Star Trek TOS Re-Watch
- Thread starter Commander Troi
- Start date
This is my favorite episode of the series and my favorite Star Trek story, franchise-wide. It's my Desert Island pick.
I wouldn't say the episode is "nothing" without Windom, but he does give one of the greatest guest star performances in the series and much of the episode's excellence has to do with his powerful portrayal. But the pacing, the music (to die for), the performances by the regulars and even the planet killer itself all makes this my favorite episode.
"THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE" is one of my two ABSOLUTE FAVORITES of TOS! It was flawless!
It's a rewatch every single time it appears on tv.
It's a rewatch every single time it appears on tv.
The Doomsday Machine has been my favoritist episode of TOS since I started watching in the 70's.
DUH-duh DUH-duh DUH-duh DUH-duh
Windom never realized what a good job he did. I don't think he thought much of the episode.
"The Doomsday Machine" is also my favorite episode, but I insist on the original VFX (and sound).
I haven't looked in on that thread but it was created to make a point. Point made, moved on.This is going slowly because I've seen a number of these episodes so often, I am in no hurry to get back to it. Some of my favorite episodes are in this batch. But I promised myself that if I felt like watching Star Trek, I would go to the next one in production order, so here we are.
Is There In Truth No Beauty? ***½
Love this one! While this was a troubled production, it's a great episode which delivers on the Freiberger credo of action, romance and far out sci-fi. Plus is gives us the IDIC. Even though it was a marketing gimmick by Roddenberry, it was founded on a nice idea that fans ran with. Some fantastic performances, particularly David Frankham as Larry Marvick and Nimoy as Spock/Kollos. Diana Muldaur is much more appropriately cast as Miranda than as Anne Mulhall (although she was fine and classy there). The fawning over her is a bit excessive, but it's all so well done and expertly paced. The music is wonderfully over dramatic, but the hijacking sequence is thrilling. Kirk's confrontation with Miranda in the sickbay is incredible: Shatner was on FIRE.
MIRANDA: No doubt you think I can wake him with a kiss.
KIRK: It's worth a try, isn't it? After all, he's not a machine.
MIRANDA: But he is a Vulcan.
KIRK: Only half. The other half is human. Far more human than you, apparently.
MIRANDA: Face reality, Captain. His mind has gone down almost too far even for me to reach!
KIRK: If you don't reach him soon, he'll die. But that's what you want, isn't it?
MIRANDA: That's a lie!
KIRK: Oh yes, you want him to die! What did you do to him on the Bridge? Did you make him forget to put the visor over his eyes?
MIRANDA: You're insane!
KIRK: Yes, you know your rival, don't you? You couldn't keep him from making a mind-link with Kollos, something you couldn't do yourself! With my words, I'll make you hear such ugliness as Spock saw when he looked at Kollos with his naked eyes! The ugliness is within you!
MIRANDA: That's a lie! Liar!
KIRK: Your desire to see Kollos is madness! You can never see him. Never. But Spock saw Kollos, and for that he must die.
MIRANDA: Sadistic, filthy liar!
KIRK: The smell of hatred, the stench of jealousy permeates you. Why don't you strangle him while he lies there?
MIRANDA: Don't say anymore, please!
KIRK: Kollos knows what's in your heart. You can lie to yourself, but you can't lie to Kollos.
It's not perfect, mind you. Fine, let's allow that they want to be totally sure that Kollos doesn't accidentally open his little box without warning, so they clear everyone away from him who isn't a Vulcan wearing a visor. Why clear every single corridor of the ship? Why not just the path from the transporter to the turbolift and then the turbolift to Kollos' quarters? And why does Kirk not bother with a visor in the end?
Anyway, watching the original effects (as usual), little did I realize as a young'un we got a quick, formerly unseen shot from The Cage as the Enterprise streaks from the galaxy. One that Filmation used in cartoon form for TAS.
I also appreciate the episode title can be read more than one way:
Is there no beauty in truth?
and
Is there truly no beauty?
Depending on your preference for punctuation.
The Empath ***
Spooky, theatrical episode with a heavy emphasis on horror and torture. Watching this one late at night as a kid creeped me out. Funny: this episode was filmed after they pilfered the 20th Century Fox prop room as we see not only the Jupiter 2 freezing tubes, but also a "video screen" from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Add to that is the "limbo" set so commonly used in Irwin Allen productions and the Vians who look like first season Lost in Space aliens. The scene, 26 minutes in, after Kirk is healed, is chilling. The Vians appear and the fisheye lens is used. It's nightmare fuel. The George Duning score is gorgeous and Kathryn Hays is equally beautiful and sensitive as Gem. And the focus on the bond between the three leads - which would be reinforced in the films - is lovely. It's not a pleasant episode, but the third season took a turn towards horror as much as it could for the time. There are a couple of weirdly over the top moments (Kirk in slow motion and Shatner's tantrum of "one specimen, you said one specimen!"), but overall this is a really good episode and probably a budget saver. I was impressed at Kirk's disappearance in the teaser. The imprint of Kirk's box in the floor dust shows no sign of his getting up and walking off camera after the edit. Expertly done.
The Tholian Web ****
What can I say? This is not only one of the best episodes of the season, it's top tier all around, one of my favorites in the series. Fascinating episode, with great effects for the day, excellent atmosphere and wonderful performances by the entire regular cast. With no guest stars to speak of, every regular and semi-regular is in this one. With Shatner out of the picture for the bulk of the episode, everyone gets a chance to shine. Nimoy plays Spock beautifully, starting as usual, then going cold and remote while he deals with Kirk's apparent loss and the consequences of his decisions, to finally embracing his role and becoming more familiar with the crew ("your absence was keenly felt, Mr. Chekov"). McCoy is, as usual, unbearable when Kirk is missing, but starts to come around - however it does feel kind of hollow for Bones to accept Spock as captain after they determine that Kirk is still alive. However, there's no guarantee that they can get him back, so it still works. Scotty gets some wonderful moments throughout and Walter Koenig can do hysterical screaming and insanity as well as anyone. Nichelle Nichols slays in this one, she's really just so wonderful after she see's Kirk's image and falls to pieces in the corridor. In sickbay she's equally good as she reluctantly accepts her fate. Takei doesn't get much as usual, but he's still solid and dependable.
As a kid, I always laughed just before Chekov freaked out. I heard his line "And die like him" as "and I like him!" My sister and I always thought he said that which took years for me to shake, but I still think about it. Every time. Also when Uhura gets the stabbing pain in her cabin, I thought the necklace hurt her. I wondered why she would wear something that gave her shooting pains whenever she put it on. Hey I was a stupid kid. I asked my mom why the Enterprise went to the same planet every week. You know, the Planet Surface.
But I digress.
Incredibly good episode with more legendary aliens and wonderful use of stock music (The Empath when Uhura pleads to McCoy that Kirk is alive and Spock's Brain when Kirk beams up).
My only real gripe is the end gag. Kirk wasn't dead, he wasn't even missing for long. Why did he assume Spock and McCoy would play the last orders? And better yet, why did they lie about it? And were they really orders? It sounded more like friendly advice. Anyways.
Over in another thread it was asked when Fred Freiberger jumped the shark. So far, he hasn't.It's not the same show, but it still has a better than average success rate.
Episodes:
Is there in Truth...
It attempts to be an emotional episode and comes off as melodramatic, which I think is a hallmark of season 3. The music just accentuates this aspect.
Can you imagine the pushback if all the technical nonsense in this episode happened in more modern Trek? These warp speed irregularities are so brazen that David Gerrold used them to fix the problem in the TNG Bible.
Leave it to the 60s to make an episode out of a male stalker and stereotypical female jealousy. Ouch. I'm sure women cringe at this episode to this day. One of TOS's most out of date episodes.
All is not lost though. Even bad episodes of Trek have notables:
IDIC! Sure Gene tried to make pocket change off of this but it doesn't diminish the impact. The results of which are still being felt today in ever-increasing fashion. Woke Trek. They were trying.
Medusans. They're pretty memorable and survive on in Prodigy.
3 out of 10
The Empath:
Im convinced a sadist wrote this. There's not much to redeem this episode. Couldn't the point have been made differently and without a female victim again(season 3, the female victim season)? It feels like they were running out of ideas and saving money.
2 out of 10
The Tholian Web:
The best of this bunch by a long light year.
This is one of the few episodes they seemed to actually suggest the crew felt sentimental for their captain. It would have been nice to see more of them presented this way. It successfuly manages to get past the tired, dead character trope with some nice performances and some intriguing jeopardy.
The science in this one is highly questionable, still there were interesting problems to solve and the solutions were unique.
The Tholians of course, are incredibly memorable, their web feels like a cool weapon...as long as their opponent is helpless. It sort of seals the deal after a victory.
A few pacing issues aside, this episode feels like a standout on all levels.
9 out of 10
Last edited:
I literally can't rewatch this. It makes me sick.
Can't we have a Star Trek episode where people enjoy safe, sane, and consensual BDSM sex?
Fifty Shades of the Final Frontier
I'm guessing a search or two and you might find it. Just a guess...Can't we have a Star Trek episode where people enjoy safe, sane, and consensual BDSM sex?
Fifty Shades of the Final Frontier
Well I suppose that in fanfics or else you can find anything
Because the original FX look like they're part of the same episode? Because the new FX for what they are aren't very good? Both of them look dated now. But one of them looks dated in a way that belongs with the episode.
I will direct you to Plato's Stepchildren.
Huh? The new VFX are the standard. There's a whole new generation of streaming fans who only know these.
This.
Still doesn’t make them any good. Anyone can tell these vfx are mediocre contemporary fx and definitely not made when TOS was originally made.
I’m glad I still have both the DVD and Bluray sets. Fuck streaming.
Maybe I haven't hung out here enough but I've never heard this opinion before. Are the new VFX not generally produced by fans for fans at CBS Digital and widely praised both by fans and creators alike, but especially by people like Nimoy and Justman?
Streaming?? So get off your lawn huh? I get it. Coming here makes me feel less aged.
Lot's of people here that aren't fans of TOS-R's effects, me included. And I think that @Warped9's comment about streaming in this context was referring to the fact that TOS-R is the only version you can watch on P+
Similar threads
