Where TOS stumbled....
- Thread starter Warped9
- Start date
The Ultimate Computer, The Doomsday Machine, Stiles from TSFS...That reflects real life, though. At least according to all the military personnel I've ever known, including my dad."General so-and-so doesn't know his ass from a whole in the ground," and so forth.
I only recall this happening twice, A Taste of Armageddon and The Trouble with Tribbles. Of course I'm doing this from memory.
Okay, okay, I fixed it. No need to be an asswhole.
Since this is the 'Where TOS stumbled....' thread, I don't think The Search for Spock would count.
Not sure what Commodore Wesley (The Ultimate Computer) did to be considered incompetent? Decker (The Doomsday Machine) seemed to have the wrong strategy but the right goal in mind trying to protect the Rigel colonies. Plus was in obvious trauma due to the events that lead to the loss of the Constellation. Spock was the one who seemed to come off as incompetent by abandoning Rigel.
So I don't think either of those would count.
In TOS it was Federation officials rather than Starfleet flag officers that were shown to be incompetent or out of their depth. The dumb Admiral shtick didn't start until TSFS and then perpetuated throughout TNG onward.
In TOS the Starfleet command officers that were off their game were:
- Commodore Matt Decker ("The Doomsday Machine") - right goal, but wrong strategy due to trauma and guilt otherwise he might have been fine if he'd been in Kirk's place.
- Captain Ron Tracey ("The Omega Glory") - again his crew began dying around him and he felt helpless and went off the deep end.
- Commodore Stocker ("The Deadly Years") - a desk jockey with good intentions yet totally out of his depth.
In TOS the Starfleet command officers that were off their game were:
- Commodore Matt Decker ("The Doomsday Machine") - right goal, but wrong strategy due to trauma and guilt otherwise he might have been fine if he'd been in Kirk's place.
- Captain Ron Tracey ("The Omega Glory") - again his crew began dying around him and he felt helpless and went off the deep end.
- Commodore Stocker ("The Deadly Years") - a desk jockey with good intentions yet totally out of his depth.
Putting a computer in charge of the ship was a stupid idea and Starfleet approved of it.
Stocker never wanted command, trying desperately to get Spock to take over.
That doesn't mean Wesley approved the project to begin with. He seemed to simply be the task force commander.
Agreed. We get the sense that when the Enterprise attacked at full force he didn't immediately think it was the M5 at fault.
“A hole in the ground, SIR!”
For the era TOS was made in, it actually built up an impressive library of background music. If you watch "The Menagerie", "City of the Edge of Forever", and "That Which Survives", you will hear some of the same music used, and I would argue to maximum effect.
But the PHASE II / NEW VOYAGES soundtrack, heavily borrowed from TOS, underscores exactly what you are talking about. STARSHIP EXETER's "The Tressaurian Intersection" comes up with a derivative pseudo-TOS musical score. I wish all the fan films did this.
My main complaint about the above mentioned fanfilms is that the soundtrack music is used incessantly, even in scenes that shouldn't have any music behind them whatsoever. They've gotten better at restraining themselves on that issue, but the early ones, sheesh! Like a five-year old with a new toy, it was nonstop background music, whether appropriate or not.
Okay, okay, I fixed it. No need to be an asswhole.
Now, that's funny.
Gary 7 never should have happened. As most of you know, it more of Paramount ideaf or a new series that never took off and got cannibalzed into a Trek episode.
Spock's Brain never should have happened.
The Way to Eden never should have happened.
Turnabout Intruder shouldn't have been the series finale. We got no closure.
I actually tend to like "And the Children Shall Lead". It did the "Children of the Corn" first! And, yes I say that knowing that Children of the Corn was itself derivative of "Village of the Damned".
Well, closure in a 1960's TV series was rare. Even shows with a "quest" format didn't always have a wrap-up episode. The Fugitive was the exception and it was consciously planned well before the series was ever filmed. Most of the time, shows just got canned or the studio felt a definitive ending would hurt syndication. Star Trek didn't have an ongoing story, and being episodic it didn't require a "final" episode.
Having said that, Turnabout Intruder was still a pretty poor episode to go out on. All Our Yesterdays would have been much better to end with. The episode wasn't that great all told, really just a riff on City on the Edge of Forever without the high stakes, but it was still a good emotional character driven story. And the final shot of the Enterprise escaping the nova, accompanied by that really nice underscore, would have brought the series to a classy conclusion.
"If only..."
I prefer the non-closure of TOS and TNG, to the overt closure of DS9 and VOY, although in the case of Voyager they did it well.
I like the idea that after Turnabout Intruder the Enterprise Prime and her crew then just went on to their next assignment.
And then the one after that, near endlessly.
Does it make anyone else sad that we now have to refer to the original Enterprise as Enterprise Prime.
