Production Order Group Viewing 2018

The tractor beam seems to emit from multiple areas of the saucer; I suspect a production error in overlaying the filmation slides. I would correct it so that the tractor beam was repositioned to emit from the sensor dome on the bottom of the saucer or from just above it a la phasers, torpedoes, etc.

 

I like that art work.

 

HOW SHARPER THAN A SERPENT'S TOOTH

Enterprise to the rescue, tracking the origin of a mysterious space probe! Kirk calls the engine tech “highly advanced” yet just like the incredible “ion drive” from Spock’s Brain it seems a simple task to follow its trail.
Good job none of these aliens thought to “mask their warp trail” like in later incarnations of Trek
Still, at least there’s consistency … not mention a host of reused Trek Tropes, starting with encountering an energy blob!

Then we have Kirk phasers the opposing ship when it starts acting offensively, reminiscent of the cube probe in The Corbomite Manoeuvre.

And where’s Sulu? Is this Mr WalkingBear going to start panicking and then learn a lesson, finally agreeing to an officer exchange? Is he going to start regaling his captain with strangely on point “tales from his tribe”?
Not at all, for despite his unusual name Mr WalkingBear is no anachronism or relic of the past plonked onto the Bridge to provide exposition, but a modern 23rd century human who just happens to have an interest in various but with an interest “many ancient Earth peoples”, including his own. His skills as an impartial historian are further demonstrated as he observes what he sees on Kukulkan ship without bias to his own cultural history.

Don't jest, I can see exactly that plot in the extremely underfunded season 6!
I wonder if Apollo’s people or the Megans or the Platonians ever uncovered evidence of his presence?

We again get the same debate hashed out already with the Talosians (The Menagerie) and the Lactrans (Eye Of The Beholder) about the benefits of a truly free life versus a caged one, even if that has the illusion of freedom.

The main saving grace of this episode is the expanse and wonder of the visuals. From giant pyramids to ominous and threatening space-dragon-gods, this story takes full advantage of the animated medium.

Eventually Kukulkan learns the same lesson as Apollo did back in Season Two and then leaves. An interesting twist on an old Trek plot trope that adds a lot of visual fun but this is definitely well trodden ground by now.


LET’S TALK…RELIGION!
The collections of landscapes showing different cultures each expressing only a part of Kukulkan’s teachings could be seen as a comment on all religions with a saviour - He/She never returned be because we followed God’s directives incorrectly!
Or is it the inability of human minds to comprehend the supernatural (AKA highly advanced aliens)?

The techniques that Kukulkan made use of when visiting Earth are eerily similar to indoctrination since birth, highlighted during the discussion of the Capellan Power Cat

He might be benevolent in his motives, but these are the attitudes and actions of an absolute dictator or even a cult leader.


OTHER THOUGHTS

• Spock adequately explains the “force globe” before declaring that he cannot explain it. Does his statement lose something in the translation?
• This week Lt Uhura is on comms. Good to see she's still turning up to work sometimes.
• McCoy’s curmudgeonlyness is interrupted by Kirk in quite a humorous way – the captain just doesn’t have time for that today
• Kublakan has something like a Holodeck (AKA recreation room). So why is McCoy surprised to see it?
• Kirk’s scared face appears again in this episode, joined by Spock, McCoy and WalkingBear
• Spock comes to the rescue again with his plan to escape from the force globe, although it results in them being thrown 5.698 light years. Luckily they’re not using the Warp-cubed formula otherwise it would take them 2.4 days to come back even at Warp 8!
• McCoy’s drugs also come to the rescue again with the Capellan Power Cat
• Apparently the Vulcans also had their own spin on the “ancient aliens” myths, naturally with the usual “superior Vulcan” spin.
  Or was he making a sly jab at the Earthmen who visited Vulcan who were positively influenced by them?

Kirk’s final lament isn’t quite as mournful as his one in Who Mourns For Adonais. Are the humans really equivalent to thankless children? Didn’t Kirk just say that they don’t NEED Kukulkan anymore? How is it thankless if they honestly don’t need a particular guide or service anymore?

It’s all a little confused. Let’s hope next week’s episode (the final one of all Star Trek) will be more straightforward with its storytelling.

 

A new form of FTL technology: create force globe around ship; pop it; instantly move ~6 lys (with research, exact distance jumps probably could be developed); repeat until you get to your destination.

 

Except that the energy required to propel the ship must be contained within the force globe, generated initially by Kukulkan's vessel. Even if the former god would be willing to share the tech, couldn't that energy just be channelled directly into propulsion?

And anyway, Spock still can't explain it

 

This makes no sense. Spock can't explain it (the force bubble), but he knows how to defeat it AND calculate that it will throw the ship 5.698 lightyears! That's some wanky science.

 

Sheer Vulcanian awesomeness, baby!

 

The Counter-Clock Incident

And so we come to end of our Trek. The end of things is a time for reflection. This seems like a fitting final episode as there are a number of cool callbacks.

How cool is it that they are going to Babel? We learn that the ambassadors still meet there and do ambassadory things.

I liked meeting first Captain of the Enterprise Robert April. I remember being disappointed when the Captain of the Enterprise in ENT was Jonathan Archer not Robert April. Is it possible they mean April was the first Captain of the Connie-class Enterprise?

The Enterprise was built at the Naval shipyards in San Francisco. Is this the first we hear that?

Two episodes in a row we meet creatures from Capella IV. Last week we met the Capellan Power Cat, this week we learn that Sarah's flower is also from Capella IV.

I wonder what adventures April had as Captain of the Enterprise. Did he meet any gods from Earth?

The discussion of Sarah's career makes the Federation seem very young and warp travel very new. She served as the first medical officer on a ship with warp drive. If she's 75 like Robert, then warp drive was developed in that time frame and not a couple hundred years earlier.

Sarah's not referring to the Bonaventure, is she?

Beta Niobe! It's the supernova from All Our Yesterdays! How cool is that? What a cool callback, and they don't even explain it in the episode. Just leave it there as an Easter egg for the true fans.

Warp 36! Personally, I had no problem with the TOS-era warp scale as opposed to the TNG-era scale that tops off with warp 10. And don't even get me started on the idea that if you go warp 10 you turn into a giant salamander.

How are they keeping the tractor beam on a ship going warp 36 while they're only going warp 11?

The Enterprise is going warp 22! I guess it's not blowing up because their engines are not engaged? Still it's interesting to note that the structure of the Enterprise can handle that speed. Is that the fastest a Federation ship has ever gone?

But reversing time wouldn't really make people grow younger, would it? Probably best not to think about it.

And how exactly does this "starting out old and growing young" thing work anyway? Do old people spontaneously appear and then start growing younger? Spock refers to someone being "born" old. Am I to believe women have to give birth to fully-grown adult senior citizens? And what about the gruesome end of your life when you become a fetus, an embryo, a collection of cells, a fertilized egg, an egg and a sperm? Probably best not to think about it.

Am I reading that map right? The star they have to get to is all the way across the galaxy? And they only have 18 minutes to get there before someone becomes a fetus? Does warp 36 get you across the galaxy that fast? If only Janeway had had access to such technology.

Can't the Enterprise fly forward with its engines in reverse?

This is quite the opposite problem from The Deadly Years, the crew now too YOUNG to function. And there is once again a Commodore handy to step in. This one knows what he's doing.

The rendering of the young crew is good. Even Arex looks younger.

There just so happened to be old people aboard for this particular crisis.

What! They used everyone's transporter patterns to just poof them back to normal? I knew that was going be a deus ex machina when they first introduced it.

All this talk of braking thrusters reminds me of TVH.

Personally, I would stay young if I was the Aprils. I mean why not?

Karla never actually says her name is Karla Five. How do they know?

It's interesting in this episode that they solve the problem before we even realize the full depths of it, that everyone is going to deage down to fetuses if they don't fix this soon, but they're already underway when we get that.

They say they need to bring a dead star back to life, but they don't say how they would do that or even show them doing it. Is it that trivial a process?

I enjoyed it. It was nice to meet the first Captain of the Enterprise. Going to the alternate universe gave me that sense of awe and wonder in exploration that is one of the things Star Trek is all about.

Alien Watch! Hurry up, I'm not getting any younger.

Season One
The Glommer
Arex*
Retlaw Plant
Agmar and his Phylosian posse
Swoopers
Yellow winged bird guy (Aleek)
Spock's teddy bear with fangs (sehlat)
Green cat thing that sounds like Godzilla (le-matya)
300 million year old alien on viewscreen log
Green energy Redjac wannabe
The Vendorian
Lt. M'Ress
Remarkably human-looking Taureans.
The planet-eating, Majel Roddenberry-voiced cloud from another galaxy.
Alien miners of Arcadia
Rigelian hypnoid
Giant rock creatures
Remarkably human-looking (when they want to be except for that rebel Lucien guy) Megans
Assorted heretofore unseen aliens on the Delta Triangle's ruling council
The Kzinti (whom no one will mistake for Mensa candidates)
Aquans, both stogy elders and rebellious kids.
Sur-snake of Argo
The scardy Bug Guy
The Vedalian
The...remarkably human-looking alien (?) Lara
The not-a-Gorn lizard guy.
Translucent gossamer mice!
Glowing halo fish!
The red beastie in the lake on Lactra Seven
The dinosaur beastie that fell on McCoy on Lactra Seven
The flying purple people eating dragons on Lactra Seven that look suspiciously like other flying purple people eating dragons we've seen.
The telepathic slugs of Lactra Seven.
Assorted aliens captured by the slugs of Lactra Seven.

Season Two
Bem the Annoying, a Pandronian.
The lizard people of Delta Theta Three who are not Gorns nor are they of Sord's people.
The lizard people's Entity/Companion/Goddess
Dramians of the planet Dramia in the Dramian star system
The mysterious blue-skinned OR-ee-ons
Kukulkan the Badass
Capellan power cat
Assorted creatures in Kukulkan's menagerie
Sarah's plant from Capella IV
Karla Five and family

*by request

 

Well, it's been nice to see TAS again. Like I said, I hadn't seen it since it aired, so I completely forgot most episodes, only remembering bits and pieces from 47 years prior. It doesn't have as much depth as TOS, but how could it? The stories aren't as deep, we don't get to see the chemistry between the characters. What did I expect, it's a Saturday morning kids show. But I do appreciate that they didn't insult my intelligence with this show. They still made as thoughtful, intelligent, and meaningful episodes as they could with what they had to work with. It's been nice reliving my childhood. Thanks to Mytran for the fun, interesting reviews. You gave me things to think about and thanks to other posters for interesting and fun commentary as well.

I notice there were no omnipotent aliens and thanks to the wonder of animation, very few remarkably human-looking aliens. The wonder of animation gave us some cool looking ships as well.

 

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button...did they rip off TAS?

Instead of the transporter, they could have just said all the reverse aging unwound back to their normal ages once they returned to our own universe. Unwinding the "Counter-Clock", so to speak. (Vulcan humor .)

 

As a kid I always thought the ship looked like it had a phaser's nib at the end of it. And that was it's weaponry! Then later on we see that any retaliation from the Enterprise came from the underside of the sphere instead!!!
So what really was the point of the phaser's nib?
JB

 

THE COUNTER CLOCK INCIDENT

When Star Trek ended the first time it was with a zany high-concept story mixed with strongly implied institutional sexism.
Now Star Trek is ending for a second time and the whacky science fiction elements have been turned up to eleven, being mishandled to the point of incoherence! However, at least the subject for social commentary (ageism) is treated with a bit more grace than before, although the effectiveness is a little muddled (see below).

There’s some fine addition to Trek lore as Commodore Robert April is introduced to the canon, along with his former CMO (and wife). Also that mandatory retirement age is 75 (which seems a little odd by today’s standards but probably seemed elderly in 1973)
Unfortunately some classic TOS sexism still peeks over the barricades as no-one ever addresses Doctor April by her title and McCoy’s “compliment” implies how unusual it is for a woman to have both brains and beauty.
We also get a bit of history on the ship - components of Enterprise were assembled in the San Francisco naval yards on Earth.

It's an odd line and not very consistent with already established Trek, let alone the later incarnations. I prefer to interpret it as her saying that she was the "First Medical Officer" AKA "Chief Medical Officer". It's clunky, but sorta works.


The first act of the episode is pretty tense and exciting – the Enterprise tries to help and ship in distress and almost gets destroyed as a result, leading on to new adventures! Then we end up in what looks like a negative universe and everything goes very strange, very quickly. For unexplained reasons the crew all start growing younger at an accelerated rate and travel time across half the galaxy takes only a few minutes. This means that the aged Commodore April (now a strapping man in the prime of his life) must assume command and save the day, returning the Enterprise and her crew of babies back to our own universe. Commodore April solves the deaging problem faster than it would take Doctor McCoy to pick up a hyprospray and rounds the adventure off by making out with his hot, young wife.

The message of the show (that old people can still be useful) is a bit muddled, as April only steps up to the plate when his young, healthy body is restored. There’s also the issue that he retains no memory of his twilight years, believing himself at that time to be a Starship captain in his thirties.
This whole story is weird, even by TAS standards. And I wonder if Commodore April is the reason why…


A TALL TALE…
Even during the first act something is a little off – Commodore April’s declaration that “no natural object can travel Warp 36” is a redundant since NO natural phenomena can move faster than the speed of light (Lights Of Zetar). Then the Enterprise locks a tractor beam onto it anyway (that must have been some pinpoint timing by Sulu) but remains being towed at a speed of Warp 22 at a distance of 13 seconds.
Even assuming the (slow) WF^3 formula, this means the Enterprise tractor beam has a maximum range of 191 billion kilometres (32 times the furthest distance of Pluto)

Details like this are indicative of an unreliable narrator, almost as if these events are being retold by someone who was present for the events but doesn’t recall them clearly or is maybe exaggerating them for sake of the audience. Someone like a Commodore regaling his companions at the retirement colony with a fantastic and overly embellished version of what happened on his “final mission”?

If so, this would justify the spoonfed nature of other details too – things like Kirk having to ask for Universal Translator to be engaged (instead of it happening automatically) and Uhura making reference to the impressive sounding “universal language” they speak instead of common English (numerous references in all 3 seasons of TOS)

This would also explain the incoherent mess that is the backwards universe since April is making most of it up on the fly. For example, time flows backwards but the crew hear speech normally because their brains are working in reverse too – so why would Scotty’s engineers have to “learn” to operate their machinery backwards? Why would the Enterprise be seen as moving backwards? If time flowing in reverse is normal to Karla’s people, why would she have a “son” that’s older than her under any circumstances? Then Spock says that it’s logical that people are “born old” – who is that physically possible? Or does he mean that corpses un-rot and then come to life? Why would Karla’s people see that as “coming to life”? Or is birth a time of sorrow as that person “dies”?

Then there’s the time and distance issues – Karla’s homeworld and the target supernova are shown on the map to be about half a galaxy away from each other, a map that perfectly corresponds in size to the Milky Way. Yet that half-galaxy trek is a mere 18 minutes! Did April get confused about what he’d described in the previous scene?

Additionally, the crew grow younger at an incredibly accelerated rate! I suppose this could be explained by the fact that they’re intruders from a different universe, but did Karla also experience the same phenomena in ours?
Then, as everyone de-ages they also forget the knowledge that they’d leaned previously, April even forgetting his rank and assuming he is a captain again. If knowledge of the past can’t be retained, how do any of them carry out their desperate mission?

Finally, the Transporter is the magical cureall for the 3rd time in 17 episodes. This time though it doesn’t just restore the physical pattern of those who last went through it, the magical machine can fix all 430 people on board, including restoring the memories which they lost IN A DIFFERENT UNIVERSE!!!

So much is explained if this is the faint recollections of a somewhat elderly Commodore, years after the events. There’s no information on how much alcohol was involved during the retelling…



OTHER THOUGHTS

• In a lovely nod to continuity the Enterprise returns the Beta Niobe supernova from All Our Yesterdays, an episode considered by many fans to be the “proper” TOS finale.
• Sarah carries the lovely “plot metaphor” flower from Capella IV. Hey, last week we met the Capellan power cat. Capella is rapidly becoming the new Rigel!
• Just as in That Which Survives the spaceframe of the Enterprise is shown to be incredibly tough, surviving speeds of up to Warp 22! This time they’re not providing the propulsion though so it’s quite justified by those standards.
• In his captain’s log Kirk describes the strange realm they’re in as an “antimatter universe”. All together now – “what of Lazarus”?
• In a rare piece of sensibly written plot development halfway through the episode, the overlay and calculations Spock uses to determine the next point of crossover is quite well realised. That large map table is pretty cool too.
• Last week the landing party got scared faces - this week everyone gets complete child versions of themselves!
• As a child Spock retains his adult baritone, even though we know from Yesteryear that he sounded different then. Maybe his voice just broke at a young age?

After saving the day, Commodore Robert April decides NOT to stay youthful, stating that he would not want to live his life again any other way. That’s all well and good, but he can retain his life lived AND live some more AND do it with Sarah by his side. More amazingly, Dr April agrees with her husband. I guess they really are the ideal couple!

Anyway, he’s still technically 75 so would Starfleet really allow him to keep working, despite his apparent young age? Later, Strafleet offers to reconsider his mandatory retirement, potentially allowing him to remain Federation Ambassador at large. I bet that job would be easier with a bit less arthritis in his bones!

If looked at as an interesting character driven story, focusing on the importance of a person in society as they age then it’s a pretty good outing – and such tales are pretty much a Trek staple. However, whereas in D C Fontana’s Yesteryear the science fiction elements don’t hold up to much scrutiny, in this episode the SF elements positively collapse when given even a cursory examination! This is fine if the SF trappings are just there to set the scene (Yesteryear) but when they form such an integral part of the plot more thought ought to have been put into the writing.

The adventure might have offered the Aprils a second life, but they turned that down! However, I don’t mind this line because it has a double meaning in relation to TAS – which also gave Star Trek a second life.

The series has had its ups and downs but was at its best when trying NOT to copy TOS or retread what had come before, instead exploring the potential of the animated medium to its fullest in terms of epic scope and creature design.
The limits of the format are unfortunately most evident in the human characters as so much of what the actors brought is stripped away when reduced to their voices and (mostly) static faces.
However, on balance TAS is a worthy addition to the canon and I will certainly be revisiting it in the future.

 

Of all the TAS episodes, I would like to see this last episode in a live action format. Bring in young/child actors for our heroes. Maybe Kurt Russell for a younger Kirk...but no Craig Hundley! The Aprils played by Guy Williams and June Lockhart.

You'd think that McCoy and Scott would last longer with both being about 10 years older than Kirk. And what about all those 22 year old ensigns on the ship? Wouldn't they have turned to goo long before we get toddler Kirk at the end? Obviously, the reverse aging is not linear. "Probably best not to think about it."

 

Having thought about it, I'm resubmitting my review of this episode:

THE COUNTER-CLOCK INCIDENT

 

I do like your explanation that this is really an aging Robert April's telling of the story after he's starting to become a bit incoherent.

But given that McCoy was 137 in Encounter at Farpoint, is 75 really considered old?

 

Old enough to be considered appropriate for mandatory retirement, apparently!
But in the context of Star Trek (and even our present day) 75 seems a little early to forcibly move experienced officers out to pasture, regardless of their physical fitness.

FWIW, my real-life job involves installing equipment and adaptations for the elderly: In the last few years the number of people in their 70s and even 80s who are able bodied and only just starting to think that maybe a hand rail by the front steps might be something that would be useful has risen considerably. With all the medical advances in the 23rd century this age should be even higher.

However, this episode was written in the early seventies and in those days a 75 year old (after a lifetime of less healthy living) was OLD - both Sarah and Robert April are depicted as such.

 

We spent 95 pages discussing TOS and 15 discussing TAS. Part of that is the lower number of TAS episodes, but something tells me people weren't as interested in TAS as TOS.

 

Disappointing, but hardly surprising. There's some good story content in TAS but if some modern Trekkies are turned off by the live action 1960s aesthetic, I can imagine that the limited 1970s animation style is even more off-putting

Stats on the level of interest:
TOS - 1.20 pages per episode
TAS - 0.68 pages per episode

Just over half the interest? Could be worse

 

Thanks @Poltargyst and @Mytran for your great (and funny) reviews/comments on all things TOS and TAS!

 

It was...fun!

Don't discount your own contributions either @Henoch as your viewpoints kept this thread going too!
Just cut back on the evil plans, OK?