50th Anniversary Rewatch Thread

[dahj]

use invisible, disposable ships;

I get that with the budget cuts they probably couldn't afford a new funky alien spaceship, and explaining how Cherons also use Klingon design would have been pushing it, but whoever thought "let's have the crew stare at nothing, for ages" as exciting drama didn't really think it through...

while I enjoy some corridor running in Dr Who, the episode takes it to a new level .

Spock's sportscasting of the marathon race elevates the material.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I'm betting this made a couple of years after Batman finished too?
JB

Batman was in its final season this time the previous year, but Gorshin had already made his last appearance as the Riddler early in the Fall.

A computer virus could have made some sense instead.

Had anyone conceived of such a thing when this episode was made? The world wasn't very digital yet.

I think that the inclusion of that one's a multifaceted, sharp observation on the part of the authors (story: Cronin; teleplay: Crawford). It's a convergence of both religious fundamentalism, presumably of the Christian variety in which mankind is set apart from the animals in the creation myth, and the racist notion that only "inferior races" resemble animals.

Maybe...not sure I'd give them that much credit. I think they may have just been thinking, "he's alien, so he didn't necessarily evolve from apes".

I also love how Cheron is in the "southernmost part of the galaxy."

That may have been intentional, but there is a galactic south.

but whoever thought "let's have the crew stare at nothing, for ages" as exciting drama didn't really think it through...

Yeah, this. It's a bit too pantomimish when they're spending so much time reacting to a viewscreen of empty space.

 

[johnnybear]

Frank Gorshin was only in one episode of the third season of Batman and that was very early in the run as I recall, something like the second episode I think!
JB

 

[johnnybear]

The invisible spacecraft operated by Bele in the episode proves that this show made a living by exploiting spaceships with a cloaking device bar none! That or they were too tight with the cash to display yet another iconic design?
JB

 

[omnirad]

A pity this mediocre episode garners so much attention for it's socially relevant theme. The striking half black, half white make up on the guest stars helps in that regard. That was a last minute change by the director. I wonder how the original Angel vs. Devil conception would have played out. That would have made it a whole different animal, but would have been equally striking and memorable.

 

[GNDN18]

whoever thought "let's have the crew stare at nothing, for ages" as exciting drama…

…later found work on TMP.

 

[wayne66]

"You monotone humans are all alike" . I like this episode quite a bit. Frank Gorshin and Lou Antonio are very good guest stars. Kirk's self-destruct gambit was tense and well-played. "AGREED!

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I think they may have just been thinking, "he's alien, so he didn't necessarily evolve from apes".

Why did Bele use the word "believe," if not under the intention that Bele convey skepticism on his part in the theory of evolution?

"BELE: I once heard that on some of your planets people believe they are descended from apes."​

http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/70.htm

edit - Further support for the idea that Bele did not believe in the theory of evolution, besides Spock's need to clarify to him what (in-universe) the theory actually says, comes from the fact that the two-color pigmentation of the Cherons was initially difficult to account for according to previously established Federation theories of evolution, presumably because it was so unlike anything else that Federation scientists had observed. Kirk's and Spock's joint conclusion that at some point in the past, Cherons must have been monochromatic, evidently as the only way of accounting for their evolution, was offensive to Bele in particular and presumably to most or all Cherons in general, by Bele's and Lokai's evidently shared prejudice against "monotones." Assuming that's reasonable as the narrative would have us believe it is, it follows that Cherons probably did not believe in their own evolution, or otherwise they would have reached the same conclusion. In other words, the Cherons themselves may have had a difficulty with the concept of their own evolution that was similar to the one Spock initially had when he mistakenly thought that Lokai was one of a kind, but due to their prejudice they got stuck in that pattern of thinking and were unable to overcome it to reach the logical conclusion that they had been descended from monochromatic species.

 

[Commishsleer]

"You monotone humans are all alike" . I like this episode quite a bit. Frank Gorshin and Lou Antonio are very good guest stars. Kirk's self-destruct gambit was tense and well-played. "AGREED!

Me too.
Sure it was OTT with the 10 00 year chase, all the super powers, the invisible ship. But the great characters, the message and the self-destruct made it a very entertaining episode.

 

[Poltargyst]

Okay! Well first off even though I haven't been watching along consistently, it's been a great thread. Kudos! Second, wow, that time absolutely flew by! Third, any plans for that almost three-month gap between AOY and TI?

Yes. Watch AOY on its 50 year anniversary. Wait three months. Watch TI on its 50 year anniversary.

 

[Phaser Two]

Yes. Watch AOY on its 50 year anniversary. Wait three months. Watch TI on its 50 year anniversary.

Hm. I'm confused. Maybe if you spelled it out!

 

[dahj]

and the self-destruct made it a very entertaining episode.

Yeah, out of all the "stalling for time" segments in this episode, the self-destruct sequence is the only one that actually works, though clearly they weren't thinking of HD with some of those extreme close-ups.

 

[Discofan]

Yeah, out of all the "stalling for time" segments in this episode, the self-destruct sequence is the only one that actually works, though clearly they weren't thinking of HD with some of those extreme close-ups.

HD is a cruel mistress...

 

[Tallguy]

Hm. I'm confused. Maybe if you spelled it out!

Watch All our Yesterdays on March 14, 2019 (50 years after air date). Then pretend that was the last episode and you're done.

OR if you're a masochist / completist (but I repeat) wait until June 3rd and watch Turnabout Intruder (50 years after air date).

Then wait until 2023 to watch Beyond the Farthest Star!

 

[johnnybear]

All Our Yesterdays is the final episode in Stardate order!
JB

 

[Maurice]

Ha ha. Even if she had just shown up in episodes where her skills were needed, we could have seen her in the Alternative Factor, Obsession, the Deadly Years, And the Children Shall Lead, and Turnabout Intruder. Two appearances per season would have been great.

Helen Noel was probably never coming back because "Dagger of the Mind" was written by Shimon Wincelberg (under the pseudonym S. Bar-David) and if he created Noel when the producers decided the pull Rand from the story then the production would have to pay him every time she appeared.

 

[Pauln6]

Helen Noel was probably never coming back because "Dagger of the Mind" was written by Shimon Wincelberg (under the pseudonym S. Bar-David) and if he created Noel when the producers decided the pull Rand from the story then the production would have to pay him every time she appeared.

I'd have settled for Rand in this one instead though ;-p

 

[dahj]

"The Mark of Gideon", Episode 71, January 17th

Tonight's Episode: Kirk visits an Enterprise theme park that's so popular the line outside is crazy big.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Star Trek
"The Mark of Gideon"
Originally aired January 17, 1969
Stardate 5423.4

Kirk beams down on a diplomatic mission and finds himself on an Enterprise where all the crew have vanished and only a mysterious woman resides.

What was going on the week the episode aired.

This one and "Wink of an Eye" have always reminded me more than a little of each other...Kirk finds himself more or less alone on the Enterprise with a mysterious blonde woman who needs something from him...

Can you make it last a long, long time?

...and eventually Spock figures out where Kirk is and joins him.

It seems like the Gideonites don't have much cause to hide their situation, other than stringing out the plot. The spoken transporter cooridnates are conspicuous from the get-go. It's very thin that the Gideonites won't consider preventing conception, but have no issue with spreading fatal disease. And they just expected to keep Kirk there to infect one person at a time? Seems like their plan should have hinged on getting Odona out among the people to spread the disease, rather than keeping her in isolation. This episode just expects you to jump through too many nonintuitive hoops to buy into its premise.

Why didn't the Gideonites change Fake Enterprise's chronometers to account for Kirk's lost nine minutes? Why would the Gideonites' transmission cut to an insert shot of Hodin hitting a button? Why would Fake Enterprise's viewscreen show the Gideonites, other than DRAMA?

The episode does have a vaguely Twilight Zone-ish vibe, but TZ knew how to tell stories like this in a half hour. And it's an interesting device to have Spock's voiceover narrating a log while he's onscreen as a way of sharing his thoughts...something we'll get again in "The Cloud Minders".

Next week: The Catwoman! Well, one of them, anyway.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[GNDN18]

Star Trek
"The Mark of Gideon"
Originally aired January 17, 1969
Stardate 5423.4


What was going on the week the episode aired.

This one and "Wink of an Eye" have always reminded me more than a little of each other...Kirk finds himself more or less alone on the Enterprise with a mysterious blonde woman who needs something from him...

...and eventually Spock figures out where Kirk is and joins him.

It seems like the Gideonites don't have much cause to hide their situation, other than stringing out the plot. The spoken transporter cooridnates are conspicuous from the get-go. It's very thin that the Gideonites won't consider preventing conception, but have no issue with spreading fatal disease. And they just expected to keep Kirk there to infect one person at a time? Seems like their plan should have hinged on getting Odona out among the people to spread the disease, rather than keeping her in isolation. This episode just expects you to jump through too many nonintuitive hoops to buy into its premise.

Why didn't the Gideonites change Fake Enterprise's chronometers to account for Kirk's lost nine minutes? Why would the Gideonites' transmission cut to an insert shot of Hodin hitting a button? Why would Fake Enterprise's viewscreen show the Gideonites, other than DRAMA?

The episode does have a vaguely Twilight Zone-ish vibe, but TZ knew how to tell stories like this in a half hour. And it's an interesting device to have Spock's voiceover narrating a log while he's onscreen as a way of sharing his thoughts...something we'll get again in "The Cloud Minders".

Next week: The Catwoman! Well, one of them, anyway.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Yes, but the story was co-written by Cyrano Jones! And later this season Lambchop will make a contribution. God bless season 3 and all that sailed in her.