Best and Worst Cinematography

In certain limited respects, perhaps. That might include turning the crew into cuboctahedra, as that notion and the way it's done does have a certain third season wonkiness to it, and perhaps also the romance with Kelinda brings to mind that with Deela in "Wink of an Eye," though really that would be the other way around.

 

I noticed the flatness of this episode a few years ago and checked the credits. This was the only episode lensed by cinematographer Keith Smith, replacing Jerry Finnerman, who was apparently unavailable for an unknown reason. Smith was the director of photography on Mission: Impossible, filmed next door to Star Trek at Desilu Studios at the time.

 

Transforming the crew into blocks had the advantage of eliminating the need for any extras, as well. Very third season!

 

Heh, now that you mention it, yes.

I guess I never really thought about why that would be the case. Maybe it is was as mentioined above, removing most of the crew extras gave it that sparse, third season feel. It is also essentially the same story as "Wink of an Eye", so maybe it also just gets mentally lumped in with it, instead of the numerous "parallel Earth" episodes that make up the back-half of the second season.

 

It never really occurred to me the numerous Earth-like stories we get during the second season, until you mentioned it.

 

Ah! That's it! Never thought to check the credits. Man you really appreciate Jerry's work when he's not there. A big part of why I dislike 3rd season is because it doesn't have the right 'feel'. I can forgive bad stories if it feels like TOS

 

I have a lot of trouble focusing on things besides Kelinda in that episode.

 

Besides Kelinda, It's Green and the drunken Scotty theme were memorable as well

 

"It's Green" is definitely a memorable line, but all the music from those scenes is tracked from "The Trouble with Tribbles." It's used well, though.

 

Also, the cues where Rojan turns the bridge crew into blocks was tracked quite often in the 3rd season. So much that I actually thought it was a third season cue for a long time.

 

"Also, the cues where Rojan turns the bridge crew into blocks was tracked quite often in the 3rd season. So much that I actually thought it was a third season cue for a long time."

Same! We only hear them the once here in season two and it kinda feels 'odd' to me, given I saw season three first.

 

The is my new favorite thread.

There are so many episodes where you can take a single frame from anywhere in the film and have a perfectly composed, interesting picture. I think artistry like that is sorely lacking today.