Episode of the Week : The Galileo Seven

[Pauln6]

I like the episode but i lament how unprofessional the other officers were when faced by a tricky situation. While Scotty was onside, as an officer of equal rank to Spock, he could have torn the juniors a new one. In her defence, Mears holds up well but she is just so superfluous. The only purpose of a yeoman on an away mission is to record stuff on a tricorder it seems. It would have been nicer if she'd been helping Scotty do some electronics or something. I also lament the fact that she wasn't Janice obviously.

I think the composition of the shuttle crew is odd. They should have had Scotty, a technician, a pilot, and then all scientists. At least there, eggheads wigging out under stress would seem more plausible.

 

[BillJ]

While Scotty was onside, as an officer of equal rank to Spock, he could have torn the juniors a new one.

Scotty was a Lt. Commander and Spock a Commander, at least if the sleeve braids mean anything.

 

[Push The Button]

I liked this episode, overall, but I'm going to mostly complain now.

I didn't like particularly how everyone but Scotty turned on Spock, but Scott was a brick, he really held it together and I think he was the most instrumental in getting them all rescued.

Yes, Scotty was every bit the professional Starfleet officer that we expected him to be, the guy that you want to be around when the s*it hits the fan.

As for the rest of the landing party: I give McCoy a pass for giving Spock a hard time, because that's what McCoy does, but the junior officers should have kept their mouths shut and followed orders, like they were supposed to. The wishes of the majority mean nothing, Starfleet is a military service, not a democracy.

 

[Pauln6]

While Scotty was onside, as an officer of equal rank to Spock, he could have torn the juniors a new one.

Scotty was a Lt. Commander and Spock a Commander, at least if the sleeve braids mean anything.

This is season one - I'm sure there is an episode where Spock's rank is given formally as Lt-Commander (possibly the Menagerie?). It's another reason why I was bemused by the decision to make him a full commander 10 years earlier in Nu-Trek - it makes Kirk leapfrogging him look even more of an insult when he didn't even get promoted at all.

 

[BillJ]

This is season one - I'm sure there is an episode where Spock's rank is given formally as Lt-Commander (possibly the Menagerie?).

I'm pretty sure we have to chalk it up to a mistake ("Tomorrow is Yesterday"). There is a clear difference in the rank braids the two characters wear.

Maybe Spock got promoted just prior to "The Corbomite Maneuver" and the paperwork got lost in the space mail?

 

[Timo]

I don't see much wrong with the rest of the team cracking under pressure and/or going insubordinate. As pointed out, this probably was a boatful of eggheads, their rank braid more a token of their level of expertise (as with McCoy) than of their level of dedication to military ideas. An egghead is insubordinate by profession: if Boma has a theory about mini-quasars that is at odds with Spock's, he's supposed to defy his superior. Latimer was the pilot, but an easily led junior; Gaetano was apparently another scientist despite the gold shirt.

This sort of explains the "basic infantry tactics" shortcomings, too...

(Why McCoy should be aboard, or Scotty, is left unexplained. But they do come in handy later!)

As regards rank, Spock's thicker braid must mean something as regards chain of command. I could easily see former Lieutenant Commader Spock "frocked", being formally denied the full status and pay of Commander until the ship has visited a port full of the proper sort of bureaucrats, even if Kirk field-promoted him in the aftermath of the casualties suffered in the pilot episode far away from said bureaucrats or replacement officers. But the field promotion would serve a functional need, hence Spock getting the visual identifiers of his de facto greater hierarchical status right away.

The question of stun phasers is another treknology nugget: Spock would be logically entitled to thinking that stun would achieve nothing. Spock has already heard Gaetano say he hit one ogre with his phaser, yet there was no corpse. Spock personally has fired on another creature, with effects the audience wasn't entitled to see - save for the fact that the victim (or another creature) still threw a massive shield towards the heroes, something a stunned enemy would be hard pressed to achieve. So the options remaining would be to hike up the setting and kill, or to fire warning shots only. The latter hardly works on somebody who doesn't know the first thing about phaser settings, but it's still the logical choice if Spock does not want to kill.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[mach7]

I don't see much wrong with the rest of the team cracking under pressure and/or going insubordinate. As pointed out, this probably was a boatful of eggheads, their rank braid more a token of their level of expertise (as with McCoy) than of their level of dedication to military ideas. An egghead is insubordinate by profession: if Boma has a theory about mini-quasars that is at odds with Spock's, he's supposed to defy his superior. Latimer was the pilot, but an easily led junior; Gaetano was apparently another scientist despite the gold shirt.

This sort of explains the "basic infantry tactics" shortcomings, too...


Timo Saloniemi

Well, No.

I served as an officer in the military, and worked with "egg heads". Everyone is an Officer first, egg head second.
Except for medical doctors everyone goes through the same
leadership training. The chain of command is always clear.
Boma and all were WAY over the line insubordinate. It was
Scotty's job to reign them in, If he did not do it then Spock
would have had to.

In the military everyone lives and dies by the chain of command. It is taken very seriously.

Of course we know why Boma acted the way he did, It made for a more interesting story!

 

[Marsden]

Spock's rank in Court Martial is Lt Commander.

The courtroom computer gives Spock's rank as lieutenant commander, but he wears the braids of a commander. Such was Spock's uniform throughout the first season (except for "Where No Man Has Gone Before"), even though he was twice more referred to as lieutenant commander in "The Menagerie, Part I", "The Menagerie, Part II" and "Tomorrow is Yesterday". This rank discrepancy appears to have been corrected as of "Amok Time", when Vulcan Space Central asks for "Commander Spock."

Is this before or after, I couldn't say.
I think even if Scott and Spock hold an equal rank, it's apparent that Spock is mission commander and in charge. Well, in my opinion.

Timo raises a good point, as I recall, it seemed as though the phaser did not penetrate the shield before it was thrown. That could be because the stun is not enough to penetrate it. That could make stun useless, presuming they all had similar shields, and then it really is only "kill" or not. But the logic of firing on those positions still escapes me.

I think, possibly, that the other officers lack of professional behavior could be a combination of, Spock not having a command attitude, like they revisited in The Tholian Web, and the need to show drama and conflict. It also seems to be a kind of microcosm of prejudice as the humans, Scott excepted, turn against the Vulcan. Also, Spock's comment about "I'm frequently appalled by the low regard you Earthmen have for life." certainly reflects a divide.

Also, last clarification about McCoy. His complaining doesn't fit right in with "turning on" Spock, like Push the Button said.

 

[Commishsleer]

Spock's rank in Court Martial is Lt Commander.

The courtroom computer gives Spock's rank as lieutenant commander, but he wears the braids of a commander. Such was Spock's uniform throughout the first season (except for "Where No Man Has Gone Before"), even though he was twice more referred to as lieutenant commander in "The Menagerie, Part I", "The Menagerie, Part II" and "Tomorrow is Yesterday". This rank discrepancy appears to have been corrected as of "Amok Time", when Vulcan Space Central asks for "Commander Spock."

Is this before or after, I couldn't say.
I think even if Scott and Spock hold an equal rank, it's apparent that Spock is mission commander and in charge. Well, in my opinion.

Timo raises a good point, as I recall, it seemed as though the phaser did not penetrate the shield before it was thrown. That could be because the stun is not enough to penetrate it. That could make stun useless, presuming they all had similar shields, and then it really is only "kill" or not. But the logic of firing on those positions still escapes me.

I think, possibly, that the other officers lack of professional behavior could be a combination of, Spock not having a command attitude, like they revisited in The Tholian Web, and the need to show drama and conflict. It also seems to be a kind of microcosm of prejudice as the humans, Scott excepted, turn against the Vulcan. Also, Spock's comment about "I'm frequently appalled by the low regard you Earthmen have for life." certainly reflects a divide.

Also, last clarification about McCoy. His complaining doesn't fit right in with "turning on" Spock, like Push the Button said.

I can't help thinking that McCoy was out of line. No matter what he thought of Spock's command style, he has to support him. It wasn't as if Spock was saying he was going to take off in the shuttle by himself and leave them all behind.
McCoy knew damn well that if anyone was going to be left behind it was going to include Spock (and probably himself).

Sure if I were on the team I wouldn't want Spock to be 'deciding' whether I lived or died. I would have preferred drawing straws or something but Spock's the commanding officer. You're in the military. You go with the Commanding Officer's decision.

I think if Kirk had been in Spock's position and said some people would have been left behind, everyone would have unhappily backed him up in a 'tough' decision.

Because Spock doesn't act as if its a tough decision then everyone gets upset.

Is that Spock's fault as a commanding officer? I think so partially because he doesn't know his officers but its mainly the officers fault. They're in the military and should know better. Its not up to them to question a superior officers strategy with their own. When they make mission commander they can make the tough decisions.
McCoy knows Spock and is a senior officer and really should be backing him up whether he agrees with Spock's decision or not. If Boma were on charges after this I would put McCoy on them too.

If McCoy is going to act like its a democracy perhaps he should stay on ship where Kirk can keep tabs on him.

 

[Timo]

We can always argue that since the planet had an exotic technobabblosphere that made sensor readings erratic, it also had adverse effects on the human nervous system. I mean, why would things that cripple technology leave biology untouched, and vice versa? Biology is just technology done with specific materials.

Leaving people behind would have been a no-brainer before the heroes learned of the hostile natives. Logically, only a single person should be in the shuttle, his mission to contact the mothership for help; the rest would be safe and sound down below, waiting for the outcome of this high-risk attempt. That's the way, say, Shackleton saved his men in much more severe conditions.

The brutes with the Folsom points change the scenario. But they don't enter the picture until after Boma's griping...

We may also wonder about the local conditions. Latimer landed on level ground, between boulders, so he was obviously in full control of the craft for the final run. Did he select an optimally survivable spot, too? Or was the misty mountain a random spot with abnormally little vegetation around? The mist establishes there would have been plenty of water available in any case - the heroes could have waited for a week or two easily enough.

I served as an officer in the military, and worked with "egg heads". Everyone is an Officer first, egg head second.

While that's how a real military today (or in the 1960s) would do it, it's not really consistent with TOS. Officers and crew who slack and slough and talk back is.

Admittedly, while the "British tar" type of borderline-mutinous crew was established early on ("Man Trap" already had these people who show no interest whatsoever in obeying orders or following procedure), the concept of carefree specialist officers only gradually developed after "The Galileo Seven". It's consistency nevertheless...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[feek61]

th

We may also wonder about the local conditions. Latimer landed on level ground, between boulders, so he was obviously in full control of the craft for the final run. Did he select an optimally survivable spot, too? Or was the misty mountain a random spot with abnormally little vegetation around? The mist establishes there would have been plenty of water available in any case - the heroes could have waited for a week or two easily enough.

Timo Saloniemi

In the script they crash landed inside of a crater; not just between two boulders on level ground. Latimer amd Gaetano were going up the crater wall when Latimer got speared and fell back into the crater. Then later Gaetano was trapped against the crater wall when the creature cornered him. It would have really given the creatures a good tactical advantage; picture them up around the top of the crater rim heaving spears down on the Enterprise crew. Although the crater location was not mentioned in the actual episode it fits into the action. Remember Spock climbing up the wall and directing Boma and Gaetano to fire their phasers; if you look both phasers are pointed up but in opposite directions as if aiming at the top walls of the round crater. They should have made the location of the crash clear in the episode because it would have added to the drama. It really would have added to the feeling that the Enterprise crew was trapped at the bottom of this crater filled with fog, surrounded by the creatures with no way out. Perhaps this "trapped" feeling would account for the near panic and lack of discipline with the crew. Almost (but not quite) an "every man for himself" situation. Also, the fact that this was Spocks "first command" probably didn't give the crew a lot of confidence in his leadership since in their eyes he was unproven in that position. As far as the crew goes; rational thinking takes a backseat when survival is at stake which may explain why the chain of command nearly breaks down. It is interesting to watch the episode with the thought that they really are at the bottom of a crater; it fits in very well with the action that we see on screen.

As far as the landing goes; it was obviously a crash landing as evidenced by the condition of the interior of the shuttlecraft with all of the control panels ripped out of the consoles, etc. (BTW, Spock was piloting unless him and Latimer changed seats in flight). The part that is confusing is the first shot of the exterior of the shuttlecraft; which looks peaceful like a controlled landing (despite what we see inside the craft post landing). I always thought that it would have been very effective on the first exterior shuttlecraft shot (on the planet surface) to have a large cloud of dust in the air indicating that it touched down very hard. To me the exterior shot of what appears to be a normal landing and interior chaos with bodies and instruments dislodged just doesn't add up. If not for that I would have rated the episode an 11!!!

 

[Timo]

The chaos inside could be from the previous parts of the flight, which were jarring enough; if the landing were not controlled, we'd not be talking about landing in a crater, but about making a crater, probably one dozens of meters wide.

(Actually, that'd be a valid way for a Trek shuttle to crash: decelerations of tens of thousands of gee that only result in a few bruises for the occupants, massive transfer of energy from an interstellar-speed atmospheric and litospheric entry that only bends one landing strut, all thanks to those magical fields that manipulate inertia.)

Possibly the shuttle was shaken to bits while decelerating from the original interstellar speed (remember, the Taurus system was but one of four solar systems close to or inside the Murasaki effect, and not even the closest one), but then recovered enough to perform a fully automated emergency landing while the occupants were still knocked out. We know the Enterprise herself is capable of that, as per "Tomorrow is Yesterday".

Timo Saloniemi

 

[feek61]

Yes, I agree that there was some sort of control during the landing; that is why I used the term "crash landing" instead of a crash which obviously would not have been survivable. Also in the script it describes the bottom of the crater as having a "sponge like" consistency which would have helped cushion and absorbed some of the impact of the crash landing (or semi-controlled landing if you prefer that term).

 

[Timo]

Indeed. But the more dramatic we make the landing, the less plausible it becomes that the thing could take off again. The odds are already stacked against our heroes, with the initial fuel problem, the ultimate fuel disaster from a teeny weeny leak later on, and all the dangers the Murasaki environment poses to further shuttle flights. A relatively humdrum landing wouldn't diminish the drama and certainly wouldn't hurt plausibility. Indeed, the less there is drama to the landing and the prospect of takeoff, the less our heroes will be inclined to think in terms of encamping, digging in and simply surviving in wait of the rescue party.

Granted that Kirk has to move away soon. But that only means he can return soon, too. So there ought to be more discussion about survival over a period of a few weeks, rather than frantic action to get out in hours, unless the shuttle at least initially promised a relatively safe and reliable way to accomplish the latter.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[feek61]

I'm just reporting what it says in the script which is:

"The Galileo has come to rest, battered, upon a surface yielding and spongy enough to cushion the considerable impact of its crash landing. It rests in a sort of a crater, with overhanging rock walls jutting up against a dull featureless sky. The sky ia a particularly bilious shade of green. Only a few scrubby plants are SEEN. It is a most unprepossessing sight."

Then for the interior shot is says:

"The ship is somewhat canted over. Inside, things and people have been thrown around by the impact of their landing . . . "

The shuttlecraft is obviously very robust and can handle some abuse and still operate (with a little attention from the chief engineer). I agree with you that it is always the case that the human drama is what really makes the episode special; regardless of how hard the ship landed.

 

[Armored Saint]

On a different note, the CGI effects of the remastered version are just horrible, especially the hangar scene.

I'm not a big fan of survivor stories, but this episode has pretty good elements, including Boma and Ferris.

 

[Marsden]

My biggest disappointment with the new effects was they changed the flares from the engines from red to green.

What the hell were they thinking?

The scale of the shuttle and the ship are off and the shuttlebay looks too damn small, but it's that way in all of the remastered shuttle landing scenes.

 

[Timo]

Well, TOS-R tries to go with the "official" size of the ship, something TOS never attempted despite in theory establishing that official size in e.g. the onseen graphic comparing the ship with her Klingon counterpart and a yardstick.

As for the crater thing, we do get a good impression of the heroes being at the bottom of both the physical terrain and the local food chain. But I'm not convinced it was done for the mood: after all, good writers at the day would recognize the considerable cost of horizons, and thus write pits, canyons and caves into the story whenever possible.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Forbin]

Does the shuttle do the helicopter-style takeoff in the remastered version of this one? That looked ridiculously dangerous inside a cramped hangar. Jefferies put that turntable and those launch rails there for a reason.

 

[Timo]

OTOH, why have a hangar like that in the first place if centimeter precision were desired or achievable? A tube the shape of the shuttle would make more sense.

I sort of suspect the departures and arrivals are fully automated, as are the landings and takeoffs elsewhere - in terms of the flight computer featuring certain strict envelope rules to keep operations safe. But any pilot will have his or her share of fun by flying the craft hard against the limiters - not so hard that he or she couldn't recover if the limiters failed (or at least that's how they would want to believe), but still hard enough to return the thrill to the flying.

We see precision landings in demanding conditions outside the hangar (say, the very crash in "The Galileo Seven"), so the need for external landing aids seems unfounded. Helicopter RAST systems today exist in an environment opposite to that of Trek, one where the ships are the least benign element in the operating environment, and the nature around them (established airbases, random islands, sometimes even the sea surface) is more forgiving...

Timo Saloniemi