I would think the Enterprise received some upgrades between The Cage and A Taste of Armageddon.
WTF, Kirk?
- Thread starter Bixby
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I would think the Enterprise received some upgrades between The Cage and A Taste of Armageddon.
Unless one counts "the" transporter being on different decks in different episodes, or having a different internal layout in different episodes, or being behind a differently colored door in different episodes, or having differently arranged walls in different episodes.
Timo Saloniemi
Well, to be fair, those are the same slots that Spock put his fist through in "This Side of Paradise", so there's twice for that one...
Well, continuity errors don't count (James R Kirk. What year is it, Trelane?). Sets change at the speed of plot and the engine room is a good example of an evolving set. It's pretty clear there was only one transporter room. Did they ever come out and say which deck the TR is located on? Most of the time, it was "meet me in the…" Even the movies didn't mention multiple transporters.
"Transporter room, beam the captain out of there now!"
"Um which one, sir?"
"Which one what?"
"Which transporter room? We have eight."
"I don’t care! Transporter room four. Just beam him up now!"
"Oh, four isn't answering, I think Lipshitz is on a break."
"Damn it, any…"
"Oops, too late."
"Transporter room, beam the captain out of there now!"
"Um which one, sir?"
"Which one what?"
"Which transporter room? We have eight."
"I don’t care! Transporter room four. Just beam him up now!"
"Oh, four isn't answering, I think Lipshitz is on a break."
"Damn it, any…"
"Oops, too late."
The strangeness is made even more wtf-y by the fact that through the entire episode, Scotty and Uhura are left standing by the Guardian with nothing to do.
Well, to be fair, from their perspective they were only standing there for a few seconds before Kirk, Spock, and McCoy came back.
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
Wasn't Uhura's big line in "City" when she tells Kirk she's "frightened" ?
That's why she was there. I don't see Kirk offering a nice cozy embrace to Sulu or Scotty if they'd said that line.
That's why she was there. I don't see Kirk offering a nice cozy embrace to Sulu or Scotty if they'd said that line.
Not that Sulu wouldn't mind a nice comforting embrace from Kirk...
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Why would Sulu not mind?
The only thing missing from that bit was the Twilight Zone theme and Rod Serling saying something pithy.
It's the "Kirk knows this is the most dangerous planet in the universe so he takes the entire senior staff with him when he beams down Syndrome", diagnosed by Phil Farrand.
So...we complain that the secondary characters aren't given enough to do on the show, but then we also complain when they are included in the storyline because they shouldn't be on the landing party.
We should be very careful; this is how B-plots are born.
We should be very careful; this is how B-plots are born.
So...we complain that the secondary characters aren't given enough to do on the show, but then we also complain when they are included in the storyline because they shouldn't be on the landing party.
We should be very careful; this is how B-plots are born.
When the cast is more then 3-4 people, B-Plots are pretty much a necessity. TOS itself DID do B-plots from time to time.
Very, very seldom, if ever.
If you're thinking of times when, say, Kirk and Spock were working on an episode's central dilemma down on a planet while Scotty or McCoy (or even Sulu or Uhura) were working on the same dilemma up on the ship, I don't consider that a B-plot. A B-plot would be if we were to switch from Kirk and Spock working on the problem planetside to a scene of Scotty working on some totally unrelated problem in Engineering or Sulu in the gym working on his fencing skills. IMO, not the same thing, at all. When the secondary characters were used, it was always in service to the story's main plotline.
While you are correct that squeezing large numbers of ensemble cast members into a single, focused plot is often difficult and makes the use of B (and C and D)-plots necessary if everyone is to get some screen time, I love that TOS (like most dramatic television of its time) focused on a small core of central characters and stories strong enough that switching the action to a B-plot would have seemed frivolous if not downright jarring.
I mainly find the insistence on shoving in B plots rather annoying, considering that from TNG onward, the episodes only had 43 minutes of screen time to tell a story anyway, while TOS had 52 minutes in an episode and had enough in the average script that they didn't NEED a B plot.
If you don't have enough of a story to cover 43 minutes and have to cram in a second storyline, you've got problems.
If you don't have enough of a story to cover 43 minutes and have to cram in a second storyline, you've got problems.
^ Exactly.
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