Journey To Babel - One of season 2's finest?

[AxelFoley]

Alright, so I'm on disc 3 of Star Trek TOS season 2 DVD-set and I just finished watching Journey To Babel for the first time and I must say, what a great episode!

It has everything, and then some! Lots of new alien races are being shown for the first time, we get to see Sarek for the first time in ST history (the character, not the actor of course), we get to find out some interesting Spock trivia. Then there's the action, suspence, the fights and to top it all off some of the best/funniest pieces of dialogue in Star Trek history.

Some of the dialogue I meant were this gems:

Amanda: Logic! Logic" You want to know what I think about your logic?
Spock: Emotional, isn't she?
Sarek: She has always been that way.
Spock: Indeed, why did you marry her?
Sarek: At the time, it seemed the logical thing to do.

And:

McCoy: Shut up! (to Spock)
McCoy: Shh, shh! (to Kirk)
McCoy: Well what do you know? I finally got the last word!

I like to grade the episodes I've just seen, and this would definitely get a 10/10 from me, following other classics like Corbomite Maneuver, Arena & City on the Edge of Forever.

 

[Michael]

Yes, "Journey To Babel" is one of TOS' best efforts. If not of the whole franchise. It's a superb exercise in pacing, character developement and suspense (and it only uses the existing sets, too). And guess who did it?

"The Doomsday Machine", "The Trouble With Tribbles", "Mirror, Mirror" and "Amok Time" are the other highlights of the second season. But "Journey To Babel" is my favorite of them!

 

[AxelFoley]

Yes, "Journey To Babel" is one of TOS' best efforts. If not of the whole franchise. It's an superb exercise in pacing, character developement and suspense (and it only uses the existing sets, too). And guess who did it?

"The Doomsday Machine", "The Trouble With Tribbles", "Mirror, Mirror" and "Amok Time" are the other highlights of the second season. But "Journey To Babel" is my favorite of them!

I've heard so much of the Tribbles episode, I can't wait to see it! And it will probably be an easy episode for my girlfriend to watch.

 

[Basill]

Yes, one of the finest. The Spock/Amanda slap scene gets me every time.

 

[AxelFoley]

Yes, one of the finest. The Spock/Amanda slap scene gets me every time.

Yes, that was indeed a powerful scene.

 

[AC84]

You should show your girlfriend some of the new trailers on YouTube for the remastered episodes. Sometimes they actually play it on TV. That's how I got some of my friends and family into the original Star Trek. Because of me, the new movie next year will have a small built-in audience from those around me.

Take a look at this new Journey to Babel trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNhGmc4dn54

 

[AxelFoley]

You should show your girlfriend some of the new trailers on YouTube for the remastered episodes. Sometimes they actually play it on TV. That's how I got some of my friends and family into the original Star Trek. Because of me, the new movie next year will have a small built-in audience from those around me.

Take a look at this new Journey to Babel trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNhGmc4dn54

Thanks, but it's not the effects that is keeping her away from admitting she likes the show, it's the words "Star Trek" and what it's associated to

She DOES like Friends & The OC though... My God what have I gotten myself into...

 

[AC84]

The new effects are too blury to really make out anyway. I was talking about how exciting those trailers are. Classic editing.

 

[AC84]

She DOES like Friends & The OC though... My God what have I gotten myself into...

Hang in there man. And yeah, The Trouble with Tribbles might be a great episode to show her. City on the Edge of Forever is the one I watched with my ex-girlfriend and she actually enjoyed it very much. We snuggled the whole time watching.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

JtB is one of the best episodes of the whole series, fo' sure.

 

[AC84]

It's a shame the modern Star Trek shows never actually used the "Tal-Shaya" move Spock talked about in this episode. It would have been cool to have seen it, though modern Trek rarely paid attention to TOS. It always brought a smile to my face when they did.

 

[jackorama666]

yeah one of my favorite episodes

 

[Rico]

Great episode! One of the best from TOS. Covered it on one of my early podcasts too.

 

[TheLonelySquire]

Yes, "Journey To Babel" is one of TOS' best efforts. If not of the whole franchise. It's an superb exercise in pacing, character developement and suspense (and it only uses the existing sets, too). And guess who did it?

"The Doomsday Machine", "The Trouble With Tribbles", "Mirror, Mirror" and "Amok Time" are the other highlights of the second season. But "Journey To Babel" is my favorite of them!

I've heard so much of the Tribbles episode, I can't wait to see it! And it will probably be an easy episode for my girlfriend to watch.

Tribbles pales in comparison to Journey.

 

[Zeppster]

Tribbles is a great comedy episode.

 

[idreamedmusic]

And let's not forget Kirk's butt-fu move against the assassin.

 

[alchemist]

Great episode, no doubt. But what's with the title "Journey to Babel?" I don't think it's really representative of the episode at all. Yeah, I know they were heading to "Babel," but still, the title borders on lame (IMHO).

 

[Basill]

Most likely it it alludes to the biblical story of "The Tower of Babel" where God intervened and punished mankind for its arrogance and suddenly making everyone unable to understand one another by making them speak different languages. Everyone running around speaking in strange tongues because God was offended by their construction of the tower. The fact that the Enterprise and delegates were heading to "Babel" and that they were on the edge of another form of cultural chaos is probably more than enough to explain such an allegorical title. I personally really like the title, and the space age irony of naming a planet dedicated to diplomatic relations, "Babel."

 

[Michael]

^ The theme of misunderstanding may also allude to the relationship between Spock and his father Sarek (so it's a metaphorical journey to understanding, too). A nifty title, indeed.

 

[alchemist]

Thanks for the comments. I do get the Tower of Babel connection if you focus on the Vulcan part of the episode. That is, the story of the Tower of Babel really refers to the pride of people working for the good of the community (or said in modern Trek-speak, the needs of the many). And God struck at the builders when their pride reached arrogance. It seems then (IMHO) that Fontana was drawing a parallel between the Tower Builders and the Vulcans. Or at least between the Tower Builders and Spock's family.

That being said, I still think the title is weak. It didn't compel me to tune in and watch the episode when I read it in TV guide. Not like "Who Mourns for Adonais?" or "Where No Man Has Gone Before" or "Patterns of Force."