Star Trek TOS Re-Watch

[Commander Troi]

What Are Little Girls Made Of?
By Robert Bloch

We start with Chapel on the bridge as we approach Exo-3, the last known location of her fiance, Dr. Roger Korby. He hasn't been heard from in 5 years. Chapel gave up her career in bio-research to get on a starship to find him.

The planet is super cold and no longer habitable. When Kirk asks Spock if Korby could be alive, Spock looks at Chapel and (sensitively) doesn't answer. A signal is found and there's a nice moment when they're leaving the bridge and Uhura hugs Chapel.

On the planet... so much painted styrofoam! Kirk and Chapel are met by Brown, who takes a moment to recognize Chapel, making Kirk suspicious. Two redshirts are killed by Ruk, a giant (we later learn) android.

We next meet Andrea and Chapel is clearly unhappy about the hot skimpily dressed girl with her fiance! Eventually Korby shows up. We learn Brown and Andrea are androids. Rok throws Kirk around like a ragdoll. Chapel grills Korby about Andrea with admirable snark.

CHAPEL: Yes, let's start with Andrea.

Kirk is placed nekkid in a machine with playdoh. This is how you make an android! Before passing out, Kirk says, "Mind your own business, Mister Spock. I'm sick of your half-breed interference." After, Chapel can't tell them apart. Korby mentions it could replace Kirk.

Lunchtime! Cubes all round! Chapel is fooled by the android. We learn about Kirk's brother and his family.

Now Korby's trying to sell Kirk on transference to android bodies and Jim ain't having any of it. Chapel looks dubious.

KORBY: Can you understand that a human converted to an android can be programmed for the better? Can you imagine how life could be improved if we could do away with jealousy, greed, hate?

KIRK: It can also be improved by eliminating love, tenderness, sentiment. The other side of the coin, Doctor.

Kirk lets Korby rant while loosening his bonds, then uses Korby as a shield to escape. Korby sends Ruk after Kirk and Chapel goes after both, ordering Ruk not to hurt Kirk. Kirk pulls off a styrofoam stalagmite (tite?) while Ruk imitates Chapel. A one-sided fight leaves Kirk hanging over a chasm... and Ruk pulls him up! Owe Christine one, eh Jim?

Meanwhile, back on the ship...

"Kirk" arrives and says, "Mind your own business, Mister Spock. I'm sick of your half-breed interference, do you hear?" Aha! Kirk was messing with the programming! Suspicious Spock gets redshirts to go to the planet with him.

Kirk kisses Andrea and, unlike so many others, she rejects him.

Ruk and Kirk discuss The Old Ones. Ruk remembers that they had to destroy them because of their illogic and disorder. Kirk nearly gets crushed, until Kirby and Chapel come in. Ruk prepares to attack Korby and gets phasered.

Kirk and Kirby fight briefly and we see that Korby is an android too. Chapel is horrified. Korby tries to convince her he's still himself.

Meanwhile, Spock has beamed down and Andrea goes to stop them. She comes upon "Kirk" and offers to kiss him. When he refuses, she disintegrates him. She reports to Korby that "Kirk" escaped... but then sees the real Kirk.

Korby tries to prove his humanity and fails.

KORBY: I'm not a computer. Test me. Ask me to solve any, equate, transmit. Christine, Christine, let me prove myself. Does this make such a difference?

It's to Michael Strong's credit that I couldn't help feeling a little sorry for Korby.

Andrea keeps her phaser and tells Korby she loves him and tries to kiss him. Korby says she cannot love and uses the phaser to kill both of them.

Spock shows up. "Doctor Korby was never here." Ouch.

Back on the Enterprise, Chapel has decided to stay on the ship. Spock says that half-breed was "an unsophisticated expression." He seems amused.

Bloch has a background in horror and I think the eventual reveal of Korby shows that. I also think this episode may have inspired the later body-horror-tinged Borg.

A much better episode than I remembered. Majel and Michael Strong are both excellent, with Ted Cassidy appropriately menacing.

 

[Warped9]

In a way it’s a shame NBC execs took a dislike to Majel Barrett as Number one because Majel displayed some acting chops. Of course, we know their real beef was with Roddenberry’s blatant nepotism casting his well-known extramarital girlfriend in such a key role and not with NBC’s claim they didn’t think she was a strong enough actress for the role.

 

[drt]

Indeed their general opinion of Season 3 seems more favourable than what a lot of fans think.

I didn’t even know I was supposed to think less of Season 3 until the internet, lol.

I simply had my favorites and there were some from every season.

 

[scotpens]

In a way it’s a shame NBC execs took a dislike to Majel Barrett as Number One because Majel displayed some acting chops. Of course, we know their real beef was with Roddenberry’s blatant nepotism casting his well-known extramarital girlfriend in such a key role and not with NBC’s claim they didn’t think she was a strong enough actress for the role.

For decades, the Gospel According to Roddenberry was that the pig-headed network suits didn't like the idea of a strong female as second-in-command -- one of several Trek myths perpetrated by the Great Bird that have since been debunked.

 

[Warped9]

For decades, the Gospel According to Roddenberry was that the pig-headed network suits didn't like the idea of a strong female as second-in-command -- one of several Trek myths perpetrated by the Great Bird that have since been debunked.

Think about it. NBC rejects Majel because they resent Roddenberry’s blatant nepotism and maybe don’t think she is strong enough to carry the role. But Roddenberry can’t bring himself to tell her that (or admit it publicly) so he says NBC didn’t like the idea of a female second-in-command. We can suspect Majel possibly knew the truth. Nonetheless Roddenberry’s fib becomes gospel and subsequently we never again get to see a woman in a command position except for an alien female in “The Enterprise Incident.”

It would be interesting to know if anyone ever suggested another woman in command (as a guest character) and if that idea was shot down or if no one ever thought to even make the suggestion. Because there are a number of guest characters that could have been played by a woman, and it would have been a significant statement by TOS at the time.

Commodore Mendez, Commodore Stone, Captain Krasnovski, Captain Chandra, Commodore Wesley, Admiral Fitzpatrick, Admiral Barstow, Admiral Komack—all solid a steady characters any of which could have been played by a woman. I don’t include Matt Decker, Ron Tracy or John Merrick because their characters could have played into the notion of a woman being inherently unstable.

At least once Uhura should have been told to take the con.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Commodore Mendez, Commodore Stone, Captain Krasnovski, Captain Chandra, Commodore Wesley, Admiral Fitzpatrick, Admiral Barstow, Admiral Komack—all solid a steady characters any if which could have been played by a woman. I don’t include Matt Decker, Ron Tracy or John Merrick because their characters could have played into the notion of a woman being inherently unstable.

Also people like Tracey and Decker were very physical roles, both having vigorous brawls (Tracey had 3). And the fight fights were the best part of The Omega Glory.

At least once Uhura should have been told to take the con.

Agreed but at least she got to take the helm a couple of times. I loved those moments.

 

[Warped9]

If Majel had not been brought back as Christine Chapel it would have been amusing to see her return in a guest role as a Starfleet Commodore or even Admiral. It would have been a great nod to continuity back to Number One in “The Cage”…even if they never mentioned her name.

 

[Henoch]

On the planet... so much painted styrofoam! Kirk and Chapel are met by Brown, who takes a moment to recognize Chapel, making Kirk suspicious.

The new wig threw him for a moment, after all, she changes wigs every four to six months.

 

[Commander Troi]

 

[Ssosmcin]

Continuing my production order re-watch as I head into the second season:

Catspaw - **½ and here is where airdate order works. This episode was conceived s a Halloween episode. It's fine, but makes for a lousy season premiere. Fantastic score and a great dark ending. But...LaSalle is obnoxious and Michael barrier is stiff as a plank. Welcome aboard Chekov, sorry about the wig. Korob broke my heart though. That poor bastard.

Metamorphosis - *** Sweet episode with a message that resonates just as strongly today as back then. I doubt Gene Coon intended his creation to become a major figure in Star Trek, but Cochrane will live on for decades. Quite good, but again, not an early season grabber. VERY lovely music by Trek first timer George Duning.

Friday's Child - *** The adventure returns as we get great location shooting, lots of action and a wonderful score. The tribesmen are all well portrayed and Maab is not to be f'ked with (just watch him during the Capellan revolt). Half a star deducted because of Tige Andrew's "Uncle Bob" Klingon portrayal. Two episodes in a row with Scotty in command. Dorothy Fontana's confident prose and characterization help make this work. The crime here is casting Julie Newmar and hiding her behind a pregnancy getup. She's an oddball actress but she's entertaining in this.

Who Mourns for Adonias? - *** When you look at it, this is really just a larger scale rewrite of "Space Seed." Enterprise meets a person from Earth's past who has superior abilities, charms a female crewmember who falls for him and, in effect, controls the ship. Why does this episode work? Because Michael Forrest is insanely good as Apollo, Leslie Parrish is drop dead gorgeous as Carolyn and they have legitimate chemistry. I believed their romance more than Kahn/Marla. Also the bold, muscular score by Fred Steiner (reusing some motifs and creating new) adds a great deal of dimension. While Space Seed is something of a better episode (thanks mostly to Montalban), I like this episode just a bit more. There no moment in this one where Kirk blithely lets the heavy gain the upper hand (like he did with Khan reading the tech manuals). But Scotty is ridiculous. Yet the finale, unlike Space Seed, is heartbreaking. Parrish and Forrest are brilliant.

Amok Time **** Wow. This is the perfect episode to kick off season 2. A very strong Spock episode with Kirk still the lead, but the friendship is paramount. We learn a lot about Vulcans (no 7 year mention yet), Nimoy does incredible work and it builds to a classic fight (and again the MUSIC!). I do wish McCoy was less of a dick sometimes. He humiliates Christine in the corridor for his own amusement. It's to Kirk's credit that he doesn't join in and in fact looks a little uncomfortable. Perfect start to the 1967 season.

 

[Commander Troi]

Dagger of the Mind by "S. Bar-David" (pen name of Shimon Wincelberg)

It starts out innocently enough. Supplies are being beamed down to Tantalus V, a penal colony for the criminally insane. Kirk ribs the transporter guy about forgetting the security force field. A box is beamed up and we see a man get out of it, disable the only guy in the room, and run off into the ship.

McCoy and Kirk are talking about Dr. Adams, who has changed these places to be practically "resort colonies."

Tantalus lets the Enterprise know about an escaped prisoner. After a search, the prisoner gets to the bridge but is taken down by a Vulcan nerve pinch. In sick bay, the man, Van Gelder, is ranting but McCoy feels there's a ring of truth to at least some of it.

Calling Dr. Adams, he explains that Van Gelder was trying an experimental beam on himself. Dr. Adams seems appropriately concerned and accommodating, but McCoy doesn't believe him and uses his authority to get Kirk to start an investigation. McCoy assigns a psychiatrist with a background in rehabilitative therapy to assist Kirk.

Dr. Helen Noel turns out, of course, to be a stunning brunette that Kirk met previously at a party. Here, and in other moments, Spock seems consistently amused by his captain.

Dr. Adams meets them and introduces them to Lethe, who "came to us for rehabilitation and stayed on as a therapist." She seems a bit... off.

The director does some nice scene changes here: on the tour of the colony, Kirk sees and asks about a machine being used, while Van Gelder on the ship mentions the "neural neutraliser." Adams describes the machine as that very thing. After Kirk and Noel leave, the therapist using it says to the patient, "You will forget all you have heard. To remember any portion of it, any word, will cause you pain, terrible pain, growing more terrible as you fight to remember." Not as harmless as Adams said!

Spock checks in with Kirk and mentions the neutraliser, which Kirk explains he just saw. Spock has obviously joined McCoy in being suspicious, but also doesn't want to talk to Kirk about it while Adams is in the room. Van Gelder grows agitated, warning them that Kirk must not stay on the colony. With no other reasonable option, Spock does his first mind meld on a human. This looks different than how we'll see it in later episodes, but Nimoy sells it well.

Meanwhile, Kirk gets Noel to go back to the machine with him. On the ship, the mind meld reveals:

He can reshape any mind he chooses. He used it to erase our memories, put his own thoughts there. He was surprised it took so much power. We fought him, remember? But we grew so tired, our minds so blank, so open, that any thought he placed there became our thoughts. Our minds so empty like a sponge, needing thoughts, begging. Empty. Loneliness. So lonely to be sitting there empty, wanting any word from him.​

Kirk talks Noel into using the machine on him. At first, it's pretty harmless. She tells him he's hungry, and he feels hungry. She spins a little narrative about the party they met at and... Adams bursts in, overpowers her, and starts planting his own suggestions. James Gregory (who I mostly knew from Barney Miller) does a good job of looking sadistic and satisfied with himself, but given what we're told about Adams previously, it doesn't seem to fit.

Kirk fights the machine and passes out. He wakes in guest quarters with Noel and sends her off through the ducts(!) to cut off the security force field mentioned at the beginning. Again, a nice juxtaposition of scenes with Spock trying to beam down, Noel sabotaging the power, and Kirk being "treated" again. Noel gets the power off, stopping the machine and kicking a guy who tries to stop her right into the high voltage. Kirk takes advantage to knock out Adams and his tech, getting out of the room. Spock manages to beam down.

Everyone meets up at the treatment room and finds Adams dead. Back on the ship:

MCCOY: It's hard to believe that a man could die of loneliness.
KIRK: Not when you've sat in that room.​

A good, creepy episode. Adams becoming a sociopath is the biggest This Doesn't Make Sense in it. The director's choices helped build tension. I imagine this episode scared me as a kid.

Myth and Lit Notes:

• The title comes from The Scottish Play. "Or art thou but / A dagger of the mind, a false creation /
  Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?"
• Tantalus was punished in the Underworld by being made to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches, with the fruit ever eluding his grasp, and the water always receding before he could take a drink.
  
• Lethe was the name of the river in the Underworld that erased one's memory of one's past.

 

[Commander Troi]

Miri by Adrian Spies

Hundreds of light years from Earth, the Enterprise detects an Earth-style SOS from an unnamed planet. The first of the alternate just-like-Earth planets we'll run across. They beam a landing party down. Why is Rand there? She doesn't even have a tricorder!

They find a busted tricycle and then are attacked by a disfigured humanoid who claims it's his. He dies shortly after, like he aged centuries in a few minutes.

We meet Miri, who is scared at first because the "grups" (grownups) hurt people and eventually died off. Kirk calls her pretty, but it didn't come off as creepy to me, but more like he's flattering her in order to calm her down and get her on their side (which I myself have done with kids).

They get Miri to take them to a medical lab. The party is all starting to get lesions, except Spock. The disease seems to be a side effect of a life-extension experiment. It will take down the children too, once they reach puberty, which has been dramatically slowed. Miri and the other kids are over 300 years old.

From there, it's a race against time trying to find a cure, made tougher by the kids stealing the communicators, thus cutting McCoy and Spock off from the ship's computer.

Miri gets jealous of Janice and kidnaps her. Kirk shows her how the disease is hitting her too and she takes him to the other kids. They beat him up. He points out they're acting like grups and that their food is running out. He eventually gets them to give him back Rand and the communicators.

Meanwhile, McCoy does the Mad Scientist thing and injects himself with the vaccine they've come up with. It knocks him out cold BUT it works.

The episode has plot holes and sexism and why-does-this-planet-look-like-Earth, but... Kim Darby. She just shines (and not just from the lighting effect). She's magnetic in her every scene. She's a very understandable and even likeable character, and I put that down in large part to Darby's performance. She carried me through the episode.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Uncle Bob?

This was from an old Starlog cartoon, I think, where someone joked that "he looks like my Uncle Bob." The makeup was lacking and I wasn't fond of his performance.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

The episode has plot holes and sexism and why-does-this-planet-look-like-Earth, but... Kim Darby. She just shines (and not just from the lighting effect). She's magnetic in her every scene. She's a very understandable and even likeable character, and I put that down in large part to Darby's performance. She carried me through the episode.

A lot of posters around here dislike "Miri," but I love this episode. Not only for Darby, but also Michael J. Pollard. That's two movie stars in the guest cast, and they both deliver memorable characters.

And Shatner is great in this one. The Kirk character is great. There's a big, theatrical climax with the children attacking him and he makes a desperate speech, and he's terrific.

I also embrace the "early-segment weirdness" that gives "Miri" character— not exactly rough edges, but it seems custom-made, as opposed to the smooth process of second season production. The
early influence of The Twilight Zone is in full force here, with the "mystery sugar coating" of a duplicate Earth, and then the very dark story elements that only get darker if you think them through.

And they not only got outdoors for genuine "planet" scenes, they dressed the hell out of Mayberry, such that the post-Apocalytic mise-en-scène would have held up in a feature film, easily.

Nothing about this one is bland. It's memorable. I even remember the first time I saw it in color, with a new TV and huge new roof antenna. Good times.

 

[Forbin]

Plus we got "NO BLAHBLAHBLAH!!" to quote for all time.

 

[Qonundrum]

People of the past can indeed seem more colourful due to their actions being retold and exaggerated. We never hear of their insecurities and possibly annoying habits or eccentricities.

Sorta like how Zephram Cochrane in STFC was propping up that idea (and not necessarily being a stand-in or allegory of Gene on screen.)

There's that, and the simple fact that exceptional people and standouts are the ones who get remembered at all.

 

[Qonundrum]

Sometimes a good performance suffers from a what-the-pluck wardrobe. But why pick on Jamie Finney?

Because she time travelled to 1988 and/or 2018 to get that goofy teal ensemble, which really looks at least 20 years ahead of its time...?

 

[Commander Troi]

The Conscience of the King by Barry Trivers

A tight little thriller. I think this may have been my first exposure to Shakespeare.

A terrific cold open sets the stage, opening on a performance of the Scottish Play. Kirk has been lured to the planet by Dr. Leighton, who believes the head of an acting troupe is the notorious Kodos the Executioner, who both Kirk and Leighton survived. Kirk starts investigating, beginning with a cocktail party at Leighton's home. There he meets (The Beauteous) Lenore, daughter of the lead actor, and starts charming her. As they walk outside, they find Leighton dead.

Kirk arranges to have the troupe stranded and to "rescue" them, pretending to Lenore he had nothing to do with it. He finds out that Lieutenant Riley is another survivor and reassigns him to engineering (to keep him safe?).

Spock has noticed that Kirk is acting weird and asks McCoy about it. Banter ensues.

Kirk takes Lenore on a tour of the ship and tries to get information from her. I was kind of amazed they got this line past the censors: "And this ship. All this power, surging and throbbing, yet under control. Are you like that, Captain?"

Meanwhile, Spock starts his own investigation and later tells McCoy what he found. Spock: "There were nine eye witnesses who survived the massacre, who'd actually seen Kodos with their own eyes. Jim Kirk was one of them. With the exception of Riley and Captain Kirk, every other eye witness is dead. And my library computer shows that wherever they were, on Earth, on a colony, or aboard ship, the Karidian Company of Players was somewhere near when they died."

Riley is bored and lonely in engineering and calls the rec room on the intercom for company. Uhura sings the lovely "Beyond Antares" while Someone poisons Riley's drink with a cleaning spray bottle. If he hadn't been on the com, he probably would have died.

Spock and McCoy confront Kirk. Kirk is very touchy, but eventually admits what's going on.

KIRK: You sound certain. I wish I could be. Before I accuse a man of that, I've got to be. I saw him once, twenty years ago. Men change. Memory changes. Look at him now, he's an actor. He can change his appearance. No. Logic is not enough. I've got to feel my way, make absolutely sure.

Spock hears a phaser overloading in Kirk's quarters. They search for it, with Kirk eventually finding it and disposing of it.

Kirk goes to talk to Karidian. This is an amazing scene; both actors are absolutely gripping. Kirk has Karidian read a speech of Kodos', but he barely has to look at the paper Kirk wrote it on. Karidian argues Kodos' side without admitting anything.

Interesting (to me) that both Karidian and Lenore accuse Kirk of being, "Mechanised, electronicised, and not very human." They both seem to have a very dire attitude towards modern life.

Riley overhears McCoy saying Karidian could be Kodos and leaves sickbay, grabbing a phaser on his way to the theater (the ship has a theater?) where the troupe is doing Hamlet. Kirk manages to talk Riley into handing over the phaser and sends him back to sickbay.

During a scene break backstage, Karidian tells Lenore he heard a voice out of the past (Riley). Lenore lets her father know everything will be fine... as soon as she kills Riley and Kirk like she killed the other eyewitnesses. Karidian thought she didn't know and was untouched by what he did. As the scene goes on, I could see Lenore's madness gradually showing through, which is ironic considering Lenore is dressed as Ophelia.

Lenore grabs a security guard's phaser and tries to kill Kirk, but Karidian steps in front of him. Lenore loses it completely at her father's death. Barbara Anderson gave a standout performance here.

We close learning that Lenore will receive the best of care and remembers nothing, thinking her father is still alive.

This is a damn good episode, very taut, with some humor, and outstanding performances.

 

[fireproof78]

"Conscience of the King" is one of my favorites, one that stands out even after I got more familiar with Shakespeare and the themes that mirrored within the episode. It's quite the dynamic aspect of showing Kirk's ability to become myopic, as well as his own awareness of his flaws. The performances are great, and aside from the spray bottle poison I find the episode gripping.

Excellent write up!

 

[Commander Troi]

The Galileo Seven by Oliver Crawford

Goodness, it's been ages since I saw this! I always felt Boma was an ass, but he and Gaetano seemed outright bigoted and insubordinate towards Spock. Commissioner Ferris, while reasonably concerned about getting medical aid to a plague, also comes off as petty and officious.

This was a science team, right? So why were McCoy and Scotty there? I *do* like that Uhura filled in Kirk on things Spock would normally report on. And the shuttle is 24 feet long, so at least something in TOS has a canon size.

Quasar-like phenom, shuttle pulled off course, hostile natives... good thing it wasn't the Columbus that went down... ::snicker:: The director did a nice job of going back and forth between the planet and the search for the shuttle. Apparently, this is the first appearance of shuttlecraft (although they were mentioned in The Conscience of the King).

Scotty is brilliant in coming up with the phaser draining for fuel. Boma's insistence on "a proper burial" for Gaetano and Latimer seemed ill-thought out rather than Human. But I love that Spock truly 1) doesn't want to kill the natives, even though it would be "easier" and 2) is genuinely puzzled that he's done everything "right" and still 2 men are dead and several others are pissed off at him.

Spock's idea for the "space flare" was also brilliant. While teasing Spock at the end seemed good-natured, it bothered me a bit. Still, Spock played along.

A pretty good episode, but I don't put it that high in my rankings considering other (much better) episodes this first season.

ETA: On further reflection, I realize this is an important episode because it 1) really defines Spock at this point and 2) Nimoy has really found the character.