Same something nice about traditionally poorly held TOS eps

I re-watched "Way to Eden" last night.

Nimoy does a GREAT job. So does Brian Dennehy. He really sells what he's saying. I understood his hippy patois, and didn't feel like it was some afffected speech, but really how the character talks.

The remastered shots were nice. The interchanges between Shatner and Nimoy were good. I liked the jam between Spock and the chick with the Bass Bicycle Wheel.

 

"The Alternative Factor" is fun and I like the UFO space ship.

 

“The Apple” has a great first act.

I read the thread title in the voice of Missy from Doctor Who.

 

"Spock's Brain" was clearly a lot of fun for those making it, and that makes it a fun watch even if it makes almost no sense.

 

Completely agreed. It's actually one of my favorite episodes of the series despite the inconsistences. I just wish they had found time to play up the parralell universe aspect of the episode.

 

I thought the location shooting vs sound stage to emphasize the other-worldliness of the parallel universe was a nice touch.

 

Upside to any lesser episode...or any episode in fact:

William Shatner is in it.

 

Wait, whut?

 

Also an unplanned touch due to weather delays. They had originally planned to shoot those scenes at Vasquez rocks like everything else planetside. One of those happy accidents (though I doubt many people involved felt that way while they were making it).

 

Charles Napier, actually.

Two fun facts: 1) IIRC, Napier wrote the songs he sings (as Adam) in this episode. 2) When he later appeared on DS9 (Little Green Men), he asked to play a character as absolutely un-Adamlike as possible. So that's how he ended up as General Denning.

 

Regarding The Alternative Factor, there is no alternative.

(In all seriousness I'm glad some people like it. If it had Scotty and Engineering instead of that strange dilithium crystal room set - Lt. Masters could stay as I liked her, although she needed a properly colored and braided uniform - it would have been better. Shatner is actually very good in it.)

 

Well that was embarrassing.

 

I would rather watch every "bad" TOS episode over ever great CSI episode.


Jason

 

The end credits are the best part of "The Alternative Factor", "All the Children Shall Lead", and "The Lights of Zetar".

 

Not really sure how that is in any way an answer to the question that was posed. Cmon bro...nothing??



So to answer the question:

"Plato's Stepchildren" has some great stuff at the conclusion and some very good dialogue with Alexander. Shatner and Nimoy really throw themselves into the humiliation scenes. Probably why they are so effective.

"Mudd's Women" has a cool chase through an asteroid field and some relatively humorous moments when they are interrogating Mudd.

"Miri" has some great performances, especially from Shatner and Darby. The dying boy crying over his broke bike is chilling. Any episode where Spock says "A beaker full of death" is woth something.

"And The Children Shall Lead" is successful in creating a really creepy atmosphere in the first act or so, and the scene where the children break the Gorgon's spell is actually quite moving.

 

I consider "Miri" and "Mudd's Women" to be outright good episodes, so they don't qualify.

"The Alternative Factor" has various good points:

- Original fx shot of the Enterprise firing on the planet, seen only this once in the series.

- When Lazarus rigs the electrical fire, there's a music cue composed for but not used in "Balance of Terror," heard only this once.

- The time ship mockup is another item unique to this episode, although its clear dome was re-used in "The Gamesters of Triskelion."

- Kirk and Spock beam down with four security guards and none of them die. Unless I'm forgetting something, this is an episode where nobody has to die "to show the situation is serious."

- Vasquez Rocks.

 

That shot of the Enterprise firing on the planet is great.

 

Lights of Zetar....the shock on Scotty’s face when he finds the dead technicians on Memory Alpha.

 

I wish I knew more about that damned set piece. Seems like something they would have rented, but I've never seen it on any other show, except for the dome in "Gamesters."