Revisiting Star Trek TOS/TAS...

[evilnate]

We now return to our regularly scheduled subject...


“Elaan Of Troyius” *****

Another good season 3 episode. Not quite good enough to be considered a classic, but it's got a number of good things in it's favor. Namely it's got the only bonafide space battle between the Enterprise and a Klingon ship, and it's a pretty cinematic battle to boot. For all the flack the Klingon cruiser an it's movement got in the remastered version of the episode, it does have one of my favorite shots of the remastered project, when the Enterprise fires it's torpedoes to disables the Klingon ship. There's just something about the lighting, angle on the Enterprise and the slight movement in the shot that works REALLY well. I love it. The music is good as well.

Edit: One thing that I wish they had done in the movies is a good battle between the big E and a Klingon battlecruiser and the stock footage beginning of TWOK doesn't count. I had hopes for TUC after seeing the poster, but it wasn't to be.

 

[Warped9]

“The Paradise Syndrome” ***

An amnesiac Kirk finds peace and happiness amongst a simple people while unaware an asteroid threatens their world.

Here is another episode I really didn't care much for when I was younger. But now I actually rather like it even if I see flaws in it. My biggest criticisms are in regard to some of the thinking behind the Enterprise having to intercept the asteroid, how easily the ship is crippled and Spock's methods in trying to deflect it.

If it takes mere hours to reach the asteroid at Warp 9 then I think it's going to take a lot more than two months for the thing to get to the planet. And even at impulse the Enterprise should easily be able to outrace this thing. Even at .1c or a tenth to a quarter or so impulse the ship should outrace it by a considerable margin. Next the use of ship's phasers and deflectors was stupid. A little old fashioned thinking would have sufficed. How about a series of photon torpedo charges to deflect the asteroid by degree with each successive blast? I also didn't like the f/x shot showing the ship retreating from the asteroid in reverse all the way back to the planet. It would have made more sense for them to go forward and put the pedal-to-the-metal. At any rate this whole sequence of the episode grates on my nerves.

That said I rather like the exchanges between Spock and McCoy as Spock is trying to decipher the obelisk's symbols. I also like Spock's discovery about the Preservers and giving at least a nod to the notion of why there are so many humanoid cultures throughout the galaxy. It's an interesting story idea and one I wish they could have followed up later.

Once again the general sensibility and overall execution of this episode I find admirable. Also, three episodes in and each with its own distinctive soundtrack.

Although it fits in conceptually with the story I found the "corruption" of Kirk's name to Kirok didn't really work. And having "Kirok" trying to invoke his name to get into the temple seemed kind of cheesy. Finally Spock's mind meld with Kirk also seemed rather weird this time around. And McCoy is so preoccupied with Kirk that even when he appears to be okay McCoy has to be reminded to look after the very injured Miramanee?

What it comes down to is that there are actually a lot of things I like in this episode and some things that bug me a little too much. So in the end it's a wash and I rate it as fair.

 

[Warped9]

...it's got the only bonafide space battle between the Enterprise and a Klingon ship, and it's a pretty cinematic battle to boot.

Yep, it's enjoyable. But candidly I think it could have been better with some new footage of the Enterprise to go along with the new Klingon battlecruiser. It would have jazzed it up some. Indeed there are other stock sequences of the Enterprise from previous seasons---shots of the series production version of the ship---I think would have served better than some of what they used in this episode.


I've also been thinking that the next time I rewatch TOS I'll watch the episodes in stardate order (for the hell of it and including TAS) and I'll watch the TOS-R versions. That way I can assess two things at the same time.

 

[Forbin]

Elaan: I absolutely love France Nuyen, but I have to say, the costume we first see her in is horrible! I assume it was supposed to be sexy, but... YEESH! And her guards costumes with those big obviously-plastic shoulders were hysterical. GREAT episode, but I can't say Theiss was at his best here.

Also, one of the worst lines in the series, when Elaan says "You cannot resist my love, my love." For years I thought she'd stuttered.

 

[Forbin]

Oh - and I must trot out my Kung Fu screen grab of Kirk and Elaan living happily together in an alternate timeline:

I figure they used the Guardian of Forever to escape to 1875 San Francisco.

 

[Warped9]

Elaan: I absolutely love France Nuyen, but I have to say, the costume we first see her in is horrible! I assume it was supposed to be sexy, but... YEESH! And her guards costumes with those big obviously-plastic shoulders were hysterical. GREAT episode, but I can't say Theiss was at his best here.

I know. It's the strengths of the rest of the episode that serves to help you overlook things like that. It really was shoddy costuming.

 

[Forbin]

Paradise observations:
I've always thought Sabrina Scharff was absolutely gorgeous as Miramanee. But I've seen her in several other 60s shows lately (bless DVD) like Hawaii 5-0, Mannix, M:I, etc, and I seem to find her rather ordinary looking. Weird. Maybe it's the long hair and hippie headband - I always had a thing for that.

Also, on a cruder note, my reaction to Kirk yelling "I AM KIROOOOK! I HAVE COME!" has always been to yell back at the TV: "We know, we know - Miramanee's preggers!"




What?

 

[Warped9]

Also, on a cruder note, my reaction to Kirk yelling "I AM KIROOOOK! I HAVE COME!" has always been to yell back at the TV: "We know, we know - Miramanee's preggers!"

What?

Well, okay, on that level the line works.

 

[plynch]

Why do I think there's a little D-7 orbiting K-7 in "Tribbles"? Am I making that up?

 

[BillJ]

Why do I think there's a little D-7 orbiting K-7 in "Tribbles"? Am I making that up?

It's there in DS9's Trials and Tribble-ations and the TOS-R version of the episode.

 

[Warped9]

As far as I know didn't they slip it into "Errand Of Mercy" as well? And to the best of my knowledge TOS-R didn't use Matt Jefferies' original painting scheme for the ship either.

 

[evilnate]

As far as I know didn't they slip it into "Errand Of Mercy" as well? And to the best of my knowledge TOS-R didn't use Matt Jefferies' original painting scheme for the ship either.

They did...in fact there is a whole fleet of them. The irritating thing about the shot is that it's extremely brief, to the point that I'm not sure why they bothered. The D-7 also shows up in "A Private Little War".

 

[Warped9]

As far as I know didn't they slip it into "Errand Of Mercy" as well? And to the best of my knowledge TOS-R didn't use Matt Jefferies' original painting scheme for the ship either.

They did...in fact there is a whole fleet of them. The irritating thing about the shot is that it's extremely brief, to the point that I'm not sure why they bothered. The D-7 also shows up in "A Private Little War".

It might have to be brief unless you want to alter the original pacing of the episode. And you would have to be extremely careful about what live-action footage bit to edit or snip out to add new f/x footage that wasn't planned for originally.

About the only things you can get away with editing to add new f/x shots would be character reaction shots that linger for a second or two too long. But I'll reserve final judgement for when I rewatch the series through the TOS-R episodes themselves.

 

[Harvey]

One of the mandates with TOS-R was that they couldn't alter the lengths of the original effects footage. So, in certain episodes (like "Errand of Mercy") we don't get everything we might otherwise see without that constraint. But I'd rather keep the original pacing then star to fiddle with the episodes beyond upgrading the visual effects.

 

[evilnate]

One of the mandates with TOS-R was that they couldn't alter the lengths of the original effects footage. So, in certain episodes (like "Errand of Mercy") we don't get everything we might otherwise see without that constraint. But I'd rather keep the original pacing then star to fiddle with the episodes beyond upgrading the visual effects.

I understand the constraints they were under. Seeing the Klingon fleet in orbit is one of those "wouldn't it be cool if..." things, but in practice the scene ends up feeling like a bad edit, and they probably should have just done a shot that was equivalent to the original.


Anyway...back to season 3.

 

[Warped9]

Silly, but something I neglected to mention regarding "Elaan Of Troyius." I liked the Klingon commander. He has very little screen time and few lines, but at least he looked Klingon (TOS style anyway). The Klingons as portrayed in Season 2 in "Friday's Child" (especially) and "The Trouble With Tribbles" (albeit amusing) are sorry embarrassments.

 

[BillJ]

Silly, but something I neglected to mention regarding "Elaan Of Troyius." I liked the Klingon commander. He has very little screen time and few lines, but at least he looked Klingon (TOS style anyway). The Klingons as portrayed in Season 2 in "Friday's Child" (especially) and "The Trouble With Tribbles" (albeit amusing) are sorry embarrassments.

No love for Bob the Klingon, eh?

 

[Warped9]

Silly, but something I neglected to mention regarding "Elaan Of Troyius." I liked the Klingon commander. He has very little screen time and few lines, but at least he looked Klingon (TOS style anyway). The Klingons as portrayed in Season 2 in "Friday's Child" (especially) and "The Trouble With Tribbles" (albeit amusing) are sorry embarrassments.

No love for Bob the Klingon, eh?

When you think of it it's really sad and weird. Season 3 is often panned as being poor overall. And yet here in a Season 3 episode look at the attention paid to getting some good footage of the Klingon ship onscreen as well as the attention to the Klingon who only appears on the bridge viewscreen for a few seconds and has few lines. Compare that to how they depicted the Klingons in the two aforementioned episodes in Season 2---no klingon ship footage and no freaking make-up. And we haven't even gotten to Season 3's "Day Of The Dove" yet with another decent treatment of Klingons. I mean c'mon, Michael Ansara's portrayal of Kang walks all over every Klingon seen in Season 2.

 

[BillJ]

Well... season 3 in general isn't as poor as people seemingly want it to be.

 

[Warped9]

Well... season 3 in general isn't as poor as people seemingly want it to be.

Hell, I'm only three episodes in and with the next installment being "The Enterprise Incident" and it's been pretty damned good so far.

Of course, I can also see some of what's coming ahead...