Requiem for Methuselah Question

[Smiley]

I rewatched "Requiem for Methuselah" yesterday, and it seemed like Kirk fell madly in love with Reena in a very short time for no apparent reason. What made her so special, and why is she the only one that Spock had to make him forget onscreen?

 

[Michael]

Because the story was yet another take on Forbidden Planet?

 

[BigC]

Because Reena was a android. And she let him change her batteries.

 

[M'Sharak]

Because the story was yet another take on Forbidden Planet?

With a nod to R.U.R., besides.

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Rayna_Kapec

 

[Timo]

One might argue that Kirk did not fall in love with Rayna, nor did he get his priorities mixed in any other way.

The sequence of events is roughly this:

-Landing party arrives to perform a crucial mission.
-Invincible robot overwhelms and stops them.
-Master to the robot invites them to tea and crumpets, the Sicilian way.
-Master promises to help with the mission, introduces the Babe.
-Landing party agrees to let Master do what Master wants, basically at gunpoint - but Master also has a point in saying he can get the mission done faster.
-Inexplicably, Master then stalls and cheats; landing party doesn't understand why.
-Spock wants to study the Master's collections to get to the bottom of this.
-Kirk dismisses Spock's approach and instead homes in on the Babe.
-Kirk's approach is fully validated when it turns out that the reason for Master's stalling and cheating was the Babe.
-Kirk proceeds to exploit this angle to the fullest, killing the Babe, collapsing the Master's master plan and making him cooperate, or at least cease resisting. Spock's angle provides only incidental information and proves ineffective.
-All is well that ends well; Kirk goes back to his ship and has an emotional moment of reflection - about the Master, not the Babe!

Really, even though the audience at times is lured to thinking that Kirk is in love with the Babe and acting irrationally, in hindsight it merely is part of a clever con. Kirk shows no emotional attachment to Rayna Kapec after having completed the dirty work. All his sympathy is on the side of Flint the Immortal, as in this bit of monologue (italics mine):

Kirk: "A very old and lonely man. And a young and lonely man. We put on a pretty poor show, didn't we? If only I could forget."

McCoy's response to Spock is also all about Flint (and Jim) rather than Rayna (italics mine):

McCoy: "Well, I guess that's all. I can tell Jim later or you can. Considering his opponent's longevity, truly an eternal triangle. You wouldn't understand that, would you, Spock? You see, I feel sorrier for you than I do for him because you'll never know the things that love can drive a man to. The ecstasies, the miseries, the broken rules, the desperate chances, the glorious failures, the glorious victories. All of these things you'll never know simply because the word love isn't written into your book."

It is only McCoy's gender choice in the parting line that is out of line with the rest of the episode (italics mine):

McCoy: " I do wish he could forget her."

It really should be "him"...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Forbin]

 

[Doug Otte]

One might argue that Kirk did not fall in love with Rayna, nor did he get his priorities mixed in any other way.

The sequence of events is roughly this:

-Landing party arrives to perform a crucial mission.
-Invincible robot overwhelms and stops them.
-Master to the robot invites them to tea and crumpets, the Sicilian way.
-Master promises to help with the mission, introduces the Babe.
-Landing party agrees to let Master do what Master wants, basically at gunpoint - but Master also has a point in saying he can get the mission done faster.
-Inexplicably, Master then stalls and cheats; landing party doesn't understand why.
-Spock wants to study the Master's collections to get to the bottom of this.
-Kirk dismisses Spock's approach and instead homes in on the Babe.
-Kirk's approach is fully validated when it turns out that the reason for Master's stalling and cheating was the Babe.
-Kirk proceeds to exploit this angle to the fullest, killing the Babe, collapsing the Master's master plan and making him cooperate, or at least cease resisting. Spock's angle provides only incidental information and proves ineffective.
-All is well that ends well; Kirk goes back to his ship and has an emotional moment of reflection - about the Master, not the Babe!

Really, even though the audience at times is lured to thinking that Kirk is in love with the Babe and acting irrationally, in hindsight it merely is part of a clever con. Kirk shows no emotional attachment to Rayna Kapec after having completed the dirty work. All his sympathy is on the side of Flint the Immortal, as in this bit of monologue (italics mine):

Kirk: "A very old and lonely man. And a young and lonely man. We put on a pretty poor show, didn't we? If only I could forget."

McCoy's response to Spock is also all about Flint (and Jim) rather than Rayna (italics mine):

McCoy: "Well, I guess that's all. I can tell Jim later or you can. Considering his opponent's longevity, truly an eternal triangle. You wouldn't understand that, would you, Spock? You see, I feel sorrier for you than I do for him because you'll never know the things that love can drive a man to. The ecstasies, the miseries, the broken rules, the desperate chances, the glorious failures, the glorious victories. All of these things you'll never know simply because the word love isn't written into your book."

It is only McCoy's gender choice in the parting line that is out of line with the rest of the episode (italics mine):

McCoy: " I do wish he could forget her."

It really should be "him"...

Timo Saloniemi

As always, Timo, yours is a very well thought-out and well-written response. I think it's quite a stretch however, in this case. I think the episode did portray Kirk as falling for Rayna. It was unbelievable, and I put it down to sloppy 3rd season writing.

Doug

 

[SchwEnt]

...and another thing that always got me about Kirk and Rayna and the love/heartbreak deal--didn't the whole thing happen in less that a day?

I don't recall the exact timing, but the whole critical medical crisis from beamdown to beamup was what, twelve hours or something??

How can you be that broken up over a love affair less than a day after first meeting someone?

 

[Nerys Myk]

Kirk falls in love at the drop of a hat.

 

[cooleddie74]

I was always more amused and suprised by the fact that McCoy checks the Rayna android's PULSE after she short-circuits and collapses. McCoy checks her carotid artery.

 

[Redfern]

I was always more amused and suprised by the fact that McCoy checks the Rayna android's PULSE after she short-circuits and collapses. McCoy checks her carotid artery.

Hmm, could have been a "bio-mechanical" model like the Ash and Bishop series from the "Alien" films, milky pneumatic fluids transporting needed chemicals throughout the chassis... Oh! Who am I kidding?! Eddie has the right idea; let's just laugh at the bad material!


Sincerely,

Bill

 

[cooleddie74]

I myself noticed it when I was a kid. Even back then I knew most sci-fi robots and androids weren't supposed to have human-like cardiovascular networks or anything resembling a biological pulse. Phil Farrand in his 1994 TOS nitpicker's guide was the first author to have made public notice of this, though.

 

[pookha]

i just go with the idea that she had been implanted with some type of phermone that affected kirks brain.
:P

 

[Terra Pryme]

I was always more amused and suprised by the fact that McCoy checks the Rayna android's PULSE after she short-circuits and collapses. McCoy checks her carotid artery.

Well, she was designed to be as human as possible. Dr. Soong devoted that same level of work when he created Data. If you remember TNG's "Birthright" (Pt. 1), Dr. Bashir had gotten a pulse from his wrist as he was more fascinated from his human-like qualities.

 

[TOS Purist]

Hmm, could have been a "bio-mechanical" model like the Ash and Bishop series from the "Alien" films, milky pneumatic fluids transporting needed chemicals throughout the chassis... Oh! Who am I kidding?! Eddie has the right idea; let's just laugh at the bad material!

Let's not. How about we instead do what Terra Pryme did, and mention everyone's favorite android Data from everyone's precious "TNG," where Bashir noticed he had a pulse, too? Or are you going to laugh at Data, as well? No, we CAN'T do that, we can only laugh at stupid little TOS, isn't that right, TNG fans?

 

[maryh]

With all its blatant weaknesses this episode still was very thought provoking for me.

 

[TOS Purist]

With all its blatant weaknesses this episode still was very thought provoking for me.

That's one of the things that makes TOS such a good show; even the episodes that weren't on the same "epic masterpiece" level as some of the others still presented interesting ideas that challenged your mind. TOS was a venue for some of the best sci-fi writers of the time to come forth and put their own concepts on the table; in a way, TOS is a lot like those old anthology sci-fi books you could buy back in the day (or just check a used book store) which would include a bunch of short stories from different writers, each one unique but equally thought-provoking.

Sorry, I guess I went a little off-topic there, gushing about TOS...but I liked the point you made!

 

[Doug Otte]

With all its blatant weaknesses this episode still was very thought provoking for me.

That's one of the things that makes TOS such a good show; even the episodes that weren't on the same "epic masterpiece" level as some of the others still presented interesting ideas that challenged your mind. TOS was a venue for some of the best sci-fi writers of the time to come forth and put their own concepts on the table; in a way, TOS is a lot like those old anthology sci-fi books you could buy back in the day (or just check a used book store) which would include a bunch of short stories from different writers, each one unique but equally thought-provoking.

Sorry, I guess I went a little off-topic there, gushing about TOS...but I liked the point you made!

I guess I had only seen this episode a handful of times in the past 30-odd years, but this thread prompted me to go back and watch it last week.

It has the usual 3rd season faults, and I still disagree w/ Timo's hypothesis, but I found myself enjoying the episode much more. It did have a certain elegance and dignity to it that you usually only find in Trek.

Doug

 

[TOS Purist]

It has the usual 3rd season faults...

I'd like to know just exactly what those "usual 3rd season faults" are. I'm sure that saying things like that make the speaker feel "in the know" and smart by repeating things they've doubtlessly heard others say elsewhere, instead of formulating their own opinion based on their own observations...

I'm not saying that's what you're doing, but it's a recurring annoyance of mine. Even Shatner says stuff like "yeah TOS was corny," but they never say WHY. They just say that it IS, because that makes them seem "cool" and "in the know" or something. Either way it's stupid and I'm tired of people making claims (like "THE OLD BATTLESTAR GALACTICA WAS CHEESY OMG") just to agree with the "cooler kids" and not look dumb for liking something.

So I ask again: What are the "usual 3rd season faults?"







And for the record, the original Battlestar Galactica was never cheesy. I've watched just about all of the episodes and I really have absolutely no idea where people get that from.

 

[Michael]

I'd like to know just exactly what those "usual 3rd season faults" are.

• most episodes feature just Kirk, Spock and McCoy
• general mischaracterization of some characters (most notably Spock)
• Freiberger wanted only action-oriented stories and didn't like too cerebral stuff
• the budget was reduced to $180,000 per episode
• no shooting on location

(like "THE OLD BATTLESTAR GALACTICA WAS CHEESY OMG")

The old Battlestar Galactica was cheesy.