#The Way to Eden

[skybson]

My Top 25 Costumes from Star Trek : The Original Series

6. Irina Galliulin's Flower Co-ord Set

[alienantichrist]

Y'all ever think about how Spock just decides to have a jam session with the space hippies in "The Way to Eden"

the way he is just politely waiting with his vulcan lute in hand is precious to me

tbh it's just generally iconic how he is the one that communicates with them and they seem to actually hear him out, like he just seeks to understand them and it's just great

[self-made-purgatories]

From the Half-Empty Loveseat to the Cuck Chair: there is definitely a Spirk fight arc in Season 3. Here's the latest development, from The Cloud Minders.

First, a quick recap of the last two episodes:

S3E19: Requiem for Methuselah: Everything goes off the rails in this episode. Kirk fixates on a female Spock surrogate because internalized homophobia, repeatedly rejecting the real Spock and seriously hurting his feelings and their relationship in the process. It turns out the girl is a counterfeit girl in addition to a counterfeit Spock, and so Kirk loses it even further and hurts Spock even worse. Their relationship is in shreds by the end of the episode. I wrote a gigantic post about this episode if you want to know more of my thoughts (and more about the half-empty loveseat).

S3E20: The Way to Eden (the Space Hippies one): Kirk and Spock are definitely still fighting (I posted about this too). They don't touch, don't make eye contact, don't flirt, don't work together, struggle even being in the same room together. Spock goes off and has a thing with a fun flirty space-hippie musician guy in a miniskirt (and honestly, good for them).

And now:

S3E21: The Cloud Minders: Spock and Kirk are back to working together, off on a mission together. Their tone is cool, professional. They keep their own personal space. Their interactions are calm, less awkward than The Way to Eden, but no longer intimate.

At one point they are given a bed to share and Spock takes the cuck chair across the room instead, which is fraught with symbolism. The half-empty loveseat is gone; Spock is sitting alone, leaving no room for Kirk. (Not to mention that he has literally been cucked.) And yet still, still, just as at the end of Requiem for Methuselah, he watches over Kirk as he sleeps.

Most notably in this episode, Spock openly and shamelessly flirts with their host's scantily clad six-packed daughter, both in front of Kirk and in private. Spock's unusual behavior is both to make Kirk jealous and to cockblock him because he really cannot fucking take any more of this bullshit of having to watch Kirk bag another bitch of the week right in front of him. It works; the girl is practically begging Spock to fuck her and never once looks at Kirk. Meanwhile, though, Kirk is attacked by a female disrupter, and he manages to pin her to a bed and flirt with her, but he does keep it in his pants. After a short struggle with the disrupter, Kirk calls for Spock and when he finds the two of them standing alone in the room together, Spock bitterly asks, "Am I... intruding, Captain?" and proceeds to glare at Kirk for most of the conversation that follows.

BUT. Late in the episode, Kirk is in trouble down on the planet's surface. Spock beams up both Kirk and his attacker and jumps into the melee to help Kirk and break up the fight. He grabs Kirk with both hands and pulls him away.

Kirk is out of control, momentarily insane from the effects of the cave gas, and Spock forcefully and desperately reminds Kirk of this by very uncharacteristically, emotionally, illogically shouting it in his face.

Kirk composes himself rather quickly. There are echoes of the turbolift scene where Spock's presence delivers Kirk from a panic attack, although this time it's very brief, and much less like a kiss and much more like a fight. But once again, the moment is rife with sexual tension. (Seems like a good spot to point out that fighting and fucking are very closely connected in the series also.)

This is the first time they have touched since Requiem for Methuselah. They stare deeply into each others eyes for a brief moment. Are they communicating telepathically, as they sometimes do? What are they saying?

Did it feel good to yell at him, Spock? Did it feel good to release some of those emotions? Kirk, do you understand now? Can you fix it? Can you two kiss and make up and move on now?

All of this is underscored by the way Bones just stands there, saying nothing, staring unblinkingly at the two of them this whole time. He knows them better than anyone. I wonder if he is wondering the same things I am.

[starberry-cupcake]

spock: can I leave my post to go look for a planet nobody has found and some people, including you, don't think might exist?

spock: and can I bring the kid with me?

jim: of course ♥

also, they had this phrase they used with spock because he got them, I guess

so, of course, the episode ended with

[electronickingdomfox]

From the outline of "Joanna" (the early version of "The Way to Eden")

McCoy is said to have only spoken three times with his daughter since he joined Starfleet (and apparently, he wouldn't stop talking about Kirk on those occasions...). Also, if I had a nickel for every time Kirk or Spock found Joanna attractive because of her similitude to her dad, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot but...

Wow! He's soooo harsh with her! Usually in these situations the father is protective of his daughter when a man is after her. Here, it's totally the other way around.

Fortunately, it gets better at the end:

Though I like the filmed episode as it is, I find this subplot between McCoy and Joanna much more interesting than the one between Chekov and Irina. It's unfortunate that so much about McCoy's backstory was lost in the rewriting.

[gaykarstaagforever]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but the TOS Season 3 episode "The Way to Eden," i.e., the Space Hippie episode, is actually one of the good ones from that season. And in general, from the whole series.

Yes, it is dated as FUCK and has some serious problems. But in general, it is a good story with sensible characters that is trying to make a reasonable point. It's also a good Spock episode, because it shows that the "emotionless" Vulcan is the only one on the Enterprise who appreciates that the Space Hippies have a worthwhile political / spiritual position, even as he recognizes how goofy and unhinged they are in the pursuit of it.

...Almost like he has a half-brother who started a cult with the best of intentions, or something. Huh.

Anyway,

The writing on this is seriously good. The Space Hippies are all former "respectable" people, several with advanced scientific degrees, which immediately makes it impossible to blow them off as idiots. And one is the son of an ambassador from a planet about to join the Federation, so Kirk is ordered to handle this delicately. This makes things way more complicated than a story with Space Hippies should be. One of the smart converts is the former girlfriend of Chekov, who abandoned him and Starfleet for this hippie shit, and exploits that and him to take over the ship. This is done very well. The casting is good, too, because the two of them have genuine chemistry.

Seriously. They want to make out SO BAD in this scene, and you want them to, and then they do. It's good stuff.

The other thing that stands out to me about this episode is Deborah Downey, the blonde lady with the thick legs who sings one of the cringey Space Hippie songs:

This is mostly because, gay as I am now, I thought this woman was sexy as shit when I was 13, and that has not changed. God those legs.

The actress retired from acting and turned to painting. I tried to find an example of her work but her website is dead. I don't think she is? I don't know. You look and tell me what you can find.

Another cringey thing about this is the attempt at Space Hippie talk that resembles what screen writers in the late 1960s thought real hippies sounded like.

But oddly enough, Spock can actually speak it because he respects them and apparently researched it, and he explains what a "herbert" is, and why they say it. Which is way more work put into this stupid shit than was necessary. Again, this is better than it has any right to be.

He is also down to "jam" with them with his Vulcan lute. Which Kirk apparently agrees to broadcast over the Enterprise's PA system. Which is pretty goddamn weird. And it gets weirder, since the whole crew seems totally into it, several members shown rocking out, including a security guard who the Space Hippies then attack while he's off-guard.

How did Kirk and Spock not realize this was part of their plan to hijack the ship? Kind of embarrassing.

Like when Chekov shows his girlfriend how to take over the entire ship from "auxiliary control," a thing that is in this episode and exactly no others.

Probably could have used that at least a couple of times before now in this series, where hostile aliens seize the Bridge and Engineering every week.

Oh well. TV is hard. Especially when you know the show has already been canceled.

My favorite part is when Spock and Chekov find the fabled "Eden" planet, on the basis of nothing, and the Space Hippies hijack the ship and go there, and it turns out all the plant life is acidic, and they all get burned / killed by acid.

Was this an intentional scam to fuck with them? It doesn't seem to be. But then why did Spock and Chekov think "Eden" was this acid planet? We're told nothing about how they picked this planet. Which is in the Romulan Neutral Zone, btw. Good work, guys.

Fortunately, for the first time in Star Trek history, the Enterprise crosses into the Neutral Zone and fucks around, and the Romulans don't even show up to yell at them. I realize Space is big, but come on, Romulans. If Federation Space Hippies can breach the Neutral Zone with zero pushback, what is the point of even having it?

I like how it ends with the surviving Space Hippies not abandoning their quest, just admitting that it will probably be harder to find Eden than they thought. And Spock wishes them luck. They don't seem mad at him about sending them down to an acid planet that burned their feet and killed at least two of them. I would be. Maybe that's why they're Space Hippies, and I'm not.

Here is footage that I'm sure Starfleet history students pass around the Academy as a meme:

[9151967]

S1E3 Where No Man Has Gone Before -> S1E23 A Taste of Armageddon -> S3E20 The Way To Eden

[missanthropicprinciple]

The Ultimate Computer:

Mr. Spock: Practical, Captain? Perhaps. But not desirable. Computers make excellent and efficient servants; but I have no wish to serve under them. Captain, a starship also runs on loyalty to one man, and nothing can replace it, or him.

The Way to Eden:

Irina: I could never obey a computer.  Chekov: You could never listen to anyone. You always had to be different.  Irina: Not different. What I wanted to be. There is nothing wrong in doing what you want.  (Chekov gives in, and kisses her)

Conclusion: Kirk should have kissed Spock in The Ultimate Computer. Q.E.D.

[robiberon]

oh hell yea spock is playing with the evil hippie manipulators the vibes are IMMACULATE

[per1w1nkl3]

theres also the scene at the beginning of the episode. kirk hATES the hippies he cannot stand them. he goes "one of *those* was in the academy??" but then he looks at checov and he can see there's somethings wrong and his stance visibly relaxes and let's checov go. he thinks the hippies are beneath him, he's surprised when spocks mentions they are actually well educated- I think what he really cannot stand is disorganization? someone who may or may not obey orders? (which would explain why hes so uncomfortable around kids) after all its understandable he's the captain of the enterprise all of his life is on the ship, he vowed his life to her.

its interesting tho, a 'Herbert's as spock explains was a "minor official notorious for his limited and rigid patterns of thought" which ofc kirk isn't a minor official nor is he dumb but he is very rigid in his belief. he's fair in his judgment, he's understanding, he's kind but only to idk his crew, who behave in a decent manner or to hot girl #39 or smth because they fall into a pattern he knows. you know who seems to be more open minded??? the vulcan. the stiff emotionless vulcan, who says says he doesn't feel sympathy for them but rather fascination because just like him the hippies are considered somewhat alien in their planets. he doesn't seen to be against them for their beliefs he's just against the cult anti vaxxer thing. and regardless he wants to keep his promise of helping them find their eden

[nature-girly]

In the first scene of The Way to Eden Chekov wore a normal amount of makeup and then when he went to see his ex girlfriend he wore a lot more than usual. Maybe there's another reason but I like to think that he wanted to look pretty for her.

[borgcast]

We wretch, more like when it comes to this episode.

Kirk- "We reach, Mr Spock."

[self-made-purgatories]

okay, The Way to Eden. The space hippies are delightful. The music is so 60s! And Spock using his autistic superpowers to meet the hippies on their level, speak their slang, and join in on the jam session!! Iconic!

BUT. we have to talk about Spirk... they're still fighting, aren't they.

vibes are totally off. Usually there is sex and camaraderie and other mischief sizzling in the air between them. Usually there is some sort of silly banter or inappropriate touching or double entendre or "emotionless" Spock twitching his way into a half-smile. Not at all in this episode.

Kirk is fidgety and nervous around Spock. Spock is a brick wall, completely closed off to him.

They barely make eye contact. They stand far enough apart that Scotty can stand between them.

At one point, Spock even turns away from Kirk and starts walking away while Kirk is still talking to him. He makes arrangements to spend a large portion of the episode "working from home" (back in his quarters).

And in this moment, when Spock's sensitive ears are the first to react to an attack in the form of an extremely high pitched sonic wave, Kirk sees him in pain but doesn't grab him or rush to his side, just looks around wildly.

When Kirk also succumbs to the sound, Spock extends a single index finger to him (which may actually just be him pointing at the source of the sound?).

This episode is right on the heels of Requiem for Methuselah, an episode in which Kirk very badly mistreated Spock, Spock stepped over many of his own personal boundaries, and serious damage may have been done to their relationship. I thought that the convenient episodic nature of the show meant that we reset to zero every episode. apparently not.

Even at the very end of the episode, Kirk cracks a little joke and smiles sadly at Spock, who doesn't react at all.

oh. oh, girls, please. please kiss and make up, you're breaking my heart

[instantpansies]

actually i think it was very camp of star trek to have a whole episode about an antivaxx hippie christian cult. i think it was very groovy actually

[samthetrekkie]

the songs in this episode were unironically great - just regular 60s music, but really good imo. and I love that the hippies were portrayed as really intellectual people, specifically bc spock agrees with their ideals.

in general, actually not a badly constructed episode? I can't explain how, but I was really focused on the plot in this one. sometimes I zone out during tos episodes, oops...