Star Trek TOS Re-Watch

[Airin]

I think that a major theme was exploring the relationship between Spock and McCoy and showing how much they need and complement each other (pretty much what Kirk tells them in his last message). And to further enhance the way they're collaborating and warming up to each other in the last part, they chose to make them extra hostile in the first part. For contrast. Which may be a bit too much in the context of the whole series, but the episodes had little continuity.
I think that McCoy accusing Spock of wanting command is either: a) a product of the spatial distortion, or b) McCoy being so hurt after losing Kirk that he needs to somehow vent his frustration on someone.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I love how Kirk and his officers don't even touch the bodies of the dead, strangulated Defiant Captain and the officer who killed him. Just leave them on the deckplating for Mirror Archer and his people to get out of the way when the ship ends up in that universe.

The derelict Defiant wasn't in our universe long enough for the Enterprise to tackle that horrible job. McCoy's medical staff lucked out in that regard.

 

[Commander Troi]

"Plato's Stepchildren" by Meyer Dolinsky

"We are responding to desperate distress calls from an unknown planet. My science officer Mister Spock is unable to account for this, since he reported no signs of life on the planet. It is rich in kironide deposits, a very rare and long-lasting source of great power."

Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to the planet and are greeted by Alexander, a little person. He's forced to lead them to Parmen, the Philosopher-King of these people, who has a terrible infection and needs McCoy's help.

All the Platonians, except Alexander, have psychokinesis.

More exposition (which answers how these aliens came to call themselves Platonians): "When their planet novaed, millennia ago, they transported themselves to Earth in the time of Socrates and Plato. After the death of the Greek civilisation they idolised, they came to this planet and created for themselves a utopia patterned after it."

McCoy cures Parmen, who then asks him to stay as they have no doctors of their own. The Platonians cut off communication with the Enterprise and try to get McCoy to stay by humiliating Kirk and Spock. In Spock's case, they force him to laugh and cry, stirring up anger and hatred in him later that he must control. He definitely has problems recovering!

Eventually, Our Heroes realize the psychokinesis comes from concentrated kironide in the Platonians' blood, gotten from eating the local food. Alexander doesn't have it because it's broken down by the pituitary hormone, which he doesn't have enough of. McCoy is able to synthesize kironide and injects Kirk and Spock with it.

Meanwhile, Uhura and Chapel have been forced to beam down. The Platonians humiliate the four in order to get McCoy to stay - and for their own amusement. They're very sadistic and cruel from 2500 years of power. Eventually, Kirk and Spock have enough power to challenge and defeat Parmen. They go back to the Enterprise - with Alexander.

From this thread and others, I know A LOT of people dislike or even hate this episode. And the torture of Our Heroes (and Alexander) is tough to watch. But it's there to make a point: "Uncontrolled, power will turn even saints into savages, and we can all be counted upon to live down to our lowest impulses."

There are lots of pieces of invisible wire in this episode. There are several points where I felt the writing was sloppy. Barbara Babcock is criminally underused, but her reactions to Spock guessing her age and to Kirk and Uhura kissing (she's practically orgasming!) are excellent. Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, Nichols, and Barrett all do a terrific job with being puppets and fighting against it. Michael Dunn is EXTRAORDINARY, creating a sympathetic and principled character I truly came to care for. I'd say the performances save the episode.

The episode also shows why Plato's Republic would never work in practice.

 

[Poltargyst]

I think that a major theme was exploring the relationship between Spock and McCoy and showing how much they need and complement each other (pretty much what Kirk tells them in his last message). And to further enhance the way they're collaborating and warming up to each other in the last part, they chose to make them extra hostile in the first part. For contrast. Which may be a bit too much in the context of the whole series, but the episodes had little continuity.
I think that McCoy accusing Spock of wanting command is either: a) a product of the spatial distortion, or b) McCoy being so hurt after losing Kirk that he needs to somehow vent his frustration on someone.

McCoy is inconsistent, on the one had accusing Spock of wanting command, but on the other harassing him about the fact that he stayed to fight the Tholians instead of leaving Kirk and getting the ship and crew to safety.

I've thought that this episode was a turning point in the relationship between Spock and McCoy. I don't think they argue as much after this.

 

[Warped9]

The episode also shows why Plato's Republic would never work in practice.

Substitute telekinetic powers with money, position, influence and power and you have many instances in human history. The episode still works.

 

[Warp Core Breach]

"Plato's Stepchildren" by Meyer Dolinsky

"We are responding to desperate distress calls from an unknown planet. My science officer Mister Spock is unable to account for this, since he reported no signs of life on the planet. It is rich in kironide deposits, a very rare and long-lasting source of great power."

Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to the planet and are greeted by Alexander, a little person. He's forced to lead them to Parmen, the Philosopher-King of these people, who has a terrible infection and needs McCoy's help.

All the Platonians, except Alexander, have psychokinesis.

More exposition (which answers how these aliens came to call themselves Platonians): "When their planet novaed, millennia ago, they transported themselves to Earth in the time of Socrates and Plato. After the death of the Greek civilisation they idolised, they came to this planet and created for themselves a utopia patterned after it."

McCoy cures Parmen, who then asks him to stay as they have no doctors of their own. The Platonians cut off communication with the Enterprise and try to get McCoy to stay by humiliating Kirk and Spock. In Spock's case, they force him to laugh and cry, stirring up anger and hatred in him later that he must control. He definitely has problems recovering!

Eventually, Our Heroes realize the psychokinesis comes from concentrated kironide in the Platonians' blood, gotten from eating the local food. Alexander doesn't have it because it's broken down by the pituitary hormone, which he doesn't have enough of. McCoy is able to synthesize kironide and injects Kirk and Spock with it.

Meanwhile, Uhura and Chapel have been forced to beam down. The Platonians humiliate the four in order to get McCoy to stay - and for their own amusement. They're very sadistic and cruel from 2500 years of power. Eventually, Kirk and Spock have enough power to challenge and defeat Parmen. They go back to the Enterprise - with Alexander.

From this thread and others, I know A LOT of people dislike or even hate this episode. And the torture of Our Heroes (and Alexander) is tough to watch. But it's there to make a point: "Uncontrolled, power will turn even saints into savages, and we can all be counted upon to live down to our lowest impulses."

There are lots of pieces of invisible wire in this episode. There are several points where I felt the writing was sloppy. Barbara Babcock is criminally underused, but her reactions to Spock guessing her age and to Kirk and Uhura kissing (she's practically orgasming!) are excellent. Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, Nichols, and Barrett all do a terrific job with being puppets and fighting against it. Michael Dunn is EXTRAORDINARY, creating a sympathetic and principled character I truly came to care for. I'd say the performances save the episode.

The episode also shows why Plato's Republic would never work in practice.

This is one of those episodes that I used to dislike when I was younger, but it's really grown on me over the years. Hell, I even like the Kirk Horsey. Seconded on Michael Dunn, he's great here.

 

[Newt]

The Conscience of the King

Not seen this one in a long time. May of not watched this one since the 90’s
The remastered effects are fine.

What hit me about this episodes is that it’s an allegory of holocaust survivors needing justice from nazi criminals who fled Germany after world war 2.
Quite a contradiction framing the 23rd century as a utopian evolved society we have Kudos a mass murderer with ideas of eugenics.
The episode doesn’t have a satisfactory ending for me, Kudos didn’t appear to sorry enough for his past crimes but more concerned his daughter had added more blood to his hands.
When Kirk confronted Kudos about his true identity he is rather sketchy about admitting it was him or or not. Seems to be proud of his past speech almost still knowing the words.
Then Lenore is not really suitabley punished for her part, all the murders she committed. Just implied she’s mentally ill and get the best of care. I think a case could be made she coldly murdered them people to hide her terrible criminal father and prevent any justice being place upon him.

Maybe that was the point of the story. The allegory of the nazi criminals, many that fled never faced justice and escaped from it. The victims were robbed of it forever.

 

[scotpens]

. . . Quite a contradiction framing the 23rd century as a utopian evolved society we have Kudos a mass murderer with ideas of eugenics.

Earth (and by extension, the Federation) were never presented as a "utopian evolved society" in Trek TOS. That stuff started with TNG, when Gene Roddenberry was beginning to believe his own bullshit.

 

[Tomalak]

And actually it's specifically Earth in the TNG era that is a paradise. Plenty of Federation planets and colonies have issues, otherwise there wouldn't be much drama.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

PLATO is no more hate-deserving than WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE, which is to say not at all.

 

[Noname Given]

"The Tholian Web" by Judy Burns and Chet Richards.

"The Enterprise is approaching the last reported position of the star ship Defiant, which vanished without trace three weeks ago. We are in unsurveyed territory."

Space is weird and all systems have power loss, with no reason they can determine. Sensors don't see it, but the crew see Defiant, drifting in space. Kirk, Spock, Chekov, and McCoy beam over to it, wearing space suits (for once!). Everyone is dead - and they appear to have killed each other. While checking out Engineering, Chekov gets woozy.

McCoy notices that the bodies and the ship are fading and becoming insubstantial. The party decides to leave, but the transporter isn't locking on correctly, so Kirk stays behind... and disappears with the Defiant!

Spock determines that the local space is experiencing periods of "interphase", when two parallel dimensions merge. He believes Kirk will reappear during the next interphase. Then another ship shows up, from the Tholian Assembly. Their captain agrees to wait the 2 hours until interphase for the rescue of Kirk. However, Kirk doesn't reappear and the Tholians fire on the Enterprise. Spock fires back, disabling the Tholian ship, but Enterprise has taken a lot of damage. Meanwhile, Chekov attacks Spock in a rage and has to be nerve pinched and taken to sickbay. A 2nd Tholian ship shows up. In one of the cooler looking effects of TOS, the 2 ships join and then start "weaving" an energy web around Enterprise.

McCoy acts like as ass to Spock as the madness spreads among the crew. Spock holds a small memorial to declare Kirk dead. McCoy and Spock view Kirk's last orders, which encourages them to work together. McCoy apologizes (!) and goes back to trying to find an antidote to the crazy.

Uhura sees a ghostly apparition of the Captain and runs into the hall to get to Spock, collapsing in McCoy's arms. They both assume she's losing it and she goes to sickbay. (The appearance of Kirk in Uhura's quarters was about the only thing I remembered from this episode. But I would've sworn she was wearing pink, not red.)

Scotty sees Kirk too and eventually several people, including Spock and McCoy, see him on the bridge. Uhura is released from sickbay. Spock and Scotty figure out that the exchange of phasers with the Tholians sent the Defiant elsewhere, but Kirk stayed. They calculate the next interphase and prepare.

McCoy finally finds an antidote and distributes it (Scotty wants to know if it will mix with Scotch). They lock onto Kirk with the transporter. Somehow, using ship's power throws them free of the Tholian's web. They beam Kirk aboard as his oxygen is running out.

We end with Kirk asking (with some apprehension) Spock and McCoy about any trouble they had with each other and if his last orders were any help. Spock and McCoy lie - they deny any issues and say they didn't have time to watch his tape.

Except for some plot holes (What happens to the Tholians? Didn't they pursue? Or was Enterprise thrown out of the space the Tholians claimed was theirs? How did McCoy come up with using a Klingon nerve gas derivative as an antidote?), this is a suspenseful episode, made more so by the intercutting with the web getting more complete. Nimoy and Kelley are terrific in their scenes together, and Uhura gets a nice spotlight. This is also an example of a well done bottle episode.

Another one of the very few standout episodes in the rather lackluster TOS third season. It's also in my top 10 of TOS episodes. (And yes, the bit with the Transporter is a big plothole since in Day Of The Dove they could set the thing to 'wide field' and beam up everyone in an area; yet here, suddenly - each Pad has it's own unique frequency <-- ah YATI (Yet Another Trek Inconsistency)

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

Earth (and by extension, the Federation) were never presented as a "utopian evolved society" in Trek TOS. That stuff started with TNG, when Gene Roddenberry was beginning to believe his own bullshit.

Plato's Stepchildren says that size, shape and colour makes no difference where Kirk's from and no one has the power. In Savage Curtain they say they've learned not to fear words. Dagger of the Mind shows that prisons aren't cages anymore. Edith Keeler was right when she said that humans would one day feed the hungry millions, cure diseases, and give everyone hope and a common future. I'd give more examples if I could remember them, but Earth is consistently shown to have a much better society than it does now.

 

[scotpens]

Another one of the very few standout episodes in the rather lackluster TOS third season. It's also in my top 10 of TOS episodes. (And yes, the bit with the Transporter is a big plothole since in Day Of The Dove they could set the thing to 'wide field' and beam up everyone in an area; yet here, suddenly - each Pad has it's own unique frequency <-- ah YATI (Yet Another Trek Inconsistency)

And in "The Cloud Minders," Kirk and Plasus materialize on a single transporter pad -- locked in combat with their hands around each other's throats!

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

The transporters don't have a "hostility detector" that separates people who are fighting automatically, does it? It'd be useful as a security option.

 

[Farscape One]

Plato's Stepchildren says that size, shape and colour makes no difference where Kirk's from and no one has the power. In Savage Curtain they say they've learned not to fear words. Dagger of the Mind shows that prisons aren't cages anymore. Edith Keeler was right when she said that humans would one day feed the hungry millions, cure diseases, and give everyone hope and a common future. I'd give more examples if I could remember them, but Earth is consistently shown to have a much better society than it does now.

TOS described the Federation and Earth as better than now, absolutely. But not a utopia.

 

[Commander Troi]

"Wink of an Eye" by Arthur Heinemann, based on a story by Gene L. Coon (under the pen name Lee Cronin)

Enterprise follows a distress call to Scalos, but there's no one there, just a highly-advanced city. Sensors register... something, but they can't determine what. Kirk hears a buzzing insect. A redshirt disappears before McCoy's eyes.

Back on the ship, McCoy can find nothing wrong with the landing party. Strange malfunctions start happening. A strange device is attached to life support systems.

Kirk drinks some coffee and suddenly everyone is mooooooooooving verrrrrrrrrry sloooooooowly. A lovely blonde woman appears and kisses him. She is Deela, leader of the remaining Scalosians. Kirk appears to have disappeared into thin air. Spock checks Kirk's coffee against everyone else's.

The Scalosians are hyperaccelerated, moving too fast to see. A disaster happened that sped them up and made many of the women and all of the men sterile. They trick passing ships and kidnap a few people to keep their species going. Kirk offers to help if she'll let him go, but she says they've tried everything and this is the only way.

Kirk finds the redshirt from earlier. In a fight, the redshirt is scratched and ages to death very quickly. Those who've been sped up to match the Scalosians die from any cellular damage.

The Scalosians chief scientist, Rael, is in love with Deela. The device in life support is a cryogenic unit, so they can freeze the crew for later use. Kirk leaves a recording in the med lab for Spock and McCoy. Eventually, Spock realizes the "insect" is actually Kirk and the Scalosians. He and McCoy find a possible antidote. Spock drinks the infected Scalosian water and accelerates.

Meanwhile, Kirk sabotaged the transporter to buy time. He then takes Deela to his cabin and they... spend some time together. Rael bursts in and tries to kill Kirk. Afterwards, Kirk appears docile, as Deela said he would become. But it's a ruse and he seizes Deela's weapon. He uses it to destroy the cryo device and stun Rael. Kirk beams the Scalosians home (to die?) and takes the antidote. Spock stays sped up to effect repairs for awhile.

The concept of the episode is interesting and I got invested in it. However, there are definitely some holes, especially how Spock and McCoy could come up with an antidote so quickly when the Scalosians have apparently had generations. And why freeze the rest of the crew? There are only 5 Scalosians, so it seems unlikely they could actually rebuild their population, no matter how many crewmen they kidnapped. According to notes on Wikipedia, the science doesn't hold up in lots of ways, and I'm not surprised.

I genuinely liked Deela - she treated Kirk as an equal (she appears to like his stubbornness and defiance because it reminds her of how Rael used to be). She is stuck in an untenable situation and is doing the best she can with it. She's intelligent, strong-willed, and sometimes playful, but also dignified and devoted to her duty.

I do like Kirk running into Spock in the corridor on his way to the device and smiling broadly. Nice moment on Shatner's part.

Then there's this:

KIRK: If I sent you to Scalos, you'd undoubtedly play the same trick on the next spaceship that passed by.
DEELA: There won't be any others. You'll warn them. Your federation will quarantine the entire area.
KIRK: Yes, I suppose it would.
DEELA: And we will die and solve your problem that way. And ours.

I could headcanon that the Fed sent their best scientists or something, but mostly Kirk just leaves them to die out. This really bugs me. It seems very un-Treklike. I'm unsatisfied by this ending. It's just very sad.

 

[Tomalak]

I always liked this episode. Another good bottle show! It's a cool high-concept sci-fi story done well, and I especially love how the transition scenes between our speed and the Scalosians was done.

I'm sure it's all complete nonsense if you think about it for five seconds. But the antidote thing doesn't bother me, it's simply a TV trope that they have to solve the problem inside 50 minutes. Bones and Spock are really smart! They've travelled to many worlds and have knowledge the Scalosians lacked.

Quarantining planets was very much the TOS approach, like Talos IV. I guess it's that developing view of the Prime Directive, leave people to their fates.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Quarantining planets was very much the TOS approach, like Talos IV. I guess it's that developing view of the Prime Directive, leave people to their fates.

Kirk was going to leave Gary on Delta Vega, and he did leave Bele and Lokai on Cheron, which is consistent with the quarantine logic.

In real life, when you blockade a nation and stop trade from going in and out, you're either at war, or you're about to be. But planets being a different thing, Star Trek had the tidy option of sealing off its trouble spots.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

They need time to study the problem, and they have it, now that the immediate crisis affecting their crew is over. Plus, they can pass the problem along to more and brighter minds than theirs - somebody who isn't directly affected has a different viewpoint than one who is.

 

[Tomalak]

That's what those Second Contact ships are for!