Oh yes. How many times have I seen that episode as well? Not enough apparently.
I think my point still stands though.
I think my point still stands though.
TheGodBen Revisits Star Trek
- Thread starter TheGodBen
- Start date
GodBen graphs? There is a God.
Not just any old graphs, I'm using LibreOffice now so these will be free-range open source graphs. They wont look as fancy, but they wont cost a fraction of your soul to look at.
Of course, it all depends on my ability to figure out this interface...
I demand a pie chart. Or maybe I'm hungry?
What do people think of the composition of the parasites as they appeared? Were they sufficiently off-putting, menacing, and semi-realistic in appearance?. Also, I haven't seen this one in a long time, but the creatures did have some characteristic sound effects as I recall, just flying around randomly and then when they attached themselves to a victim. Were those effects used in any other episodes to anyone's knowledge?
Season 1 Review
For those of you unfamiliar with my older review threads, at the end of each season I work up some graphs and attempt to provide some form of statistical analysis to my subjective opinions. At the very least it helps me familiarise myself with spreadsheets, which will be useful to know in the future when our robot overlords will force us to enter numbers into machines endlessly. Graph the first:
The blue line is fairly simple, it represents the scores for individual episodes on a scale from 0-10. The green line is the average score for the season, in this case the average being 5.321. There is also a red trendline to measure how much I felt the season improved or worsened as it progressed, but in this case the trendline is almost flat and is practically hidden by the green line. I find that very interesting, and I'll explain why later.
I have not included The Cage as it is not officially a season 1 episode, although I will include it in the overall series average. Another important factor here is that I combined The Menagerie into one episode with a combined score of 6. I felt that it was unfair to count it as two episodes when I had only reviewed the new material. That's why there's 28 episodes, which is appropriate considering that The Menagerie was also considered a single episode for production purposes.
This graph shows the distribution of scores I've awarded throughout the season. In a perfect world this would follow a standard distribution curve around the average score, and that's usually what happens in the final series graph where there's 100+ episodes included. In this case I awarded 16 episodes positive scores, 3 episodes as average, and 9 below average.
Best episode: Space Seed
Worst episode: Miri
Oh, and because Seven of Five asked for it, here's a pie chart. A like for the first person who can figure out what it represents.
Statistics
Captain Redshirt: 10
The God Things: 5
James T Flirt: 5½
Inform the Men: 0
Season 1 Average: 5.321
Overall Average: 5.31
Deep Space 9 Average After 1 Season: 5.211
Voyager Average After 1 Season: 5.866
Enterprise Average After 1 Season: 5.16
Babylon 5 Average After 1 Season: 5.043
In Summation
Season 1 is a tale of two half seasons, and what surprised me when making the graphs is that both halves scored about the same. I felt that the first half of the season was more experimental, and there was more of a focus on the ensemble. The first half of the season also had Yeoman Rand. The second half of the season felt more formulaic, with the Big Three dominating the show while Uhura and Sulu fade into the background. Before I made the graph and did the calculations, I would have said that the first half was stronger than the second, that the early instalment weirdness was offset by the more exotic storytelling. But the numbers don't lie, I enjoyed the second half of the season almost as much. The situations may have been more predictable, but the characters really started to shine through once they had been properly established. The Big Three characters, at any rate.
The average score of 5.321 may seem very low, and perhaps it is. Perhaps I judged the episodes too harshly because I can't let go of the baggage of the hundreds of hours of Trek I watched before viewing TOS. But I'm reminded of yet another line from Futurama: "79 episodes, about 30 good ones." Now, I think there are more than 30 "good" episodes of Star Trek, but I feel the overall sentiment is correct. All incarnations of Star Trek are hit and miss, even my beloved DS9 only managed an average score of 6.312, and I feel I might have been a little too easy on that show at times. When you have to churn out 25+ episodes of television a year, some of them are going to be crap, especially on a sci-fi show where you're working with fantastical concepts that sometimes don't work in practice.
The first time I watched TOS, I preferred season 2 to season 1, which seems to be an unusual opinion among fans. Perhaps the reason I felt that way is because I had such a hard time relating to the first season when I originally watched it, maybe this time my opinion will be different. Or maybe I'll still prefer the second season because of the introduction of Chekov and its slightly greater focus on universe building. I guess I'll find out.
For those of you unfamiliar with my older review threads, at the end of each season I work up some graphs and attempt to provide some form of statistical analysis to my subjective opinions. At the very least it helps me familiarise myself with spreadsheets, which will be useful to know in the future when our robot overlords will force us to enter numbers into machines endlessly. Graph the first:
The blue line is fairly simple, it represents the scores for individual episodes on a scale from 0-10. The green line is the average score for the season, in this case the average being 5.321. There is also a red trendline to measure how much I felt the season improved or worsened as it progressed, but in this case the trendline is almost flat and is practically hidden by the green line. I find that very interesting, and I'll explain why later.
I have not included The Cage as it is not officially a season 1 episode, although I will include it in the overall series average. Another important factor here is that I combined The Menagerie into one episode with a combined score of 6. I felt that it was unfair to count it as two episodes when I had only reviewed the new material. That's why there's 28 episodes, which is appropriate considering that The Menagerie was also considered a single episode for production purposes.
This graph shows the distribution of scores I've awarded throughout the season. In a perfect world this would follow a standard distribution curve around the average score, and that's usually what happens in the final series graph where there's 100+ episodes included. In this case I awarded 16 episodes positive scores, 3 episodes as average, and 9 below average.
Best episode: Space Seed
Worst episode: Miri
Oh, and because Seven of Five asked for it, here's a pie chart. A like for the first person who can figure out what it represents.
Statistics
Captain Redshirt: 10
The God Things: 5
James T Flirt: 5½
Inform the Men: 0
Season 1 Average: 5.321
Overall Average: 5.31
Deep Space 9 Average After 1 Season: 5.211
Voyager Average After 1 Season: 5.866
Enterprise Average After 1 Season: 5.16
Babylon 5 Average After 1 Season: 5.043
In Summation
Season 1 is a tale of two half seasons, and what surprised me when making the graphs is that both halves scored about the same. I felt that the first half of the season was more experimental, and there was more of a focus on the ensemble. The first half of the season also had Yeoman Rand. The second half of the season felt more formulaic, with the Big Three dominating the show while Uhura and Sulu fade into the background. Before I made the graph and did the calculations, I would have said that the first half was stronger than the second, that the early instalment weirdness was offset by the more exotic storytelling. But the numbers don't lie, I enjoyed the second half of the season almost as much. The situations may have been more predictable, but the characters really started to shine through once they had been properly established. The Big Three characters, at any rate.
The average score of 5.321 may seem very low, and perhaps it is. Perhaps I judged the episodes too harshly because I can't let go of the baggage of the hundreds of hours of Trek I watched before viewing TOS. But I'm reminded of yet another line from Futurama: "79 episodes, about 30 good ones." Now, I think there are more than 30 "good" episodes of Star Trek, but I feel the overall sentiment is correct. All incarnations of Star Trek are hit and miss, even my beloved DS9 only managed an average score of 6.312, and I feel I might have been a little too easy on that show at times. When you have to churn out 25+ episodes of television a year, some of them are going to be crap, especially on a sci-fi show where you're working with fantastical concepts that sometimes don't work in practice.
The first time I watched TOS, I preferred season 2 to season 1, which seems to be an unusual opinion among fans. Perhaps the reason I felt that way is because I had such a hard time relating to the first season when I originally watched it, maybe this time my opinion will be different. Or maybe I'll still prefer the second season because of the introduction of Chekov and its slightly greater focus on universe building. I guess I'll find out.
Voyager season 1 gets 5.866 and Star Trek gets 5.321? I guess you were a little hard on it.
I am too hungry right now to figure out the pie chart but the pie chart has inspired me to get a pizza pie for lunch. Thank you.
I am too hungry right now to figure out the pie chart but the pie chart has inspired me to get a pizza pie for lunch. Thank you.
Opinion regarding the appearance of the flying parasites seems to be equally divided between "They look like fake vomit" and "They look like eggs over easy made by a drunken cook."
Is there a significant difference between the two that I'm failing to comprehend?
The forum voting in Botany Bay's threads gave S1 about 7.5 average, but maybe that's grading too easy. I know personally I give bonus for doing it first, for being Star Trek when there was no "Star Trek." And nostalgia is a powerful thing. But it's always interesting to me to see a fresh take.
A pie chart! And it's so colourful. I have no idea what it's for but I'm happy with it just sitting there.
I always thought VOY started off fairly strongly in season one and than waned until about season 4. However, I wouldn't rate it above TOS, whose first season I would rate as the best start to any of the Star Trek series by far.
I have fond memories of watching TOS reruns when I was younger, as they were on along with TNG, DS9 and VOY, although at least half of the first season I didn't see until the DVD release in 2004. So I think I had nostalgia mixed in with a fresh viewing of the series too.
I always thought VOY started off fairly strongly in season one and than waned until about season 4. However, I wouldn't rate it above TOS, whose first season I would rate as the best start to any of the Star Trek series by far.
I have fond memories of watching TOS reruns when I was younger, as they were on along with TNG, DS9 and VOY, although at least half of the first season I didn't see until the DVD release in 2004. So I think I had nostalgia mixed in with a fresh viewing of the series too.
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I agree that Voyager's average is a bit too high, but that's because that show's first season only had 15 episodes compared to TOS's 28. If I include the first 13 episodes of season 2, Voyager's average plummets down below TOS's. So it's a technical win for Voyager, but only because that show cheated.
Nah, I wouldn't say that that's an unfair score, I just happen to grade episodes very harshly. The highest average score for any season I reviewed so far is season 4 of Babylon 5, which managed 7.136. I think I went easy on Babylon 5 too, just because I had never seen the show before and didn't want to be too critical of it.
It's the first 8 digits of pi. Get it? Because it's a pie chart. A pie chart of pi.A pie chart! And it's so colourful. I have no idea what it's for but I'm happy with it just sitting there.
I should really get a job writing for The Big Bang Theory.
Catspaw (*½)
The prequel to a much loved episode of Voyager, Catspaw retreads a lot of old ground with an added Halloween twist. Once again, the crew of the Enterprise encounter god-like beings who capture them for some nefarious purpose. These beings are marionette puppets that reside in a realm without sensation, and they’re overwhelmed by the new experiences their human bodies bring them. Well, it’s mostly Sylvia that’s overwhelmed because she’s a woman and everyone knows that women have trouble controlling their emotions. She gets warm tingly feelings whenever she looks at Kirk, and she thinks she can entice him to join with her by dressing in the least sexy outfit imaginable. Seriously, she looks like an elderly cat lady in pajamas.
On the ship, we meet two brand new characters, Pavel Chekov and the tribble that lives on his head. We learn in this episode that the fifth-in-command of the Enterprise is some redshirt, because god forbid that a black woman should be seen giving orders to anyone. This side plot on the Enterprise is mostly pointless. The ship gets trapped in a forcefield, they make a dent in the forcefield, then Korob decides to drop the forcefield of his own volition. Not the best way to introduce Chekov to the audience.
The twist of this episode, if you feel like being generous in calling it a twist, is that Korob and Sylvia can read minds, but only subconscious thoughts. In their attempt to scare humans, they accidentally draw imagery from ancient human terrors, such as spooky castles, skeletons, and... giant cats? That reminds me, I had a dream recently that I was pinned down by the feet of a giant magpie. And if Bryan Fuller is reading this and is interested in converting that dream into an episode, feel free to PM me.
Sorry, went a bit off topic there. My point was that the episode has some imagination to it and some striking, if silly, imagery. The very idea of having a Star Trek Halloween episode seems daft in retrospect, but it does give the episode some novelty value. If only they had made a holiday special where Santa teaches Spock the true meaning of Christmas. Hey, that's not a bad idea for an episode either. Bryan, PM me.
Captain Redshirt: 11
The God Things: 6
James T Flirt: 6½
Inform the Men: 0
I don't know whether to slap you or hug you.
Catspaw is a bit of a silly episode to start on, so I can see why they would go with Amok Time as the actual season opener,being far more exciting. I did like the giant cat, only because I love cats. There's no actual plot reason.
I think that Chekov was a worthwhile addition to the recurring cast. I know his role wasn't that complex throughout the show's run, but I liked the humour he added, particularly when he announces that virtually everything is of Russian descent.
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Well, also, they wanted to save "Catspaw" for Halloween weekend.
I never found Sylvia the least bit attractive regardless of what she wore.
Well, maybe. A June 21, 1967 memo from Stan Robertson (the NBC creative executive assigned to the series) to Gene Coon (the producer by that time, Roddenberry having moved up to being an executive producer) just says:
None of the memos I have from early on in the production indicate anything about an intended air date, although it's certainly possible they were considering "Catspaw" for Halloween early on.
She was written out because she's not a scientist, and Dr. Noel was.
GodBen, you didn't mention it directly, but what was your impression of our extra galactic intruder's true forms? I've seen a bit of ridicule expressed about their design, but personally I found it a very distinctive, inventive, and truly an out of this galaxy representation. Redolent in a way, of how similar galaxy hoppers, the Kelvans, were described, though not shown (probably pretty easily explained), as being radically different from species we are accustomed to seeing or hearing about in the good old AQ.
I like Chekov, he's possibly my favourite character after McCoy for the reasons you've stated. But this definitely wasn't his strongest outing.
My first reaction was to laugh at them because they're very clearly puppets being controlled with string. But I do like that they're truly alien beings unlike all the humanoid aliens we're used to seeing in Star Trek. They're certainly memorable, unlike all the forehead aliens.
Metamorphosis (***½)
This is the classic story of love between a man and a floating blob of energy, and like all good love stories it contains some kidnapping, strangling, and body possession. It begins, like so many Star Trek episodes do, with a shuttle crash. Well, not so much a crash, sort of a shuttle hijacking. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Federation diplomat Nancy Hedford are left stranded on a strange world with Zefram Cochrane, who cleans up really well once he stops drinking. All five are held captive by a benevolent energy being called the Companion, who is keeping them trapped for an unknown reason.
Kirk, Spock, and McCoy immediately figure out the reason when they see Cochrane commune with the Companion: It must be love, love, love. Nothing more, nothing less, that is the guess. And it seems to me to be a pretty wild guess. There are some obvious signals of a romantic bond that most of us can understand when we see them. Holding hands, staring longingly into each other’s eyes, a kiss on the lips, purchasing a double-ended dildo together, all clear signs of a couple in love. But an energy cloud enveloping a man, that doesn’t scream love to me. But maybe that’s just my conservative 21st century outlook.
When Cochrane finds out that he has been letting a female energy cloud enter his every pore, he’s disgusted. Presumably he would have preferred a male energy cloud to do that? Nah, we have to make it clear that everything that happens in this episode is purely heterosexual, which is why the Companion possesses the body of the dying Nancy and restores it to health. The episode makes it clear that this isn’t just simple body possession, but a melding of the Companion and Nancy into a new being. Now that Companion/Nancy has boobs, Zefram is free to fall in love with her, and they live happily ever after. Until Janeway shows up and forcefully separates Nancy and the Companion.
There are some issues with the episode, especially the depiction of Companion/Nancy, which really does come across more like a body possession than the melding that is claimed. But for the most part this is a pleasant episode about new life forms and how we relate to them. Plus, Zefram Cochrane’s backstory adds a little universe building into the mix.
I love this one. I thought the Companion was a very interesting creature, and the love story between it and Cochrane was nicely played.
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