The Ambergris Element vs. The Eye of the Beholder

Discussion in 'Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series' started by Botany Bay, May 29, 2011.

?

Which episode is better?

Poll closed Jun 5, 2011.
  1. The Ambergris Element

    1 vote(s)
    12.5%
  2. The Eye of the Beholder

    7 vote(s)
    87.5%
  1. Botany Bay

    Botany Bay Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2004
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    shores of Australia
  2. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2003
    Location:
    Brockville, Ontario, Canada
    I'm really on the fence with this one. I really can't choose between two episodes I'm not that crazy about.
     
  3. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    I went with "Eye of the Beholder." The Lactrans are cool aliens, nicely nonhumanoid, impressively advanced but not falling into the "godlike incorporeal" cliche; and it's nice to see another Starfleet crew, something that rarely happened in TAS (I think this and "The Pirates of Orion" are the only cases). "Ambergris" isn't as appealing; the whole water-breather transformation is rather implausible, and it suffers from the annoying Margaret Armen conceit of alien terminology that's thinly and ridiculously disguised Greek/Latin/English, like "surgo-op" for a surgical operation (not to mention "The Lorelei Signal"'s "opto-aud" for an audiovisual display and "lura-mag" for a device that lured men with a "magnetic" pull).
     
  4. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2003
    Location:
    Brockville, Ontario, Canada
    You observations swung it for me. Thanks. I'll go with "Eye Of The Beholder."
     
  5. Basill

    Basill Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2004
    Location:
    TN
    I'd have to say "Eye of the Beholder." It just seems more... colorful. Though I actually like "The Ambergris Element," I have to agree with Christopher that some of the plot devices are a tad silly (sillier).