Star Trek TOS Re-Watch
- Thread starter Commander Troi
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This is a nice touch and gives TOS that sense of previous history. I didn't care for the episode, and the whole Companion merging with Hedford thing weirds me out, but Cochrane is good, and adds to the lore, as well as is nice to see in First Contact and Enterprise.
"Journey to Babel" by D.C. Fontana
Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites... OH MY!
This episode is chock full of stuff - a murder, politics, a mysterious ship, emergency surgery while under attack, and...
KIRK: Mister Spock, we'll leave orbit in two hours. Would you care to beam down and visit your parents?
SPOCK: Captain, Ambassador Sarek and his wife are my parents.
MIC DROP!
There's so much here that added to our knowledge about Vulcans (they're sexist, or at least Sarek is) and about Spock in particular. The episode also introduces Andorians and Tellarites and mentions Orions.
Mark Lenard and Jane Wyatt are both excellent here, as are Nimoy, Shatner, and Kelley. This is Essential Star Trek viewing.
ETA: Did they use makeup to make Lenard and Wyatt look older? I know Mark wasn't actually much older than Nimoy. And Wyatt was a year older than I am now!
Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites... OH MY!
This episode is chock full of stuff - a murder, politics, a mysterious ship, emergency surgery while under attack, and...
KIRK: Mister Spock, we'll leave orbit in two hours. Would you care to beam down and visit your parents?
SPOCK: Captain, Ambassador Sarek and his wife are my parents.
MIC DROP!
There's so much here that added to our knowledge about Vulcans (they're sexist, or at least Sarek is) and about Spock in particular. The episode also introduces Andorians and Tellarites and mentions Orions.
Mark Lenard and Jane Wyatt are both excellent here, as are Nimoy, Shatner, and Kelley. This is Essential Star Trek viewing.
ETA: Did they use makeup to make Lenard and Wyatt look older? I know Mark wasn't actually much older than Nimoy. And Wyatt was a year older than I am now!
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"Friday's Child" by D.C. Fontana
A silly little episode, made better by the chemistry between Kelley and Julie Newmar. I swore this episode was from 3rd season, but that may be purely because of the costumes, which seem to have come from a drapery and upholstery store.
Kirk, Spock, McCoy (who's been there before), and a redshirt beam down to Capella IV to negotiate a mining treaty. But there's a Klingon already there, working with a Capellan named Maab. The redshirt draws on the Klingon, getting killed by the Capellans before the opening credits.
They meet the Teer (leader), Akaar, and his pregnant wife, Eleen. There's a coup and Maab becomes Teer. Under their laws, Eleen and her unborn child must die, and she is willing, but Kirk isn't, and Our Heroes fight free and flee with her into the hills. McCoy, unable to not be a doctor, tries to help her, but she slaps him (twice) because she isn't to be touched. He slaps her back and she lets him treat her. However, she doesn't want the baby because children belong to their father's and with him dead, her child belongs to no one.
Meanwhile, the Enterprise is drawn off by a fake distress call.
As the birth is imminent, McCoy tries to get Eleen to say, "the child is mine," but she responds, "Yes, the child is yours." Kirk and Spock make a rockfall to block the pursuing Capellans and make bows and arrows for defense.
Eleen konks McCoy on the head with a rock and sneaks down to Maab, claiming she has killed the child and the Federation officers. The Klingon wants proof, however, and heads into the hills with a stolen phaser, then threatens the Capellans with it. Maab, realizing the responsibility of being Teer, gives Eleen back her life and sacrifices himself so one of his men can kill the Klingon. Then the Redshirt Cavalry, led by Scotty, shows up.
The episode does have a fun finale and Nimoy's expression is priceless:
KIRK: Contact Starfleet. Inform them the Federation mining rights on Capella have been secured by treaty, documents signed by the young high chief's regent. Report follows.
UHURA: Aye, aye, sir.
SPOCK: The child's regent?
KIRK: Yes, Eleen. Remarkable young lady.
MCCOY: Representing the high teer, Leonard James Akaar.
SPOCK: The child was named Leonard James Akaar?
MCCOY: Has a kind of a ring to it, don't you think, James?
KIRK: Yes. I think it's a name destined to go down in galactic history, Leonard. What do you think, Spock?
SPOCK: I think you're both going to be insufferably pleased with yourselves for at least a month, sir.
A silly little episode, made better by the chemistry between Kelley and Julie Newmar. I swore this episode was from 3rd season, but that may be purely because of the costumes, which seem to have come from a drapery and upholstery store.
Kirk, Spock, McCoy (who's been there before), and a redshirt beam down to Capella IV to negotiate a mining treaty. But there's a Klingon already there, working with a Capellan named Maab. The redshirt draws on the Klingon, getting killed by the Capellans before the opening credits.
They meet the Teer (leader), Akaar, and his pregnant wife, Eleen. There's a coup and Maab becomes Teer. Under their laws, Eleen and her unborn child must die, and she is willing, but Kirk isn't, and Our Heroes fight free and flee with her into the hills. McCoy, unable to not be a doctor, tries to help her, but she slaps him (twice) because she isn't to be touched. He slaps her back and she lets him treat her. However, she doesn't want the baby because children belong to their father's and with him dead, her child belongs to no one.
Meanwhile, the Enterprise is drawn off by a fake distress call.
As the birth is imminent, McCoy tries to get Eleen to say, "the child is mine," but she responds, "Yes, the child is yours." Kirk and Spock make a rockfall to block the pursuing Capellans and make bows and arrows for defense.
Eleen konks McCoy on the head with a rock and sneaks down to Maab, claiming she has killed the child and the Federation officers. The Klingon wants proof, however, and heads into the hills with a stolen phaser, then threatens the Capellans with it. Maab, realizing the responsibility of being Teer, gives Eleen back her life and sacrifices himself so one of his men can kill the Klingon. Then the Redshirt Cavalry, led by Scotty, shows up.
The episode does have a fun finale and Nimoy's expression is priceless:
KIRK: Contact Starfleet. Inform them the Federation mining rights on Capella have been secured by treaty, documents signed by the young high chief's regent. Report follows.
UHURA: Aye, aye, sir.
SPOCK: The child's regent?
KIRK: Yes, Eleen. Remarkable young lady.
MCCOY: Representing the high teer, Leonard James Akaar.
SPOCK: The child was named Leonard James Akaar?
MCCOY: Has a kind of a ring to it, don't you think, James?
KIRK: Yes. I think it's a name destined to go down in galactic history, Leonard. What do you think, Spock?
SPOCK: I think you're both going to be insufferably pleased with yourselves for at least a month, sir.
Campy, campy but not fun.
Imagine bringing in a great Starfleet commander and consigning him to a plot where he's part of a bad vaudeville act. That's what this feels like.
I admire Gideon's attempt to make an early comment on overpopulation. The rest is tiresome and sad.
No ratings, I can't generate the motivation.
I love this episode. It really expanded the world building of TOS. It was always a highlight of my rewatch years.
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They wanted to use Star Bellied Sneeches but there were budget and legal considerations.
But Scotty says it's just SPACE! (A lot.)
This is THE best Star Trek episode.
From Memory Alpha: "In Dorothy Fontana's original script, Eleen sacrificed her child for her own life. Gene Roddenberry objected to this, and changed the ending to what appears in the finished episode. Fontana also envisioned Eleen as a strong woman, who rebels against a society which considers women only as mothers and homemakers."
I believe the original ending is in the Blish adaptation.
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On Lenard, maybe a touch, but Vulcans don't age as fast. I recall Nimoy complementing Mark Lenard's ability to project the age difference and authority by acting.
Wyatt was 20 years older than Nimoy, and just fine for the part as is.
I'd say a little of this made it through in Eleen becoming regent for her son.
Strange. I also thought this was third season. Oh well.
In my opinion, a very strong episode. I think it shows the tension between the Klingons and the Federation, even if the Klingon actor is not great. Maab is a fascinating character for his view on honor, compared to how the Klingon conducts himself.
Definitely one of my favorite episodes, especially with that ending.
Dorothy hated this ending, IIRC. She wanted to show that woman does not automatically equal good mother any more than man automatically equaled good father.
EDIT: And I will take Fried's score for Friday's Child over Amok Time. Other than his Spock theme. His Spock theme is just the best thing.
I did catch some Amok Time music in Journey to Babel.
I always felt that a few of the later stories would have been stronger with more of a female perspective. Headford is portrayed as someone who has sacrificed social skills, a love life, and even friendships for a career. She can't have both so she acquires a gentle, loving personality and gives up her career. It's a trope they slather over a few of their female characters. Palamis, Dehner, McGyvers, and Jones are other examples. It would have been nice to have Headford talk to another woman so she wasn't always being patronised.
"The Deadly Years" by David P. Harmon
The Enterprise is doing a resupply of the research station on Gamma Hydra IV. Kirk, McCoy, Spock, Scotty, Chekov, and Lt. Galway beam down and find a man dead of apparent old age and 2 colonists who look very elderly but say they're in their 20s. They die on the ship. The landing party - with the exception of Chekov - start to age rapidly. Spock works with Dr. Janet Wallace, an endocrinologist and ex-girlfriend of Kirk's, to determine what's causing it. They determine that a comet passed by recently, with unusual radiation that seems to be the cause. Regular radiation treatments do nothing.
Commodore Stocker, who the Enterprise was taking to Starbase 10, grows increasingly concerned with Kirk's behavior and apparent mental deterioration and has Spock convene a competency hearing. It does not go well. I liked how each of the witnesses was reluctant to say anything against Kirk. Since Spock and Scotty are also afflicted, Stocker, who's never commanded a ship, takes over and takes the Enterprise into the Neutral Zone, where it's attacked by Romulans.
"Remembering Chekov's fright at the discovery of the dead body, McCoy surmises that Chekov's increased adrenaline levels may have had some effect, and recalls that adrenaline had once shown promise as a treatment for radiation sickness. Mr. Spock and Dr. Wallace, assisted by Nurse Chapel, begin work on an adrenaline-based compound to test on the landing party." Kirk demands the first dose and, when it works, rushes to the bridge to take back command. He bluffs the Romulans (using the "corbomite device") and gets them out of the NZ.
What's really interesting about this episode to me, at my age, is the incredibly negative view of aging in general and the things we considered "normal" then that now aren't. Everyone pities Kirk for his failing memory. Scotty is practically non-responsive. Lt. Galway shows horror at her face in the mirror and also dies (even though she's youngest or next-to after Chekov). Kirk is a little freaked by getting older too. McCoy *does* say everyone ages differently, which was a nice bit of accuracy. But it's definitely a very different viewpoint based in a time when people retired at 55 and died in their 60s. As Wikipedia notes, "Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B− rating, noting the focus on the physical aspects of aging, saying, 'Nobody learns a valuable lesson about how getting old is just a natural part of life.'"
It is a tightly executed episode and the makeup was quite impressive for the time, especially the subtler makeup used on Spock (since Vulcans live longer). Shatner was very impressive with moving like an older, slower person with aches and pains. Sadly, Dr. Wallace appears to be there just to moon over Kirk.
The Enterprise is doing a resupply of the research station on Gamma Hydra IV. Kirk, McCoy, Spock, Scotty, Chekov, and Lt. Galway beam down and find a man dead of apparent old age and 2 colonists who look very elderly but say they're in their 20s. They die on the ship. The landing party - with the exception of Chekov - start to age rapidly. Spock works with Dr. Janet Wallace, an endocrinologist and ex-girlfriend of Kirk's, to determine what's causing it. They determine that a comet passed by recently, with unusual radiation that seems to be the cause. Regular radiation treatments do nothing.
Commodore Stocker, who the Enterprise was taking to Starbase 10, grows increasingly concerned with Kirk's behavior and apparent mental deterioration and has Spock convene a competency hearing. It does not go well. I liked how each of the witnesses was reluctant to say anything against Kirk. Since Spock and Scotty are also afflicted, Stocker, who's never commanded a ship, takes over and takes the Enterprise into the Neutral Zone, where it's attacked by Romulans.
"Remembering Chekov's fright at the discovery of the dead body, McCoy surmises that Chekov's increased adrenaline levels may have had some effect, and recalls that adrenaline had once shown promise as a treatment for radiation sickness. Mr. Spock and Dr. Wallace, assisted by Nurse Chapel, begin work on an adrenaline-based compound to test on the landing party." Kirk demands the first dose and, when it works, rushes to the bridge to take back command. He bluffs the Romulans (using the "corbomite device") and gets them out of the NZ.
What's really interesting about this episode to me, at my age, is the incredibly negative view of aging in general and the things we considered "normal" then that now aren't. Everyone pities Kirk for his failing memory. Scotty is practically non-responsive. Lt. Galway shows horror at her face in the mirror and also dies (even though she's youngest or next-to after Chekov). Kirk is a little freaked by getting older too. McCoy *does* say everyone ages differently, which was a nice bit of accuracy. But it's definitely a very different viewpoint based in a time when people retired at 55 and died in their 60s. As Wikipedia notes, "Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B− rating, noting the focus on the physical aspects of aging, saying, 'Nobody learns a valuable lesson about how getting old is just a natural part of life.'"
It is a tightly executed episode and the makeup was quite impressive for the time, especially the subtler makeup used on Spock (since Vulcans live longer). Shatner was very impressive with moving like an older, slower person with aches and pains. Sadly, Dr. Wallace appears to be there just to moon over Kirk.
You know, looking back Janet Wallace doesn't hold a candle to Carol Marcus. This episode also gives us Gama Hydra being next to The Neutral Zone.
Yeah, going from 35 to 55 overnight, let alone 35 to 80 would be traumatic to say the least.
Then you add to the fact that Shatner in real life has aged miraculously well.
Yeah, going from 35 to 55 overnight, let alone 35 to 80 would be traumatic to say the least.
Then you add to the fact that Shatner in real life has aged miraculously well.
I never bought into the idea that Chekov would be so shocked and frightened at seeing a dead body (even if it suddenly appeared in the dark) that his adrenaline level would shoot sky-high. Sure, Chekov is young, but he's already an experienced officer. You'd think he would have seen one or two corpses by now.
I think Chekov's fright is more how they appeared when dead.
Agreed! Wallace was boring.
It felt like that!
I swear I was in my 30s yesterday...Good point. However, he definitely wasn't expecting it and the lights came on suddenly, so I give him a break.
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