Production Order Group Viewing 2018

I've never liked this episode. I dislike parallel Earth stories and the flag jumped the shark right off the Edge of the flat Earth. Good call about the Exeter orbit. Thrusters should be enough to adjust orbit for quite a while even without engine power. Very odd.

I know people often claim that Janeway is madly contradictory but I guess Kirk assumes Tracey doesn't know he's a hypocrite. Whatever works on the mission at hand, that's our Kirk. Flirting with a minor, shagging an alien, calling Spock a half-breed and so on.

It's interesting that the Yangs seem to have devolved so much. I wonder what kind of policies could have led to that outcome ;-p. There are some shades of Planet of the Apes in the overall dynamic.

 

Since I was late getting started, late celebrations are in order. Cheers!

THE OMEGA GLORY

What an interesting start to the episode - an eerie mystery to solve! However, it's all prelude to the planetside story and has very little bearing on it.
The setting of the tale is a nice enough “what if” spin on the cold war but the concept is barely explored, which is a shame. Instead, we get a spin on the old evil captain/mad scientist/fountain of youth tropes.

Not only that, but it's yet another plot excuse to use the standing sets with no crew on board. When The Doomsday Machine did this, it was creative and new. This is the fourth time in the same season and it’s getting boring!
Having said that, I do like the dark and moody lighting on board the Exeter – it is an interesting new way to view the standing sets

Other thoughts:

• McCoy finds himself in a similar situation to that in Miri, but at least he has better field equipment this time
• The beating Captain Tracey gives Kirk is great – he grins maniacally throughout, enjoying dealing out every blow!
• Their later fight is pretty good too – both actors go running around the village, Kirk leaping and diving all over the place!
• The way McCoy keeps his head in a crisis (reaching for the drink when his attempt for the weapon fails) reminds me of his attitude in Space Seed – when written well, he is an excellent character, thanks in no small part to Deforest Kelly

Also, the Exeter has at least TWO identical Engine Rooms. I’ve always suspected that the Enterprise had more than one, so this actually isn’t that much of a surprise.

The final part of the episode (with the flag) goes on far longer than I remembered. The story really ought to have ended when the Yangs stormed the village and Cloud William freed the landing party. Tracy would probably have been killed trying some last trick and everyone else beamed sadly back to the shop.
But no, we had to have all that silliness with the flag, the oath of allegiance, Spock’s satanic appearance, ANOTHER fight (ended by Spock’s special abilities for the second time this episode) and a Kirk speech which changes the entire planet’s society.

I suppose at least Sulu got something to do off the ship. Did he and the volunteers have to wait around several days to get immunised?

 

I wonder whether they could have made the same-ish episode and not directly bring in the parallel Earth stuff. Two groups (not Yankees and Communists, but maybe one people for individual Freedom/Liberty and the other people for communism principles) fighting a centuries old war at the wind down stage where the side of freedom has finally won. Fight about Good versus Evil: sure. Kirk rips his shirt, give a motivational speech (freedom good, communism bad), then flies off and never looks back (as usual).

 

I like it.
Also many of us had to memorize the Preamble in school or heard it a million times on Schoolhouse Rock. Maybe Kirk learned it in early holodecks while witnessing the Constitutional Convention or something.

 

This episode has a few issues but I generally like it. I like that they included details like the complement of four shuttlecraft and the two engine rooms (which might have been a production error but maybe it wasn't!). I also like the fact that Galloway is helpful and knows how to check the helm controls.

 

Speaking of "The Omega Glory"...

[…] a mounted honor guard which rides down the street with an incredibly old, tattered red, white and blue banner. Although the stars are red and the stripes blue, it is unmistakably the bars and stars of an Old Glory.”

“The Omega Glory”
First Draft [2nd Pilot version]
May 21, 1965​

​

 

Oh, I never caught that.

 

So you were thinking that Captain Ronald Tracey, one of the most experienced Captains in the Starfleet was capable of cold blooded murder then? Too right he was! Galloway's arm was slowly reaching for his phaser which alerted Tracey who swung his own weapon on the security guard and then he fired, dissolving Galloway into a green glowing blur!
JB

 

Waste of phaser charge, stun is more economical, although he might have beamed down a large stash of spare equipment for him before beaming himself. Trek is a bit vague on how long charges last but they lasted less than a day in the Enemy Within.

 

Extras cost money. Galloway did well to last as long as he did!

 

But he came back from the dead as well!
JB

 

Yep, Lt. Galloway died in The Omega Glory via disintegration in (Production Order #54 or around Stardate ~4790), yet reappeared in Day of the Dove (#66, Stardate ~5660) as Lt. Johnson, and lastly in The Turnabout Intruder (#79, Stardate 5928.5) as Lt. Galloway, again. Devote followers of Kirk are so loyal that they continue to serve even after death.

Since the Omega Glory didn't have a stardate given in the episode, then technically, it could have occurred after both the Day of the Dove and The Turnabout Intruder. Maybe it was the real last adventure of the Enterprise before the end of the five year mission.

 

OK, that was pretty funny!

It's not the worst candidate for a series finale I suppose...

 

Starfleet, or at least Kirk, was unaware that Exeter was having trouble?

KIRK: The Exeter. she was patrolling in this area six months ago. I hadn't heard of any trouble.
[and later]
SPOCK: A smaller attack on this village a week ago, driven off by Captain Tracey with his phaser. I have found villagers who will corroborate it.​

The Exeter was not missing for 6 months, rather only about one week or so.

Its crew dying, but no one aboard the Exeter sends a message to Starfleet! The disease did hit very fast and all at once after a short incubation period, but still...the crew had time to call down to Tracey, plus their doctor had time to record a warning in the log on the bridge, so, why not send out an alert or SOS? The evidence below shows they had plenty of time to send a message to Starfleet. Oh well, let's take it on face value.

DOCTOR [on viewscreen]: If you've come aboard this ship, you're dead men. Don't go back to your own ship. You have one chance. Get down there. Get down there fast. Captain Tracey is (screams and falls out of view.)
[and from Tracey]
TRACEY: Our medi-scanners revealed this planet as perfectly harmless. The villagers, the Kohms here, were friendly enough once they got over the shock of my white skin. As you've seen, we resemble the Yangs, the savages. My landing party transported back to the ship. I stayed down here to arrange for the planet survey with the village elders. The next thing I knew, the ship was calling me. The landing party had taken an unknown disease back. My crew, Jim. My entire crew. Gone.​

Note his use of the word "Gone" and not "Dead", which shows he is disassociating their deaths to minimize any guilt. Maybe Tracey had already discovered the long life spans of the inhabitants and cooked up his scheme to capitalize on it. He may have ordered his crew not to contact Starfleet to keep it secret. This is supported when Tracey continued to mislead Sulu that the landing party was too sick to contact them, then try and get Kirk to go along with the scheme. If so, then he was an evil bastard, all along. Possible sociopath? He didn't feel bad about killing any of the Yangs, poor Galloway or even Kirk if he could have done it. His motive was simple greed:

KIRK: For sale by
TRACEY: By those who own the serum.​

I really hated Tracey. What a great villain, perhaps Star Trek's best villain.

I think it would be great to make a movie about Tracey escaping his penal colony, commandeering a starship, stealing a super weapon and taking his revenge on Kirk. Wait, why does this sound familiar?

 

Heh, the names aren't just a play on Zion, but of Isaac and Abram as well.

This episode was rather vague in some ways; Starfleet hasn't heard from Gill in 6 months; the planet was generations away from having nukes, but had cars and tv; the ekosians were warlike but not viscious (huh?)... the nazi movement started with john gill's arrival only a few years before... but the girl said she grew up to admire him, later to despise him... there just doesn't seem to be enough time for everything, including the tech advancements and full societal change, nor does John Gill seem able to have done all that.

 

Lt.Johnson had darker hair and looked slightly different somehow yet why didn't they keep David L.Ross as Johnson instead of bringing Galloway back from the dead? The only way that order works is if it's in James blish order and the odd thing is the character is Lt.Phil Raintree in The Omega glory and not Galloway!!!
JB

 

I had to go back and double check the timing myself!

• The Zeons have advanced technology but have been peaceful for "dozens of generations".
• They came to Ekos to help spread their peaceful ways; presumably several years ago, but definitely prior to the rise of the Nazis.
• The Nazi movement began only " a few" years ago (says Isak)
• The rise of the Nazis coincides with John Gill's arrival (says Spock)
• Daras says that she "grew up to admire him" but she does not seem that old, maybe 18?
• A "few" years could therefore be 5 or 6 but Gill must have been around for longer to get any political power.
• Gill has been out of communication with Starfleet for 6 months
• The change in Gill's policies and Melakon taking over seems fairly recent, perhaps 6-12 months?

So, the Zeons have been on Ekos for quite a while, presumably sharing their more benign technology in attempt to bring peace to their neighbour world. Gill later described Ekos as still being "fragmented, divided" when he arrived, so he implemented Nazi policy to unify them. For 5 or 6 years it worked, but in the last 12 months Melakon seized power and the whole planet became racists.

 

"The Zeon colony has existed for nearly half a century."

I guess that fills in the rest of it. The colony is ON Ekos. That threw me off at first. I guess a "few" can be 5-6. Thats barely enough time, but with 50 years of help from the Zeons, I suppose it works. I guess its like an Ent era Vulcan/Human relationship, but with identical races from neighboring star systems (or planets in the same system).

More than one episode with this dynamic - Taste of Armagedden has two close, starfaring low tech races. Are there others? What Ships Are For (STC) plays with this a bit as well, and I haven't made it there yet on rewatch, but I'm guessing Let This Be Your Last Battlefield will be similar.

 

Good catch, I missed that rather significant time marker!

Since it's a bank holiday here in the UK, I got a chance to watch this week's episode earlier than usual


ASSIGNMENT: EARTH

The clue that something is off this week starts with Kirk’s opening log, which is absurdly casual for what it is: “Yeah, we just travelled back in time to 1968, no biggie”. Isn’t this an incredible breakthrough, a testament to years of study into temporal mechanics? Apparently not.

As with many episodes this season the first act is the strongest, showing various business on board ship. There's a great multi department mission briefing, making sensible use of video conferencing. Then it devolves into the Gary Seven show which is an interesting enough adventure albeit starring brand new characters. Kirk and Spock (it does at least make sense to limit landing party contact in this episode) are reduced to side characters that really have very little impact on the plot.

Additionally, all the concerns that dominated Tomorrow Is Yesterday have disappeared – that or Kirk learned his lesson as he just beams the 2 policeman back straight away!
Of course, at the end the whole adventure is revealed to be a predestination paradox (AKA time loop). So, the past can’t really be changed after all? This certainly explains their more relaxed attitude in future time travel escapades, like in ST4

Overall it’s not a terrible episode, but it’s a little sad to see the Enterprise crew being reduced to guest stars in their own series, especially a season finale.

Other thoughts:

• Robert Lansing is perfectly cast as Gary Seven – that voice, those brows!
• The phaser stun is back to being a green flash
• The security guard which Gary puts to sleep outside the brig reminds me of Captain Daly from that one episode of Black Mirror.
• A shot of FOUR crewmen in the corridor – I’ve grown so accustomed to seeing empty corridors that I almost forgot such a thing was possible!
  Actually, it’s not – the scene is a lift from somewhere early in Season One (that alcove is a dead giveaway).
• It seems Doctor Daystrom had the right idea after all – Gary Seven’s incredibly advanced people use the same computer!
• It also features a very TNG style replica (Gary uses it to get his fake IDs). Nice special effect.
• Yet another example of site-to-site transporting in TOS : Kirk and Spock beam directly from the rocket base to Gary’s office.

The switch which reveals Gary’s safe in his office is pretty silly, but to then have Roberta Lincoln “accidentally” crack the safe’s code and “accidentally” activate the Transporter system just at the exact moment the Enterprise is trying to beam him up is pretty lazy writing.
It’s also the scene which highlights just how superficial the Enterprise crew are to the whole story – the end result would have been the same (Gary gets beamed out before his rocket adjustments are complete) regardless. In fact, it’s not difficult to see how all of the non-Enterprise scenes could have been edited out in order to produce a series pitch for a Gary Seven series – which of course was always the intention! While I’m not aware of any visual presentation ever being, the written pitch is available here:
http://www.missionlogpodcast.com/assignment-earth-spin-off-pitch/

 

Assignment: Earth

You sit down in front of your tv and turn on a favorite show. Suddenly, the show is taken over by characters you've never seen before, and you realize you are a victim of...A Backdoor Pilot! *cue horrified scream* This has happened to me a few times over the years, and I'm never crazy about it.

They used the lightspeed breakaway factor to travel back in time. Is there a reason they don't use Spock's on-the-fly formula for time travel from The Naked Time?

Oh, joy, another episode set in the 20th century. Yawn. Yes, I know it had to be since The Gary Seven Show will be set in the 20th century.

Hello, Gary. Someday you will be Control on The Equalizer.

I like Isis. As I sit here watching this episode with a black cat on my lap who STILL refuses to turn into a hot woman for me.

Just make Gary sit in that truth detector chair from A Wolf In The Fold, then you'll know if he's up to no good.

Spock likes the cat, but distained tribbles. Didn't he ever see a cat during his time on Earth?

Somehow Isis knows Gary escaped and is leaving the ship when she jumps from Spock's arms and runs out the door. Interesting that the door recognized her and opened for her. I wonder why Spock decided to hold her while Gary was in custody instead of put her in the brig with him.

It's an interesting story about the aliens kidnapping humans 6000 years ago to their planet to train them and their descendants. If the Gary Seven Show had been made, it would have been interesting to see that history explored.

How does Gary's pen stop a wooden door from opening?

That's not the same cat from Catspaw, is it? I know dogs are easier to work with than cats on shows. It's interesting that they found one (or more than one?) that are so docile to work with on set.

But why does Gary take Isis on missions? Did Robert Lansing have to ad lib some of his lines with Isis? He couldn't have known beforehand that she was going to walk up his back and look over his shoulder, could he?

Spock, just use a neck pinch on Roberta when the cops are coming in.

I can see that Gary going into and out of his safe would have been a prominent part of each episode of the Gary Seven Show.

What? No need to slingshot around the sun to go back in time and beam the cops back into their bodies at just the right time for them to forget they ever saw Kirk and Spock?

It's really not a good look for our heroes to spend so much of this episode standing around clueless while Gary does everything.

So by the end, Spock and Kirk had been able to look up Gary and Roberta and see what adventures they would have. And why couldn't they have looked up Gary when he first came aboard and save some of the drama?

I feel like an old man with much of my bitching about this episode, but I'm also not crazy about these time travel stories where we go back in time and then have to spend the episode fretting about messing up the time line. Nor am I crazy about time travel paradoxes. Oh, I see, the Enterprise's involvement was what was supposed to happen. So what happened the first time in 1968 when no Enterprise had been built yet to be able to go back in time? Bah, humbug.

It's an okay episode. A little slow toward the end with Kirk and Spock standing around helpless and endless shots of the rocket and the technicians at their consoles.

Would I have watched the Gary Seven Show? I might not be old enough to have watched in its prime time run depending on when it started and how long it was on, but I'm sure I would have watched its reruns.

It will be good to get back to our heroes starring in their own show again next season.

---Thus endeth Season 2---

Alien Watch! Isis? Could she be one of the advanced aliens from the planet Gary grew up on?

Season 1
Talosians
That big ugly Rigellian guy Pike fought in illusion
Vina as an Orion girl in illusion
Glimpse of other aliens captured by Talosians
Ron Howard's brother
That dog from Enemy Within
Salt monster
That hand plant...Gertrude
Spock (duh)
Charlie's parents (Thasians)*
Romulans!
(Ruk)
Miri's planet kids (bonk bonk)
Giant ape creatures of Taurus II
Shore Leave Caretaker guy
Trelaine and his folks*
Gorn
Metrons*
The Lazerii
The remarkably human-looking aliens of Beta 3. (RotA)
The remarkably human-looking aliens of Emineminar VII (AToA)
The Triffids of Omicron Ceti III (TSoP)
The refreshingly non-human-looking Horta
Organians*
Klingons! (Remarkably human looking).
(The Guardian of Forever)
Flying pancakes

Season 2
Sylvia and Korob
The Companion
The remarkably human looking (though tall) Cappellans.
Native Pollux IV-ians (Apollo and his gang)
Full-blooded Vulcans
The remarkably human looking citizens of Argelius II (WitF)
Redjac
The People of Vaal (Gamma Triangulians)
Crew of the ISS Enterprise
The remarkably human-looking** (except for maybe a dot on their forehead) Halkans
Tribbles (not at all human looking)
The remarkably human-looking citizens of...892-VI. Is that what they call this planet? (The Roman one.)
Tall guys, short guys, Andorians, Tellurites, purple lady, Orion made up like an Andorian. (JtB)
The remarkably human-looking people of Neural. (APLW)
The awesome Mugato!
Shahna, Lars, Tamoon, Kloog, Thrallmaster Galt, and the Providers
The Cloud from the Tycho system.
The BIG FREAKIN' AMEBA!!!!!
The remarkably human-looking Iotians. (Gangsters)
Kelvans! Who really look like big, cool squids but choose to look remarkably human.
Sargon and the gang of not-quite-omnipotent aliens.
Remarkably human looking Zeons of Zeon and Ekosians of Ekos. (PoF)
The remarkably human looking Yangs and Coms of Omega IV.
Isis! Who looks remarkably like a cat until she wants to look remarkably human.

*Alien Watch sublist: omnipotent aliens!
**By request