TheGodBen Revisits Star Trek

[ItIsGreen]

SPOCK: The, er, impostor had some... interesting qualities, wouldn't you say, yeoman? [suggestive smirk]
RAND: He tried to rape me, you insensitive Vulcan bastard!
- What Yeoman Rand wished she had said in that final scene.​

Honestly, knowing what we now know about Grace Lee Whitney and the incident she was victim of, the rape element of this episode has a certain poignancy. I don't have a problem with the attack itself, it made sense that an evil Kirk would do such a thing, but that final scene with Spock was really awkward. I genuinely don't know what the thinking behind that brief encounter was.

Yeah I'm pretty sure that exchange has been discussed to death on an old thread on here, in fact I think that's what first brought me to the BBS upon googling it after watching this episode for the first time in a long time last year and thinking "Did he... did he really just say that?"

I think at this point they were still figuring out Spock's character and he was originally supposed to have an impish sense of humour. There are a few more examples of this, where he seems to enjoy stirring the pot for no sake other than his own amusement. Thankfully they dropped this aspect of his character as the above exchange was just plain odd.

 

[Seven of Five]

James T Flirt: ½
Inform the Men: 0

Kif, I've mated with a woman. INFORM THE MEN!
[Groans]

I love this episode as much as I love your random lists.

 

[Nyotarules]

SPOCK: The, er, impostor had some... interesting qualities, wouldn't you say, yeoman? [suggestive smirk]
RAND: He tried to rape me, you insensitive Vulcan bastard!
- What Yeoman Rand wished she had said in that final scene.​

Honestly, knowing what we now know about Grace Lee Whitney and the incident she was victim of, the rape element of this episode has a certain poignancy. I don't have a problem with the attack itself, it made sense that an evil Kirk would do such a thing, but that final scene with Spock was really awkward. I genuinely don't know what the thinking behind that brief encounter was.

Whoever wrote that line should be shot with red matter, seriously that line is so OOC if character for Spock. They should have given it to a glorified red shirt who dies in the next episode.

 

[Mytran]

I think the original intent was that Spock and Rand had a close, banter-y relationship (much like Spock and McCoy's eventually evolved into). Unfortunately, this Spock/Rand friendship never materialised, leaving us with this sole awkward interaction

 

[Gary Mitchell]

That's probably because every time she looked at Spock she remembered that she really wanted to punch him in the face.

 

[Mytran]

She probably did, hence the reason why he stopped smirking at things

 

[Maurice]

In the event anyone is interested, here's how the exchange was written in the Final Draft June 8, 1966 script.

 

[Kor]

This was the same Spock that mockingly said, "Ah, yes, one of your Earth emotions."

Spock's line at the end of "The Enemy Within" was very weird. What did audiences of the time think? Society decades ago was more insensitive to such issues. Try going back a number of years before this to the movie "Anatomy of a Murder" for another example.

Kor

 

[TheGodBen]

I think at this point they were still figuring out Spock's character and he was originally supposed to have an impish sense of humour. There are a few more examples of this, where he seems to enjoy stirring the pot for no sake other than his own amusement. Thankfully they dropped this aspect of his character as the above exchange was just plain odd.

That's something I'm noticing all right. Kirk and McCoy were well defined from the start, everyone else is still being developed but they haven't done anything out of character, but Spock has these weird moments that conflict with how he'll be depicted later. It's ironic that the most iconic character from the show is the one that is taking the longest to form.

Kif, I've mated with a woman. INFORM THE MEN!
[Groans]

I love this episode as much as I love your random lists.

I'm glad that reference wasn't too obscure. Not that Futurama is obscure around these parts, but I feared people might not recognise that tiny snippet of the quote.

In the event anyone is interested, here's how the exchange was written in the Final Draft June 8, 1966 script.

That does make it seem more innocent than it appeared on screen. Rand is clearly attracted to Kirk, but Kirk has been feigning disinterest in her because he's her captain. But Evil Kirk's attempt to rape her is proof that he is attracted to her and Spock was trying to nudge her to that conclusion.

I think it was the creepy smile Nimoy did that throws the scene off.

 

[Nyotarules]

That's something I'm noticing all right. Kirk and McCoy were well defined from the start, everyone else is still being developed but they haven't done anything out of character, but Spock has these weird moments that conflict with how he'll be depicted later. It's ironic that the most iconic character from the show is the one that is taking the longest to form.

I'm glad that reference wasn't too obscure. Not that Futurama is obscure around these parts, but I feared people might not recognise that tiny snippet of the quote.

That does make it seem more innocent than it appeared on screen. Rand is clearly attracted to Kirk, but Kirk has been feigning disinterest in her because he's her captain. But Evil Kirk's attempt to rape her is proof that he is attracted to her and Spock was trying to nudge her to that conclusion.

I think it was the creepy smile Nimoy did that throws the scene off.

Reading the script gives me better context. For the S/K shippers it adds fuel for them, since I wonder what aspect of Kirk Spock considered 'interesting'. LOL
However I suppose it took some time to develop a character that was half human and half Vulcan and came from a repressive emotional culture. TOS implies Spock is the only Vulcan and alien on the ship (a laughable concept for a multispecies Federation, if the Enterprise is meant to be the flagship of the fleet).

 

[TheGodBen]

TOS implies Spock is the only Vulcan and alien on the ship (a laughable concept for a multispecies Federation, if the Enterprise is meant to be the flagship of the fleet).

In my head-canon, the first century of the Federation is similar to the modern EU, a union of sovereign powers each maintaining their own militaries as they slowly consolidate under a central authority. Earth's Starfleet becomes the largest and most prestigious of these fleets, eventually becoming the official fleet of the UFP towards the end of the first season.

Or the Federation is a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada, whatever floats your boat.


The Man Trap (***)

After a decade apart, Dr McCoy meets up with his ex and realises that she's a life-sucking vampire. That explains his cantankerousness. At least he'll have the pleasure of knowing that he would have been a better partner to her than her eventual husband. I mean, that guy shacked up with the monster that killed her, whereas McCoy avenged her death by killing the beast, as any real man should.

There's really not much to say about this episode. It's a fairly standard monster story, one that has been told a thousand times, with many of those retellings being more entertaining than this one. What redeems this episode from being a 'meh' outing is its focus and development on the ensemble. We learn about McCoy's romantic life. We learn that Sulu is into botany. We learn that Rand talks to plants. We learn that Uhura speaks Swahili. We learn that Spock... grew up on a world without a moon. And we learn that Kirk doesn't enjoy the experience of having the salt sucked out of his face.

Okay, I was reaching with those last two. But Kirk and Spock are lead characters, there's plenty of time to develop them. The rest of the ensemble need all the help they can get.

 

[Drone]

This was the same Spock that mockingly said, "Ah, yes, one of your Earth emotions."

Spock's line at the end of "The Enemy Within" was very weird. What did audiences of the time think? Society decades ago was more insensitive to such issues. Try going back a number of years before this to the movie "Anatomy of a Murder" for another example.
Kor

That's something I'm noticing all right. Kirk and McCoy were well defined from the start, everyone else is still being developed but they haven't done anything out of character, but Spock has these weird moments that conflict with how he'll be depicted later. It's ironic that the most iconic character from the show is the one that is taking the longest to form.

That does make it seem more innocent than it appeared on screen. Rand is clearly attracted to Kirk, but Kirk has been feigning disinterest in her because he's her captain. But Evil Kirk's attempt to rape her is proof that he is attracted to her and Spock was trying to nudge her to that conclusion.

I think it was the creepy smile Nimoy did that throws the scene off.

As you're just watching these now, are there any other such obvious outliers that we see in Spock's expressions, other than his "Hello, glad to meet you. Uh, who am I exactly" introduction in WMNHGB? You didn't mention it, but did he leer in Mudd's Women, for example? He did get a little wound up trying to make the case to McCoy while he was working over Nancy, to no avail, in your last entry. I don't know, but that didn't seem too egregious.

 

[Nyotarules]

In my head-canon, the first century of the Federation is similar to the modern EU, a union of sovereign powers each maintaining their own militaries as they slowly consolidate under a central authority. Earth's Starfleet becomes the largest and most prestigious of these fleets, eventually becoming the official fleet of the UFP towards the end of the first season.

Or the Federation is a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada, whatever floats your boat.

LOL when that line was spoken, my mind went mmmm. I suppose it is difficult to make up new words for fictional, multispecies organisations without coming across as humancentric. Perhaps in the 23rd century in TOS the original Enerprise was the human ship and all other beings had their own ships (there was a Vulcan only/dominated ship) due to cultural and physical requiremnets. Spock stated the ship was too cold for a Vulcan and I bet the Andorians would have found the Entersie too hot, the Tellarites too polite and for telepathic species too noisy!

 

[TheGodBen]

As you're just watching these now, are there any other such obvious outliers that we see in Spock's expressions, other than his "Hello, glad to meet you. Uh, who am I exactly" introduction in WMNHGB? You didn't mention it, but did he leer in Mudd's Women, for example? He did get a little wound up trying to make the case to McCoy while he was working over Nancy, to no avail, in your last entry. I don't know, but that didn't seem too egregious.

The only moment I can recall is when Mudd's women first meet Kirk in his quarters and Spock is in the background leaning against the wall with a slight grin on his face. And when he leaves he gives Kirk a sassy look. There were other moments, but I can't recall when, where Spock would have a look on his face, or he'd make a strange comment, and it just doesn't quite feel like Spock. But early instalment weirdness is common in TV shows, and Leonard Nimoy had the responsibility of portraying an entire alien culture, so things like this are to be expected.

I seem to recall similar issues with Data early in TNG, especially that episode where he got drunk. Speaking of which (damn, I'm good at segues):


The Naked Time (****)

After my criticism of Harry Mudd's Irish accent in Mudd's Women, some of you might have expected me to rip this episode a new one. After all, this is the episode where Paddy gets drunk, starts singing, and nearly crashes the ship. Isn't all that an offensive stereotype of Irish people? But Riley's accent is clearly American, and he perfectly matches most of the stereotypes that Irish people have of Irish-Americans. 1) He proudly declares himself to be Irish, even though he's clearly not. 2) He uses his ancestry as an excuse for his drunken behaviour. 3) He claims to be descended from ancient Irish kings (that once had their own castle). To complete the stereotype, all he'd need to do is donate money to the IRA, but I suppose the organisations using that name wouldn't last long beyond 2024.

Full disclosure: when I first watched TOS 7 or 8 years ago, I really struggled to get into the show for the first dozen episodes due to its dated production style, and I actually dozed off towards the end of this one. I still vaguely remembered what happened, but this was my first time seeing the whole thing fully conscious. And now I realised what I had missed out on. Episodes where the crew acts strangely are an infrequent trope used across the Star Trek franchise, and this episode itself was copied wholesale on TNG, but this is probably the best example of this type of story because it balanced the silly and the serious.

There's the silliness of Sulu taking his shirt off and prancing around the ship with a sword, but there's also the seriousness of of nurse Chapel expressing her love for Spock. There's the silliness of Riley taking control of the ship, but there's also the seriousness of Spock's breakdown as he struggles to control his emotions. There's the silliness of Kirk's overacting as he expresses his love for his ship, but also the seriousness of Kirk's overacting as he expresses his love for his ship.

KIRK [Speaking to the ship]: Never lose you. Never.​

The ending is a bit weird, what with the random time travel. I understand that this was originally supposed to be the first of a two-parter, with Tomorrow Is Yesterday as the conclusion, and the time-travel ending is a remnant of that nixed idea. The episode would probably have been better without it.

MCCOY: The only reason he died, Jim, is he didn't want to live. He gave up.​

Maybe he discovered that his husband had just slaughtered a bunch of younglings, that has been known to cause people to give up on life.

 

[Gepard]

Maybe he discovered that his husband had just slaughtered a bunch of younglings, that has been known to cause people to give up on life.

I'm liking your post, and entirely because of this line.

 

[Seven of Five]

Maybe he discovered that his husband had just slaughtered a bunch of younglings, that has been known to cause people to give up on life.

I like the silliness in this episode, as it isn't overdone like a lot of OOC Star Trek episodes. I also think that Riley is a brilliant minor character.

 

[TheGodBen]

Charlie X (***)

I think now is time for a new counter, one for all the god-like entities that the Enterprise meets on its travels. And I'm retroactively counting Gary Mitchell.

The God Things: 2

Actually, this episode is a bit of a rehash of Where No Man Has Gone Before. There's a human who gets god-like powers but lacks the self-control necessary to wield them responsibly, thus becoming a threat to the crew of the Enterprise. The main difference is that Gary Mitchell was a normal guy who was seduced by the dark side of the force, but Charlie Evans is a kid who was always a bit weird and his failure to control himself is borne out of his lack of maturity. Also, Gary Mitchell had those awesome silver eyes and booming voice, and that distinguished whitening of his hair. Charlie could never hope to live up to Mitchell's majesty.

The episode is weighed down by the fact that it comes so shortly after a similar story, and the fact that the ending is something of a deus ex machina. Kirk and crew don't defeat Charlie, the Thasians just show up and rescue them. But the episode is held up by the genuinely creepy portrayal of Charlie, and the bleakness of the ending. It would have been easy to attempt a “happy” ending where Charlie is stripped of his powers and has to learn how to be a normal human being, but no. In this show there are only two options for Charlie, death or imprisonment. He will never get to live among his own kind, or know what it's like to be liked.

KIRK: Now manoeuvring to come alongside cargo vessel Antares.

KIRK: A transport ship that doesn't need anything?

KIRK: UESPA headquarters notified of the mysterious loss of science probe vessel Antares.

KIRK: A survey ship with twenty men aboard lost.​

The Antares must be a Swiss Army ship.

 

[Stevil2001]

I like to think Kirk nodded off during Spock's briefing and he has no idea what kind of ship Antares is, so he just guesses every time. He'll get Uhura to go back and edit his log to match later.

 

[Seven of Five]

I love Charlie X. I agree that in terms of pacing it was a little too close to WNMHGB, but for me it comes out on top, with the crew being at the mercy of a petulant child. I love seeing the crew trying to help him fit in, but it's never good enough for him.

I think Uhura singing along with Spock playing his instrument was a wonderful moment, though of course Charlie ends it to get Janice's attention.

I always liked Rand, and I thought it would have been interesting if she stayed with the show.

 

[Drone]

Looking at it again now, for the first time in quite a while, it seems obvious what was done to create the look, but I think from the time I saw it in its original run, I thought that the crew woman made faceless was one of the creepiest things I'd ever seen. I'm sure the appearance was enhanced by her moaning. It only trails the woman on Memory Alpha in her death throes. Now that was truly horrifying!!!