Random observation alien power.

[Autocad]

Saticon Chick and telstar like this

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Just watched two episodes. 'The Apple' and 'Who Mourns for Adonis'.

Both episodes although they were good stories, had basically the same ending. The Enterprise used the phasers to destroy the central power system.

Just a random observation recently after watching the show for over 50 years.

The Squire of Gothos, the power was in the mirror. Anyway, doesn't diminish the stories at all. As Spock would say I find them fascinating.

John P.

 

[johnnybear]

The power was in the mirror yes but maybe as an enhancement of his powers rather than the total force as Trelane could swing a great transmuted sword all by his little self.
JB

 

[Metryq]

I don't agree with this analysis. Using the phasers to destroy what seemed to be a central power source is but a plot point. Hardly "the same ending."

In "Who Mourns For Adonais?" it is suggested that Mankind crossed paths with advanced extraterrestrials sometime in its history. They came, they left their mark, and they went. Without getting into the subtleties of "gods" needing worship, the ETs apparently did not linger on Earth very long. And Apollo's display after the destruction of his temple showed that it was not the source of his power, or at least not the only asset in his tool chest. How much of his power, if any, was innate?

"The Apple" is a peculiar tale. How exactly did the People of Vaal come to be? Were they a civilization that "voted their way into a system that needed shooting to get out of"? Were they a protected lab experiment set up by another civilization, or perhaps a colony sent forth from elsewhere? (Imagine a sub-light starship with no sleepers, no on-board generations living out the voyage—just the germ plasm of the species to be seeded and raised by advanced machines at the distant colony world.) Kirk and company knocked over an apple cart they knew nothing about.

And Trelane? He was the "child" of an apparently highly advanced race. And like Apollo, Trelane had other resources at his command than "the mirror." Maybe the mirror was his "social media" audience. It's a fascinating concept, but the episode, as-is, should not be taken as anything more than a tongue-in-cheek treatment of the idea. (I love it when Kirk calls Trelane pompous.)

 

[Pauln6]

It's a common sci fi trope. You see a variation all the time in older Dr Who stories.

I suppose in this era, the concept of power redundancy was less refined. Even emergency batteries seemed to last about 5 minutes in Elaan of Troiyus.

 

[publiusr]

The mirror machine wasn’t exactly the source of his power—but it might be the highest level tech seen on screen—even if it was another plaything…

 

[Phaser Two]

Just watched two episodes. 'The Apple' and 'Who Mourns for Adonis'.

Both episodes although they were good stories, had basically the same ending. The Enterprise used the phasers to destroy the central power system.

Just a random observation recently after watching the show for over 50 years.

The Squire of Gothos, the power was in the mirror. Anyway, doesn't diminish the stories at all. As Spock would say I find them fascinating.

John P.

That's a good observation. The two stories are so tonally different that they've never really struck me as all that similar. But both definitely belong to the highly familiar "Aliens Immobilize the Enterprise" subgroup. And Kirk was enjoying a little bit of his plug-pulling hobby on Vaal, too, just without dropping any logic bombs. "Who Mourns for Adonais," by contrast, has that wistful, sad element to it ("I wish we hadn't had to do this") that really held up wonderfully when I rewatched it recently.

Personally, any time the Enterprise fires its main phasers, I love it. I'm no warhawk or anything despite the username—quite the opposite, actually—but those effects were top notch. And whenever the show portrays the E as an actual powerhouse vessel with a reluctant warrior tinge, rather than a story problem requiring neutralization for plot convenience, it's highly entertaining. Plus, the awesome final sequence of the E and Apollo exchanging anguished zaps—are you kidding me?

 

[johnnybear]

I remember being disappointed when thinking back to the Enterprise fighting Klingons and various alien vessels in the series and finding out back in the seventies that we never saw a Klingon ship until season three!!! That glowing L from Friday's Child was weird. The Romulans BOP we saw straight away. My memory was as a child that the D7 was seen in all it's Klingon episodes. The new 'improved' effects don't count for me to be honest and there was no need to update the Elaan Klingon ship and replace it with a cartoon angled silver mess.
JB

 

[publiusr]

Personally, any time the Enterprise fires its main phasers, I love it. I'm no warhawk or anything despite the username—quite the opposite, actually—but those effects were top notch.

Naturally! After all, the curve of the lower saucer is such that the dragon/swan smiles as she spits fire. A purely positive vibe.

—the opposite of Spielberg’s tripods…emitters that looked like scythes…each and every blast a Holocaust.

It is rare for light to seem tainted….evil.
Before POLTERGEIST, you had the noir film “Kiss Me Deadly.”

Atomic power was a mystery to most, then—and the Lot’s Wife take was chilling.

 

[Maurice]

Saticon Chick and telstar like this

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Just watched two episodes. 'The Apple' and 'Who Mourns for Adonis'.

Adonais. Adonis is a different figure. ^^^So, what's going on here?

 

[Qonundrum]

Saticon Chick and telstar like this

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Just watched two episodes. 'The Apple' and 'Who Mourns for Adonis'.

Both episodes although they were good stories, had basically the same ending. The Enterprise used the phasers to destroy the central power system.

Just a random observation recently after watching the show for over 50 years.

The Squire of Gothos, the power was in the mirror. Anyway, doesn't diminish the stories at all. As Spock would say I find them fascinating.

John P.

Phasers destroyed the Landru computer in "Return of the Archons", which also talked of forced conformity and feeding it too. (Apollo fed more on ego than eating broccoli, but either way the gas must've been pretty awful.) Phasers also destroyed the computers on Eminiar VII, though there are no other direct plot beats or similarities (other than "conform or be targeted for death").

"Charlie X" and "The Squire of Gothos" both have a childlike adult with big powers, whose mommy and daddy pop in at just the right time to get their errant kiddies home, though each of their circumstances is wildly different - which is where the fun is, the crux of their sitations and how the stories are played out. Similar tropes aside, both do decent jobs at variation... though Charlie is superior as they weren't presented with a little more alien vagueness and Trelane's could have come from a "Lost in Space" episode and would have felt no different.

"The Doomsday Machine" and "The Immunity Syndrome" use the same plot points as well: Big nasty thing from outside the galaxy wanders in and, go fig, is heading to the most densely packed part of the galaxy. Antimatter is used to destroy both. Neither is given a reason for propulsion that makes galactic travel plausible, one just has to roll with it. Thankfully both stories do a good job at getting you to stay in its world than to have you thinking of pesky little sundries such as FTL travel, etc.

At the end of the day, patterns are going to recur. The trick is to make the episode feel fresh and new? (Even spacing out the reused tropes beyond three weeks can help.)

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Phasers destroyed the Landru computer in "Return of the Archons", which also talked of forced conformity and feeding it too.

Memory check: phasers opened a hole in the wall revealing Landru. Kirk and Spock then corrupted the system with a verbal virus, forcing a shutdown.

 

[Metryq]

Kirk and Spock then corrupted the system with a verbal virus, forcing a shutdown.

On a par with lightly bumping into a computer control console and having it explode in high voltage sparks. That's some pretty lousy programming when you can double-talk a Norman, a Nomad, an M-5, a Landru and a Jack-infested ship's computer with the last decimal place of pi. Even Forbin's Colossus didn't fall for that one. (Well, a mathematical version of "irresistible force and immovable object.") Mycroft Holmes IV would solve that one as a puzzle just for the entertainment value of it. "A funny once."

Oh, the double-talk does work on Kelvins and Fizzbin gangsters. And maybe Baloks, too.