That's actually a really great analysis.
Opinions on The Omega Glory
- Thread starter Expo67
- Start date
That's actually a really great analysis.
Obviously did you not read mine or the following 3 or 4 posts afterwards as to why I do not enjoy it (its a matter of it not making logical sense), but I find your tone and attitude insulting; reminding me of the trolls in the Neutral Zone
I don't think Tracey was a sociopath to begin with. We never got to see him in his prime, as it were. I think he was just unhinged about what happened to his crew (just like what happened to Decker).
Not all entertainment has to make 'logical' sense to be entertaining. This episode just has so many things going for it that the 'e pleb neesta' just doesn't even register as a blip on my radar.
As a matter of fact... I've never had an issue making the ending make sense in my head.
While the rest is made up of stuck-in-the-50s jingoistic conservatives, I guess.
I agree. Every time it comes on, I start out really excited, like: "This is really good!" Then the 'reveal' comes and I remember which episode it is and I just feel ill.
Irrespective of the makeup of the viewership, Trek has always espoused a progressive viewpoint and it is a primary part of its core makeup. There's nothing wrong with patriotism, but nationalism was specifically mentioned in the Star Trek Bible as not existing in the 23rd century, which is why this episode sticks out (and feels) like a sore thumb.
Yeah... but the episode was filmed in the 1960's. So it's going to reflect the attitudes of the culture that made it. Plus, it's just a damn fun episode and that is the most important thing to me when I sit down to watch entertainment.
1: "The Omega Glory" is actually a layered episode. On one level, the ep is about an alien world where the people lost their way, the words of their constitution have lost their meaning. On another level, Captain Kirk confronts a fellow starship captain who has fallen from grace, violating the prime directive. (Funny how Kirk doesn't have any problem interfering in the Omega IV society.) This is actually the heart of the ep, which most fans miss: Kirk and Tracey do battle on a war-torn alien world that serves as a Vietnam War allegory. There is a third layer, where the Exeter falls victim to a virus that kills the crew. There is an element of exploration in this third layer, from encountering the empty starship to Spock and McCoy's in-depth study of Omega IV and its disease. Each of these three layers has merit, but Roddenberry was faced with an impossible task of addressing all of these elements and making them convincing in the confines of a single, one-hour ep. He cut too many corners and it shows.
2: The impression we were left with by Kirk's set-up was that Tracey was "one of the most experienced captains in the Star Fleet." Given Tracey's ability to ensnare the landing party and to fight Kirk and almost win, he does seem to be a formidable warrior. Of course, Starfleet officers aren't supposed to be pure warriors. Morgan Woodward's portrayal of Tracey is as magnetic as Riccardo Montalban's Khan in "Space Seed". It is good to have him back after "Dagger of the Mind".
3: The heart of the ep is actually a compelling, multi-layered story. The story works, but it keeps stumbling. First, in order to trap Kirk on the planet, you have to first lure him aboard the Exeter so that he can be infected with the Omega IV disease. Why the Enterprise boarding party would transport aboard the Exeter, sight unseen, without so much as a probe or an attempt to tap into the Exeter's computers remotely (or at least without wearing environment suits to prevent contamination) makes Kirk look rather foolish.
Seeing the Exeter crew reduced to a pile of crystals is effective, if a bit cheesey. (They don't even look like skeletons; just uniforms with crystals poured on them.)
Then seeing Tracey, the only living starship captain that Kirk encounters directly in TOS, (the other living skippers are all flag officers) is interesting, if a bit disturbing, since the trauma of loosing his crew and being subjected to indigenous conflict has made him into a rogue.
In "Court Martial", Stone tells Kirk that no starship captain has ever been convicted of a serious offense. The sad thing about this ep is that with Tracey's arrest, that perfect record would have to be broken.
There are some very odd moments in "Omega" that make me wonder what the show's makers and writers were thinking. One is at the beginning: Sulu announces the ship is approaching Omega IV and a vessel has been sighted. Kirk immediately orders a red alert. It is unclear why such a move is necessary without even determining the vessel's identity or status or attempting the hail the other ship.
The other strange scene comes at the end, when Spock telepathically seduces the model-turned-actress (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Nova from PLANET OF THE APES) to activate a communicator. And without a word, Sulu materializes with an armed party. This whole scene makes no sense. (1: It's clearly established in TOS that Spock is a touch-telepath. (2: It makes no sense as to why Sulu would be standing by to beam down just because the Enterprise receives "dead air". (3: It makes even less sense that Sulu would recruit volunteers to beam down when he knows they will be subjected to a contagion. (4: It makes even less sense that Sulu would beam down with a well-armed party with the Prime Directive obviously still in force.
But hey, "Omega" is an action story. You knew that when you saw the crystals poured onto the uniforms and Captain Tracey shooting with his phaser set to vaporize with reckless abandon, right?
"Omega" has its charms, but it ventures a little too far into cheeseland. That having been said, even SPACE: 1999 was entertaining from time to time.
I'm always a sucker for technicalities, and "Omega Glory" indeed has a couple to offer (it's also interesting to learn about the amount of ammo available in a hand phaser - that is, enough to kill one army but not two - and the fact that phasers can leave battlefields littered with corpses). Let's have a shot...
The teaser makes it sound like Kirk is just cruising about, not e.g. performing a specific mission at Omega IV - after all, Sulu has to inform Kirk of the identity of the planet they are approaching. OTOH, we know Kirk isn't looking for the Exeter specifically, as he hasn't heard of any trouble regarding that ship. And since the Exeter was patrolling this area half a year previously without trouble, the area in question probably isn't "troubled", either.
What's left here? Kirk isn't at Omega for Omega itself, or for the Exeter, or because the region in general is a hot zone. But he sounds an alert at the first hint of an unidentified vessel, and interestingly enough, everybody understands it's going to be a red alert rather than a yellow one without Kirk saying so. What it looks like, then, is that this is what they have been tasked to do: scour the region for an unidentified vessel. Perhaps there's a pirate loose, or a fugitive of some other sort; perhaps Klingon agents are again afoot, like in the recent "A Private Little War"?
Finding the Exeter naturally takes precedence, as Kirk has no idea that the encounter is going to take a long time to sort out...
1) Spock does have a range of other "paranormal" abilities. He can sense across interstellar distances that Alderaan is gone, or that his girlfriend is expecting. He can also influence people to do his bidding (and defy their orders) through walls. Influencing a person to do something fairly innocent across the room shouldn't be a major deviation, then - nor would it be something that would have altered the plots of previous episodes. The "Taste of Armageddon" ability to make a guard defy his orders is the more serious aberration and plot twister...
2) We might argue that instead of static, Sulu receives the sounds of the knifefight, then Cloud William's threatening words "Kill him!". OTOH, since Spock is in possession of the communicator while the camera is turned away, he could be doing just about anything, from speaking to Sulu in a low voice, to pressing the button marked "Emergency Armed Response".
3/4) If Spock briefly explained the situation to Sulu, there'd be no contradiction. But it would suffice if Sulu somehow learned that Spock was indeed the one calling for the intervention. Sulu could then readily assume that Spock knew what he was doing.
Just pressing the "Rescue Us Now" button wouldn't convince Sulu; any silly primitive might have found the button by accident. Just hearing the sounds of the fight wouldn't suffice, either. But if Spock managed to utter a codeword, that'd certainly be enough. And we know that there are standard codes that don't need prearranging, such as Kirk's "Condition Green" from "Bread and Circuses". Perhaps Spock got in "Condition Amber" in his own identifiable voice?
There's certainly enough time for Sulu to rush to help, because the knifefight is supposed to be a protracted struggle, and there are cuts in that action.
Timo Saloniemi
P.S. Yeah, I like this one. It's a convincing and interesting scifi dilemma that traps our heroes down there, and the characters are intriguing enough. All we're missing is Spock speculating that a time traveler who happens to be a United States fan is behind the original, thousand-year-old intervention in Omegan affairs...
The teaser makes it sound like Kirk is just cruising about, not e.g. performing a specific mission at Omega IV - after all, Sulu has to inform Kirk of the identity of the planet they are approaching. OTOH, we know Kirk isn't looking for the Exeter specifically, as he hasn't heard of any trouble regarding that ship. And since the Exeter was patrolling this area half a year previously without trouble, the area in question probably isn't "troubled", either.
What's left here? Kirk isn't at Omega for Omega itself, or for the Exeter, or because the region in general is a hot zone. But he sounds an alert at the first hint of an unidentified vessel, and interestingly enough, everybody understands it's going to be a red alert rather than a yellow one without Kirk saying so. What it looks like, then, is that this is what they have been tasked to do: scour the region for an unidentified vessel. Perhaps there's a pirate loose, or a fugitive of some other sort; perhaps Klingon agents are again afoot, like in the recent "A Private Little War"?
Finding the Exeter naturally takes precedence, as Kirk has no idea that the encounter is going to take a long time to sort out...
1) Spock does have a range of other "paranormal" abilities. He can sense across interstellar distances that Alderaan is gone, or that his girlfriend is expecting. He can also influence people to do his bidding (and defy their orders) through walls. Influencing a person to do something fairly innocent across the room shouldn't be a major deviation, then - nor would it be something that would have altered the plots of previous episodes. The "Taste of Armageddon" ability to make a guard defy his orders is the more serious aberration and plot twister...
2) We might argue that instead of static, Sulu receives the sounds of the knifefight, then Cloud William's threatening words "Kill him!". OTOH, since Spock is in possession of the communicator while the camera is turned away, he could be doing just about anything, from speaking to Sulu in a low voice, to pressing the button marked "Emergency Armed Response".
3/4) If Spock briefly explained the situation to Sulu, there'd be no contradiction. But it would suffice if Sulu somehow learned that Spock was indeed the one calling for the intervention. Sulu could then readily assume that Spock knew what he was doing.
Just pressing the "Rescue Us Now" button wouldn't convince Sulu; any silly primitive might have found the button by accident. Just hearing the sounds of the fight wouldn't suffice, either. But if Spock managed to utter a codeword, that'd certainly be enough. And we know that there are standard codes that don't need prearranging, such as Kirk's "Condition Green" from "Bread and Circuses". Perhaps Spock got in "Condition Amber" in his own identifiable voice?
There's certainly enough time for Sulu to rush to help, because the knifefight is supposed to be a protracted struggle, and there are cuts in that action.
Timo Saloniemi
P.S. Yeah, I like this one. It's a convincing and interesting scifi dilemma that traps our heroes down there, and the characters are intriguing enough. All we're missing is Spock speculating that a time traveler who happens to be a United States fan is behind the original, thousand-year-old intervention in Omegan affairs...
I agree with ToddPence, but I think it's worth mentioning that there's one line in this ep that, for me, makes the whole thing worthwhile. When Kirk says that the words of the constitution are meant for everybody, "or else they mean nothing"!
I was reminded of this line a few years back when Americans were questioning whether or not prisoners from the Afghan/Iraq war should be "given" the same basic rights of due process etc. that American citizens enjoy? The answer, (for me at least) was; of course, yes!
That American's, of all people, would even debate such a question, illustrates ToddPence's point quite well.
As for some of the chronological and cultural issues, we have to remember that this ep was originally one of the potential second pilots stories, and was therefore written before a lot of the later "facts" had been nailed (more or less) down. So some of the plot holes can be explained on this basis.
I was reminded of this line a few years back when Americans were questioning whether or not prisoners from the Afghan/Iraq war should be "given" the same basic rights of due process etc. that American citizens enjoy? The answer, (for me at least) was; of course, yes!
That American's, of all people, would even debate such a question, illustrates ToddPence's point quite well.
As for some of the chronological and cultural issues, we have to remember that this ep was originally one of the potential second pilots stories, and was therefore written before a lot of the later "facts" had been nailed (more or less) down. So some of the plot holes can be explained on this basis.
Sometimes it can be just a detail that can derail a positive impression. In "The Omega Glory" case I think it's the fact that we see an exact duplicate of the American flag. If it had only bore a passing resemblance some of the criticism might be lessened.
And likewise in "Miri" if the parallel Earth had not looked exactly like our own Earth (as was the scenario in James Blish's adaptation of the episode) then the suspension of disbelief there would have benefitted as well.
And likewise in "Miri" if the parallel Earth had not looked exactly like our own Earth (as was the scenario in James Blish's adaptation of the episode) then the suspension of disbelief there would have benefitted as well.
Sure, I agree, but as I'm sure you realise, the whole point of episodes like these was to use existing sets/props/costumes to save money. So it wouldn't make sense to go and spend money anyway. If only TOS's budgets hadn't been quite so tight? But alas.
Agreed.
The funny part about "Miri" and "The Omega Glory" is that the changes needed to make these stories easier to swallow would involve writers and someone with a sewing machine doing a little work. The cost would be practically nothing.
It would be neat if they took the American flag and re-arranged its features or changed the colors. The real challenge in that ep would be finding a clever way to make the viewer think of the Pledge of Allegiance and the U.S. Constitution without actually using them.
In "Miri", all they had to do was turn the Earth upside down and they could have used the conventional globe without any problem.
The whole point of the Parallel Worlds concept used in Star Trek was conceived by Gene Roddenberry as a budget saving device in explained in his Star Trek concept proposal (p. 4 of the March 11 1964 version). I've never had trouble with Omega Glory or any other episode with this concept (including Miri, Bread and Circuses, etc.) because it's a founding principle of the show.
I think you're right about that, Nerys Myk. I think, even if they'd had a bigger budget, they still would have made The Omega Glory pretty much the way they did. I think Roddenberry really wanted the surprise and shock of that American flag showing up out of left field.
Really, the twist in The Omega Glory is essentially the same as the one in Planet of the Apes. (And in a fair number of Twilight Zone episodes, as well. It would seem to be a concept Rod Serling was also quite fond of.) But with Star Trek being a continuing series, Roddenberry couldn't have his "ruined earth" actually be earth.
Last edited:
Agreed. Plus some of these parallel world episodes are just plain fun.
Expo67
Captain
Like Planet Of The Apes was for late Sixties Cinema, The Omega Glory was definately the same for late Sixties Television. Both were social commentaries and had unique, if not controversial plot twists near the end.
In a sense, both were the products of their times. They were screaming '1968' to the general viewing public.
Which makes one wonder if Gene Roddenberry had spoken with Rod Serling concerning such story ideas and material. Both writers were essentially writing morality plays(stories and issues regarding the human condition)under the creative guise/tracking of science fiction.
In a sense, both were the products of their times. They were screaming '1968' to the general viewing public.
Which makes one wonder if Gene Roddenberry had spoken with Rod Serling concerning such story ideas and material. Both writers were essentially writing morality plays(stories and issues regarding the human condition)under the creative guise/tracking of science fiction.
Similar threads
