50th Anniversary Rewatch Thread
- Thread starter dahj
- Start date
I've always liked the thought that perhaps McCoy's actions in the past regarding WWII was actually the event that created the split that allowed the Mirror Universe (with Nazi overtones) to not only exist, but on a close enough multiversal frequency that the Prime Universe was able to slide over accidentally.
NBC had pretty much had it with Evil Twin episodes in the first season, and flat out said "knock it off" (in so many words). I doubt they would have approved "Mirror Mirror" for production if they'd played too much with the mirror crew in our universe.
I'm not doubting you but does the network have that much to do with the content of individual episode nowadays?
Did they comment on individual episodes of TNG?
I suppose that say with Discovery produced in blocks of episodes instead of weekly episodes they wouldn't have the opportunity.
TNG and DS9 were syndicated, so there was no network for those shows. ergo no network interference.
And yes, networks often exert lots of influence, especially if they are paying part of a show's production costs. If they say, "we do not approve this story" and you went ahead and made it anyway, they'd be under no obligation to air it, and the studio would have to eat 100% of the cost.
And yes, networks often exert lots of influence, especially if they are paying part of a show's production costs. If they say, "we do not approve this story" and you went ahead and made it anyway, they'd be under no obligation to air it, and the studio would have to eat 100% of the cost.
Perhaps Mirror Spock requested the other Vulcan be assigned to the ISS Enterprise because he wanted someone he could already understand, both being Vulcan - whereas regular Spock strives to understand the Humans he's with. Making the best of what you have versus making your situation bend to your will.
Mirror Mirror doesn't age well for me. ST seems to be about intelligent science fiction pulling in one direction, and "TV" (typical "product" TV) pulling it in the other direction. MM is entertaining, but TV seems to be winning out over SF. A universe of evil is a gimmick.
Mirror Mirror is a fun episode. Goatee Spock asking Mr. Kyle for his Agonizer is awesome. I am tempted to ask people that I am mad at "Hand over your agonizer, please". Then later on Spock(again talking to Mr. Kyle) raises his voice in anticipation that Mr. Kyle made a mistake "Through your error!" Kyle "No Mr. Spock" Spock really liked using that Agonizer.
Either this or Friday's Child may be where the quality starts slipping, but there are always interesting things going on in any Trek episode. Kirk guilting himself over the unimportance of the mission vs. the death (s?)... I hadn't remembered TOS dealing with disturbing areas like that. Mention of saucer separation... I like the fairly smart ethics discussion. Sometimes a silly looking design element has too much of a bad impact on an otherwise respectable story. Here it's the look of the locals.
And Kirk's motivational speech to Mirror-Spock at the end of the episode is one of the great Kirk moments of the entire series.
Star Trek
"The Apple"
Originally aired October 13, 1967
Stardate 3715.3
I think that the main issue with this episode is that the tone seems off. It gives us an appalling number and variety of redshirt deaths:
I'll go out on a limb and say that I think that Keith Andes does a good job as Akuta. He conveys a decent performance of a conflicted innocent through the silly makeup. David Soul tends to get more attention in hindsight...eh, I watched when I was a kid, but I had to look up whether he was Starsky or Hutch.
You gotta love how the characters can wax so poetic about such a fakey planet set. Tarzan probably wasn't doing this show any favors with its extensive use of outdoor location shooting.
This time Chekov gets the shipboard romance of the week, and he doesn't act so embarrassing about it as Scotty does. I preferred Yarnell as a brunette on The Man from U.N.C.L.E., though. Meanwhile, we get a Scotty beat that will become inconsistent with his character as established in other episodes--does he yearn for green leaves and grass, or does he eschew shore leave to curl up with a good technical manual?
Minor nit: multiple uses of the tricorder without the sound effect.
Next week:
Ah, that's better.
"The Apple"
Originally aired October 13, 1967
Stardate 3715.3
MeTV said:
I think that the main issue with this episode is that the tone seems off. It gives us an appalling number and variety of redshirt deaths:
- Redshirt killed by spore-darts.
- Redshirt distintegrated by lightning.
- Redshirt trips on a landmine rock.
- Redshirt clubbed like a melon by a native with a wishbone stick.
- Spock shot by spore-darts.
- Spock bumps into a force field.
- Spock not disintegrated by lightning.
I'll go out on a limb and say that I think that Keith Andes does a good job as Akuta. He conveys a decent performance of a conflicted innocent through the silly makeup. David Soul tends to get more attention in hindsight...eh, I watched when I was a kid, but I had to look up whether he was Starsky or Hutch.
You gotta love how the characters can wax so poetic about such a fakey planet set. Tarzan probably wasn't doing this show any favors with its extensive use of outdoor location shooting.
This time Chekov gets the shipboard romance of the week, and he doesn't act so embarrassing about it as Scotty does. I preferred Yarnell as a brunette on The Man from U.N.C.L.E., though. Meanwhile, we get a Scotty beat that will become inconsistent with his character as established in other episodes--does he yearn for green leaves and grass, or does he eschew shore leave to curl up with a good technical manual?
Minor nit: multiple uses of the tricorder without the sound effect.
Next week:
Ah, that's better.
To be fair, at least they tried this time to make slightly unique aliens instead of just humans in funny hats.
That depends on how much scotch he has in the cabinet...
Maybe not embarrassing, but wildly inappropriate. At one point they basically say "yeah, maybe our 400 crewmates up there will die, but at least we get to shag down here!" Ah, true love.
Was Nimoy trying to renegotiate his contract so they were making a point they can kill him off whenever they wanted?
Yeah the tone is all over the place, they're really concerned one second and joking around the next completely ignoring everything that's happened, it feels almost manic. But it sets that tone right from the start, with first redshirt dead and Scotty asking if he can join the frolicking seconds later, so you know exactly what to expect, and the episode doesn't drag so I found it enjoyable and entertaining if you don't try to take it seriously.
By the way, is this the largest landing party ever? We had to have the regular guys, the romance subplot people and the entire cast of The Expendables all in the party...
Yay Yeoman! Not only does Landon not scream, but she also gets to use kung fu!
In the end a world controlling computer is destroyed not by a brilliantly logical speech in which it realizes the futility of its ways, but it's dispatched simply by draining its battery and keeping the locals from plugging in the charger.
This episode essentially foreshadowed smartphones
Humans in funny wigs.To be fair, at least they tried this time to make slightly unique aliens instead of just humans in funny hats.
Yes, it does move along nicely and doesn't feel too padded...one could argue that the gratuitous series of redshirt deaths / Spock injuries are repetitive and therefore a form of padding, but for better or worse, they're also the most entertaining aspect of the episode.
It did take them two beamdowns.
I noticed how in the shots of the larger fight they had her duck off into some bushes...her fight scene seems to have been shot separately.Yay Yeoman! Not only does Landon not scream, but she also gets to use kung fu!
They all die differently at least, unlike the redshirts Nomad kills when they repeated the exact same scene twice.
Starts? They aired WNMHGB and Charlie X back to back right at the beginning.
But yeah, the computer that controls a civilization and the threat of the Enterprise falling down are probably the most reused bits.
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