, but impassioned, speeches.

A landing party beams down to a strange planet that is somehow an exact replica of earth, down to 1960s architecture. And no, we never really get an explanation as to why it’s that way. It just is.  The party includes two security, Rand, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.  It’s not long before a strange childlike person of advanced age runs out, freaks out and dies.  And so the story begins.

They find a young girl, Miri.  She’s terrified of them, but Kirk manages to calm her down and enlist her help, which they desperately need, because everyone except Kirk are suddenly sporting strange, colorful, lesions.   We soon learn that there are only children on this planet: all the adults, or as the children call them “grups,” go crazy and die.  We also learn that the children are aging incredibly slowly, which is good because as soon as they hit puberty they contract the disease and die. The crew keeps this truth from Miri as they search for a cure.

Unfortunately, just as the away team has a breakthrough, the children steal the communicators. And when Rand has a bit of a meltdown, that includes a confession to Kirk, Miri gets upset. Miri works with the other children to abduct Rand, telling them that that will remove two of the grownups, stopping them from whatever they are working on.  Without the communicators, they can’t verify if the vaccine they’ve developed will work, leading to a wonderful line from Spock that it could be “a beaker full of death.”

Kirk manages to convince Mirithat all the children eventually will contract the disease and die, and she leads them to the children. Unfortunately, the children don’t want to listen, and beat Kirk.  Kirk does have a pretty impassioned speech here, though, convincing the children that they’re doing the hurting now, just like the grups. Something in Kirk’s speech gets through to the kids, who go with him.

Meanwhile, McCoy reaches the decision to test the vaccine on himself, despite the risks, and there’s a terrifying moment where he just might be dead.  It all works out though, and the Enterprise leaves a medical team with the children, who can now presumably grow to adulthood without fear of painful death.

So that’s the episode. Where to start on talking about it? As I said before, this episode is really bizarre. But also surprisingly good. It’s a concept that could have failed spectacularly, but something about the tone of TOS, and the style of acting makes it work here.  

Miri herself is a pretty fascinating character.  She’s a young girl on the verge of adulthood who has no real examples of what adulthood is.  She develops a crush on Kirk, experiences jealousy over Rand, all the sort of things an adolescent girl just might do, but they’re magnified by the situation and the lack of reasonable adult examples.  She only has the one episode, but she’s surprisingly well developed for that. So kudos both to the writer and the actress.  The character could have gone horribly wrong, but instead she goes very right.

In my summary, I mentioned Rand’s confession to Kirk.  It’s weird, it’s awkward, and there’s something about the context here that makes it endearing.  Also, I think it’s an important point that I don’t have a problem with her expressed feelings, or the fact that she wants him to notice her physically. Why? Because that’s her choice, and there’s nothing wrong with a woman wanting to attract the man she likes (there would be if she tried to force him into something, but she doesn’t).

Kirk has a couple very exaggerated speeches, because I’m not sure Shatner gives anything but an exaggerated speech as James T. Kirk, but again, they work strangely well here. His plea to the children, and Miri’s support of it, are rather nice.

Miri’s crush on Kirk could verge on creepy, if he ever responded to it in any romantic way, but he doesn’t really. He hugs her, sure, but other than being amusingly dramatic, those hugs don’t come across as much of anything more than an adult consoling a terrified child.  Miri has a crush, Kirk doesn’t, and he turns the idea into a joke (”I’m not interested in older women”) at the end. I think sometimes the IDEA of Kirk as a womanizer might make viewers read his actions as something they aren’t here (though I haven’t gone on a quest re: this episode).

Finally, I enjoy McCoy’s desperate “Fuck it, I’m testing this anyway!” He, after all, has no idea if Kirk is going to be back with the communicators, and the alternative is potentially him and everyone else dying.  As dramatic as the moment is, it seems pretty in keeping with his characte.r

Anyway, this episode is SUPER WEIRD, but also actually pretty good.  One last thought: there are elements of this episode that sort of remind me of the PS2 survival horror game “Rule of Rose’ which is not something I expected. XD

[returntotrek]

Androids Ahoy! - What Are Little Girls Made Of?

With “What Are Little Girls Made Of” we see the first instance of Star Trek’s endless interest in artificial life generally, and androids specifically.  It is an extremely “Star Trek” episode, with an exploration of what it truly means to be alive.  It is also, amusingly, another “duplicate Kirk” episode.

The Enterprise is trying to find Dr. Roger Korby, a prominent scientist, who vanished years before.  Dr. Korby also happens to be Nurse Chapel’s fiance.  He finally responds to the Enterprise’s hails, but insists that only Kirk beam down...at least until he hears Chapel’s voice.  He allows the two of them to beam down.

When Dr. Korby doesn’t meet them immediately, Kirk calls for two security guards to beam down, setting the stage for the birth of a Star Trek cliche: non-recurring character red shirts always die.  And, indeed, both of them quickly do die.  Chapel and Kirk meet Dr. Korby’s assistant, Dr. Brown, but things are getting very suspicious very quickly (as if not allowing a full landing party and a very tall man killing two red shirts weren’t suspicious enough).

Soon, we discover that Dr. Brown, and the beautiful Andrea are androids, as is the mysteriously tall and alien Ruck.  Dr. Korby presses to demonstrate how he makes androids, using Kirk as an example.  Soon, we have two Kirk’s that are pretty much indistinguishable (as shown by Nurse Chapel’s inability to tell them apart).  Luckily for him, Kirk thought ahead and managed to plant the thought of Spock has a “half-breed” in the copy’s head using a particular sentence, and that warns our intrepid Vulcan that something is amiss when the android!Kirk beams up.  Dr. Korby wants to use the Enterprise to get to a colony to test creating androids in a regular population, creating the perfect being.

I won’t go into too much detail here beyond the basics: turns out Korby and his entire team are androids, and the androids all manage to kill each other. Android!Korby does at least appear to be genuinely fond of Nurse Chapel, so points for that.  Spock makes it down just after all the androids are dead, and Kirk explains that “Dr. Korby was never here.” The episode ends with Nurse Chapel’s decision to stay on the Enterprise and Spock informing Kirk that he didn’t particularly approve of his use of the term “half-breed.”

As I mentioned above, this is a very Star Trek episode. It’s chock full of the sort of morality and philosophy that are what make Trek pretty unique (I’ll say that sometimes that morality and philosophy works, and other times it doesn’t, but it’s definitely a hallmark of Star Trek).

Coming off of Mudd’s Women, this episode is a relief. We have Nurse Chapel WITH ACTUAL AGENCY HERE, and that is just such a delightful change that I can’t even explain how happy it makes me. I appreciate that they used her as a character who clearly really misses Roger Korby, but who made the choice to get off her butt, work, and look for him.  She’s a scientist with a job and a life and she doesn’t fall to pieces at the end. In fact, though she’s clearly saddened by what she learns and what happens, she keeps herself together and moves on.  And that’s nice to see. She’s not the Strong Female Character(tm) in the sense that she isn’t a fighter without much emotion (spoilers, when most women talk about wanting strong female characters, they don’t necessarily mean that, they mean they want developed women with motivations and personalities), but in this episode she is ABSOLUTELY a strong female character in that she makes her own decisions (ordering Ruck to save Kirk despite Korby’s wishes, for example) and deals with an emotionally difficult situation in a reasonable, and mostly believable way (I wonder if it wouldn’t be more real for her to honestly be a bit more emotional at the end, but I don’t object to how they handled it).  We also see how hard much of this is for her when android!Kirk (who she thinks is real Kirk) asks her what she would do if he order her to betray Dr. Korby and she says she’d rather be pushed to her death. That feels like a very real response, a human being torn between love and loyalty.  Chapel got what she clearly most wanted handed to her...and then completely stripped away in the course of a single episode and she came out the other side, and that’s pretty nice to see.

We don’t get too deep into the questions of existence and what it means to be human, but it’s definitely set up here.  After all, Korby is convinced that the androids, containing the consciousness of humans, are the perfect being.  This is the kind of issue that Trek loves, and I do enjoy how it is set up here.

I also mentioned that this episode seems to be the birth of the red shirts die cliche.  Though we’ve had crewmen die before this  episode, they’ve all (at least as far as I’ve noticed) been in different colors, so that’s pretty fun!

All in all, a good, solidly Star Trek-y, episode. It’s not perfect, but DEAR GOD was it a breath of fresh air to have a women with agency after Mudd’s Women.  It’s a bit silly that this episode is named what it is though, as we only have one woman android, and she is not a little girl. But, you know, baby steps? XD

[returntotrek]

Fun with Misogyny! I Rant About Mudd’s Women

Sex trafficking! Magical pills that do your hair and makeup! Sexism! Women whose only point in life is being wives! Mudd’s Women has all your misogynist needs wrapped up in a shiny bow named Harcourt Fenton Mudd.

I’m note sure I want to summarize this episode, because it’s just kind of gross. Basically, Mudd is captaining a ship that is about to break up, and then the Enterprise beams him and his “cargo” aboard. A cargo of three beautiful young women. In doing so, the Enterprise burns out multiple lithium crystals, forcing them to reroute to a mining planet to replace the crystals.

The women have an apparently hypnotic effect on the crew. But, oh no! It turns out they’re only beautiful because of a magical drug that does their hair and makeup! (Seriously, that’s basically what the drug does from a practical standpoint. How does a drug do that?) Regardless, Mudd contacts the miners, and convinces them to only provide the crystals in exchange for the women and Mudd’s release. There’s some back and forth on this, but ultimately, that’s basically what happens.

Of course, not before one of the miners finds out what’s going on through interactions with one girl, Eve, and is a total fucking asshole because OMG SHE DOESN’T HAVE PERFECT HAIR AND MAKEUP BY DEFAULT!  We also get a bit of an explanation of the drug, which apparently gives you “more of whatever you have” and that depends on your gender. Though, apparently, Eve takes a placebo in this scene, but is still magically made up. 

Eve ends up ok with marrying the miner who was a total asshole, because apparently Kirk is married to his work so a miner who treated her like shit because she wasn’t perfectly made up, and asshole miner is really the next best option. The Enterprise leaves, with Mudd, who is set to stand trial.

THIS EPISODE MAKES ME SO ANGRY I DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO TELL YOU.

Ok, now that the all caps are out of the way, where do I start?  Conceptually, this episode COULD, if handled correctly, have been kind of interesting. But apparently Kirk and the rest of the Enterprise crew is totally cool with human trafficking, which is mark one against it.  And there are so many more marks against it that I’m so done with EVERYTHING. I might need a beer before I try to explain my feelings...

Ok. Beer acquired and I’ve decided where to start.  First, it’s really important to note that there is absolutely nothing wrong with a woman wanting be a wife and homemaker. There’s also nothing wrong with a woman wanting to feel attractive, or caring about her appearance.  The former isn’t my thing, but is a perfectly valid choice, and I know I like to feel pretty.  The problem here is that is LITERALLY all of the self worth of these women. And no one seems to bat an eyelash at this.  These are human beings who apparently have no other purpose than to go be pretty and marry men.  If they fail to marry men, then the have literally nothing. At all. End of sentence. Even Eve, who is arguably the most redeemable of the women, is completely ruled by her need for a husband. 

Also, apparently, there were no eligible men on their planets of origin.  So rather than look at options in life, they clearly need to...sell themselves to Mudd so he can find them husbands? It is basically stated that Mudd buys and sells people. So I’m assuming they, or someone else, sold these women to him, and that he intends to get payment from their ultimate husbands.  In a show where we HAVE women with careers (and maybe we don’t get enough of those women actually doing their jobs, but they DO exist), it’s so frustrating to see these women reduced to nothing but pretty objects for men to enjoy. I’m not saying the women need to have careers, but just that there are OPTIONS, and apparently no one, even on the Enterprise, thinks to ask “Is this what you want, and even if you DO want a husband, do you want to maybe look around for a guy you actually like, and who actually likes you, rather than who wants a pretty doll?” It would have actually been super interesting to have one of the female characters have this conversation with even one of the women (it would be fine if it were a male character, too, but they “you have options” conversation would have been cool from a woman who TOOK ONE OF THOSE OPTIONS”). But no, apparently only crewmembers who talk with the women are men, and all of them are so controlled by their cocks that, other than a brief “no deal” from Kirk to the miners, they are totally ok with selling these women.  Heck, I could see the logical Spock, during Eve’s bit on why she is traveling with Mudd, offering a totally logical explanation of other options. But nope, not a SINGLE THING.

Also, Mudd’s in trouble for illegal operation of a starship. BUT NOT FOR HUMAN TRAFFICKING.  Even in today’s world, human trafficking is pretty heavily frowned upon, and for damn good reason. So the idea that this wouldn’t even be an ISSUE in the Star Trek universe is rather absurd.  Sure, the women, or mainly Eve, provide some explanation as to why they are there willingly, but it is LITERALLY STATED that Mudd buys and sells people. And Eve ALSO expresses some discomfort with the situation. Why is this not followed up on?

Alright, so I’ve dealt, angrily, with the human trafficking and the “my only worth is as a wife” theme. Lets talk more about the Venus Drug. As I mentioned, this drug, at least for women, appears to magically do your hair and makeup. Which would probably be super handy in situations where you need to get ready quickly in the morning, but... The self worth of all three women is utterly wrapped up in their outward appearance. There don’t appear to be any withdrawal effects, other than the fact that their hair and makeup are suddenly undone when the drugs wear off, and that makes them very upset. And it’s not as if they’re especially unattractive without the drugs. They basically look like normal adult women, with little to no (but some, which it’s film so literally everyone wears SOME) makeup, and without perfectly done hair.  I’m pretty sure I’ve looked worse rolling out of bed in the morning.

This is explored even more between Eve and her miner, who is a complete asshole to her because she’s not pretty, and apparently can’t cook better than him (because it’s a woman’s job to be a perfect cook, and all men are terrible at it, right guys?). But hey, at least she has SOME worth other than her Venus Drug created beauty! She knows how to clean pots and pans!  Also, a brief digression. We’re talking about sexism here, so I’m going to touch on the sexism of “women are good cooks and men are awful cooks” that we get here.  Why is the assumption always that women can cook and men can’t (particularly given that more professional chefs are men, but I’m not going to go into that whole issue, which is it’s own sexism question)? I would assume that man living alone on a planet where he is unlikely to be able to order takeout WOULD BE ABLE TO COOK. That just seems rather essential for life.  The idea that men are bad at basic housekeeping, or in the case of cooking, survival, skills is pretty darn sexist in its own right.

Also, with the drug, we get a line that it “enhances whatever you have” and that with men that means more muscular and aggressive, while with women you get beauty and allure. This is incredibly sexist and gender essentialist and I kind of want to light it on fire. I’m an attorney. When I was in law school, I did multiple moot court competitions. You know what most of my critiques were? “You’re too aggressive.” “You should be more conciliatory.”  I got these criticisms even when I was arguing against a very aggressive male opponent. (The one, interesting, exception was when I did a national security law moot court and most of the judges were people like Marine JAG officers, they raised zero issues about my aggressiveness)  Women don’t have to be conciliatory and nice, and men don’t need to be aggressive.  Personality traits do not magically run along gender lines. Also, women can be muscular. Men can be beautiful.  ALSO why is it that women get only visual traits, while men get a personality trait (whether you view it as a positive one or not...)

Side digression, I watched this right after The Enemy Within, obviously, and aggression was one of the traits granted to “evil” Kirk. But that aggression? was also cited as important in making real Kirk a leader. So, apparently, since aggression is a fundamentally masculine trait, women can’t be leaders! Ugh.

Finally, we have what COULD have been a redeeming quality.  The drug Kirk gives Eve near the end of the episode is a placebo, and we’re told it’s really the self-confidence that makes her beautiful. That, actually, could have been a cool message. EXCEPT SELF CONFIDENCE DOESN’T MAGICALLY DO YOUR HAIR AND MAKEUP LIFE DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY.  It tries SO hard to be like “oh, the beauty is all internal” but if if wanted to do that? It could have had Eve draw up with good posture, with her hair down and her makeup as it was without the drug, with a spark in her eye.  Because guess what? The actress? Pretty without being all done up. By making the physical change in the actual episode, you totally lose the one potentially redeeming quality.

Also, Eve stays with asshole miner. That pretty much kills any redemption there might have been.

I could keep ranting. But I’m going to stop here because I give myself an aneurysm.  Suffice it to say that I really, really hate this episode. It’s sexist, gender essentialist, and just generally awful.  If this were my introduction to Star Trek, and especially to TOS, I probably would never watch another episode again. 

[returntotrek]

I want one!

The horned, antennaed “space spaniel” from “The Enemy Within.” 

[returntotrek]

Transporter Shenanigans - The Enemy Within

With Star Trek’s general fascination with transporter malfunctions, it’s no surprise Dr. McCoy isn’t fond of them.  This sees Captain Kirk split in two, good and evil, by a transporter accident, and examines these two sides and how they contribute to each other.

The crew of the Enterprise are conducting a survey of a planet when a crewman falls down an injures himself, somehow ending up covered in strange powder.  Unfortunately, when he transports up to the ship for medical attention, the powder somehow breaks the transporter.  When Kirk transports up a duplicate of him is unwittingly created, and so begins the story.  There’s another plot here, mostly to add urgency.  The planet itself falls to -170 at night, leaving Sulu and several members of the crew freezing to death while the transporter is unusable.

Evil Kirk is pretty awful, and sexually assaults Yeoman Rand. Fairly quickly, with the aid of another duplicate (this time of an adorable unicorn dog), Spock figures out what is going on.  They move to get the evil Kirk.  We discover that duplicate Kirk isn’t just a duplicate, but all the more negative traits literally pulled out of Kirk, and the original Kirk has lost much of his power and strength.

They succeed at taking evil Kirk into custody.  Weak Kirk makes the decision to try to recombine himself, despite the test killing the unicorn dog, but evil Kirk knocks him out, creating a question of who the true Kirk is (though, technically they’re both the true Kirk, I suppose).  Ultimately, however, all comes out right, and the Kirks are recombined safely, also saving the crew on the planet’s surface.

The exploration of the duality of human personality here is interesting. No person is all good, or even all bad.  We are all made up of good and bad traits that temper and balance each other. The sort of forcefulness and aggression that are essential to Kirk’s style of leadership can easily turn negative without a the balancing of intellect and self-control. But all the intellect and self control in the world can’t create a leader without decisiveness and charisma. Which raises the question: is charisma positive or negative trait? And are the traits in “good” Kirk and “evil” Kirk good and evil, or are they simply stripped from the balances.  Evil Kirk is more charismatic than good Kirk, who is stumbling and unsure, but charisma can be used for good or for bad.

Enough expounding on how we want to define good and evil.  Let’s also talk a bit about the handling of evil Kirk’s assault on Rand.  Now, that isn’t the only crappy thing evil Kirk does, but it isn’t treated as well as the harassment was in Charlie X.  Why do they make Rand, when she’s initially telling the story and CLEARLY terrified, do so in front of Kirk? They just let Kirk question a clearly shaken woman who has been assaulted, ostensibly by him.  I’m sorry, but that’s some shitty decision making.  Sure THIS Kirk didn’t do it, but they don’t actually know that, and she certainly doesn’t know that.  I also don’t like how...flippant Spock is at the end of the episode with Rand about evil Kirk’s “interesting qualities.” I know Spock isn’t supposed to have emotions, but talk about exceptional levels of insensitivity and a flippant attitude towards sexual assault.  I think I’m going to stop, before this turns into a full on rant, but “product of its time” aside, this sort of attitude is a real problem, and one still prevalent in media today. Sexual assault is not funny. Sexual assault and harassment should be taken seriously, REGARDLESS of who the accuser and accused are. 

On a brighter note, I adore that unicorn dog. I want one. It looks so cuddly and adorable and IT’S A UNICORN DOG. I have nothing else to say on that. Other than SO CUTE.

That’s all for this episode. Overall: an interesting look at how human traits temper and inform each other, but WAY too flippant about sexual assault.  Of course, next we have Mudd’s Women, which I know is going to drive me up a wall, so prepare for more ranting next time!

[returntotrek]

Musketeer Sulu and other Drunken Antics: The Naked Time

This episode is the stuff TOS memes are made of, from shirtless Sulu with a rapier to crying Spock.  This is, at heart, a goofy episode that allows the audience to see a little bit into the minds of the ensemble and, for that, it’s fun.  Interestingly, it has a sequel in The Next Generation with “The Naked Now.”  My general sense is that this episode is better received than it’s TNG counterpoint, though in many ways they’re very similar. That said, TOS has more of the cheese built in, making the corny elements of the premise work a bit better here.

The details of the episode aren’t particularly important here.  A science team on a planet is dead, included a man frozen solid showering with his clothes on. A crewman is incredibly dumb and takes off his protective gear when planet side, and so the disease spreads. The original crewman dies, but not before infecting Sulu and O’Reilly.  Sulu, apparently, goes off to fight Cardinal Richelieu shirtless, while the Irishman O’Reilly takes over the ship. Oh, and they’re all going to crash into the planet if they don’t regain control, and stop the disease.  Luckily, in the nick of time Bones comes up with an antidote and Scotty and Spock (though not before we get the later crying) manage to cold start the engine, getting them out.  The episode finishes off with a weird time travel trick, placing the crew back 3 days.

As stated before this episode is mostly goofy.  We learn tidbits about the characters, and get the beginnings of Spock’s conflict about his human and Vulcan sides. We also learn that Nurse Chapel has a huge unrequited crush on Spock. Oh, and that Uhura is not here for any of your “I’ll save you fair maiden” bullshit.

Outside of the goofiness  and bits of character development, there’s not too much to say here.  I enjoy the episode, but it’s nothing groundbreaking or earth shattering.