Assignment: Earth

[EnriqueH]

I saw it tonight for the first time in a while.

I could never get into this episode. I've tried to watch it a few times. Is it me or is it kinda dull? Particularly once Gary Seven starts fiddling with the rocket ship.

One of the problems, for me, is that there's not a lot of screen time with the series regulars.

Another problem is that there doesn't seem to be a lot at stake. I don't think the episode succeeds in making the audience feel like there's a sense of urgency. Gary Seven is fiddling with a rocket, Kirk & Spock are walking (not urgently) after him, Roberta is joking around. I'm not sure why I should be intrigued or even care about what's going on.

It's took bad because I always thought Kirk and Spock looked very cool in their business suits walking around in the 1960s, and the whole thing LOOKED as if should've had a James Bond/Mission Impossible feel to it, but something was off the mark.

I liked Robert Lansing as Gary Seven. Very cool actor, cool voice, and a POTENTIALLY cool character.

Too bad he didn't get a better episode.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

Agreed about Lansing's voice...great, unique sound to it!

 

[Commishsleer]

I agree with you EnriqueH.

I think basically I didn't like this episode because the series leads looked a bit incompetent. Yes a secretary can best Starfleets finest captain. No offence secretaries - in RL I'm sure a lot of you are more intelligent than your bosses but Captain Kirk is a legend.

The whole idea of sending the Enterprise back in time for a 'research' mission seems a bit ridiculous, very ridiculous. Just about the most stupid mission any series of Star Trek. Risking your very existence for historical purposes.

It would have been OK if they had made Gary Seven/Roberta look good without making our heroes look stupid.

The only thing I liked was Spock and ISIS.

 

[Corylea]

This episode was intended as a pilot for a new series, starring Gary Seven and Roberta Lansing, which is why the Enterprise regulars were reduced to being extras in their own show. I think the series could have been interesting, but watching Kirk and Spock be reduced to impotent observers of events is not much fun.

 

[Nerys Myk]

It what happens when the episode is a backdoor pilot for a new series.

 

[EnriqueH]

Yeah, I know it's a "backdoor pilot", but that's no excuse for the shoddy writing.

After a cool pre-credits scene, and a cool conflict aboard the Enterprise, Gary fights his way out, beams down, and that's pretty much where the episode begins to fall apart IMO.

I think part of the reason the episode is not very interesting is that Gary's mission is not clear.

What the hell is he doing and why is it so critical? Further, the series regulars don't have much to do.

They FINALLY begin to explain the plot as the end, but we're distracted by the delicious transformation of Isis. I like cats, but it would've been great to see more of that actress, but I digress...

Part of the reason Star Trek is great is that there are great stories to tell. Assignment Earth lacks story.

The Enterprise is there for historical reasons, but that seems vague. More importantly, Gary's mission is vague. And there's not a sense of urgency.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

At least Assignment: Earth wasn't the final episode. That was the case with Green Acres: it's final two episodes were basically proposals for new series, both of which were utterly dreadful.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Yeah, I know it's a "backdoor pilot", but that's no excuse for the shoddy writing.

After a cool pre-credits scene, and a cool conflict aboard the Enterprise, Gary fights his way out, beams down, and that's pretty much where the episode begins to fall apart IMO.

I think part of the reason the episode is not very interesting is that Gary's mission is not clear.

What the hell is he doing and why is it so critical? Further, the series regulars don't have much to do.

They FINALLY begin to explain the plot as the end, but we're distracted by the delicious transformation of Isis. I like cats, but it would've been great to see more of that actress, but I digress...

Part of the reason Star Trek is great is that there are great stories to tell. Assignment Earth lacks story.

The Enterprise is there for historical reasons, but that seems vague. More importantly, Gary's mission is vague. And there's not a sense of urgency.

Well it started as an unrelated series. It was forced into being a Star Trek episode when the pitch was rejected. The bad writing is probably the result of shoehorning the Star Trek characters into a story they weren't originally part of

 

[Armored Saint]

The whole idea of sending the Enterprise back in time for a 'research' mission seems a bit ridiculous, very ridiculous. Just about the most stupid mission any series of Star Trek. Risking your very existence for historical purposes.

Rasmussen in TNG episode A Matter of Time goes even dumber. At least Kirk's Enterprise was supposed to do hidden monitoring. Of course, Rasmussen happened to be an impostor, but it doesn't sense to contamining himself the event he was supposed to study. Especially since the 24th century's technology could make pretty accurate records that would be already declassified 200 years later. Of course, it's another History...(what, not funny at all?)

Yeah, I know it's a "backdoor pilot", but that's no excuse for the shoddy writing.

It's not an excuse, it's the explanation. It wasn't an attempt to make a sophisticated and subtle cross-over, it was recycling.

I think part of the reason the episode is not very interesting is that Gary's mission is not clear.

I find this episode interesting. The problem is the clash between two narrative styles. Star Trek's more about clarity and The Gary Seven Show would have been more about mystery. I agree it's a bad mix.

 

[EnriqueH]

Armored, I notice you live in Quebec City. I was just there a couple of weeks back. I was only there briefly, but it seemed like a nice city.

Anyway, did they ever say why the Enterprise was there outside of "historical" reasons?

Did Gary ever mention why he had to go to Earth?

I'm wondering if I missed something.

 

[Commishsleer]

Armored, I notice you live in Quebec City. I was just there a couple of weeks back. I was only there briefly, but it seemed like a nice city.

Anyway, did they ever say why the Enterprise was there outside of "historical" reasons?

Did Gary ever mention why he had to go to Earth?

I'm wondering if I missed something.

Wasn't it Gary's mission to save the Earth from this accident?

 

[Nerys Myk]

Armored, I notice you live in Quebec City. I was just there a couple of weeks back. I was only there briefly, but it seemed like a nice city.

Anyway, did they ever say why the Enterprise was there outside of "historical" reasons?

Did Gary ever mention why he had to go to Earth?

I'm wondering if I missed something.

Enterprise mission

Captain's log. Using the lightspeed breakaway factor, the Enterprise has moved back through time to the twentieth century. We are now in extended orbit around Earth, using our ship's deflector shields to remain unobserved. Our mission, historical research. We are monitoring Earth communications to find out how our planet survived desperate problems in the year 1968.

Gary is there to check up on the agents assigned to Earth

COMPUTER: Identify self.
SEVEN: Simply check my voice pattern. You'll find me listed as Supervisor one nine four. Code name Gary Seven.
COMPUTER: Voice pattern matches, but I have no listing of a Gary Seven assigned this planet.
SEVEN: Computer, I am a class one supervisor. You are ordered to override previous instructions and answer my questions.
COMPUTER: I am a Beta Five computer capable of analytical decisions. Please confirm identity as supervisor by describing nature of agents and mission here.
SEVEN: Computer, I caution you. I have little love for Beta Five snobbery. Override. All right. Agents are male and female, descendants of human ancestors taken from Earth approximately six thousand years ago. They're the product of generations of training for this mission. Problem. Earth technology and science have progressed faster than political and social knowledge. Purpose of mission. To prevent Earth's civilisation from destroying itself before it can mature into a peaceful society.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

Another weird thing about this historical research is that there would be no hurry whatsoever. If they waited another 10,000 years to go back to the 60's, what's the difference? The past isn't going anywhere!

 

[Nerys Myk]

Another weird thing about this historical research is that there would be no hurry whatsoever. If they waited another 10,000 years to go back to the 60's, what's the difference? The past isn't going anywhere!

They'd be waiting 10,000 years to get answers.

 

[The Old Mixer]

The Enterprise's real mission had to do with the first shots of Earth being transmitted from lunar orbit on Christmas Eve...Kirk planned to photo-bomb it.

 

[Wingsley]

The time-travel/"historical research" contrivance is pretty lame.

Having grown up during the Cold War, the business with the iconic Saturn V rocket carrying a supposedly "Star Wars"/SDI-style nuke payload did capture my imagination. YMMV.

The business of Kirk and Spock wandering the streets of NYC was really over-the-top silly. With a starship filled with humans, why risk polluting the timeline by beaming a Vulcan down to the surface when you don't have to? Spock should've been put in command of the Bridge, with Scotty being a more sensible choice to accompany Kirk. (If they run into alien technology, who better to tamper with it?)

Terri Garr is cute and hilarious. Her line "We wonder if we're going to be alive when we're 30" was pure 1968 young adult.

The beam-up-with-the-cops thing was goofy; at that point you either enjoy the humor or you just can't stand it. ("Chah-lie…")

Actually, the most inexcusable part is the less-than-flattering portrayal of NASA; they make Kirk's bumbling look mild by comparison.

The bombshell in this episode isn't the notion of a nuke-on-a-Saturn V being depicted on a prime time TV show; it's the shocker that Gene Roddenberry, the man who's genius created TOS, is responsible for writing such a half-baked story.

All in all, it was far from TOS at its best, but still entertaining in a humorous way. It was a flight-of-fancy; you know, like VOYAGER...

 

[Push The Button]

We do get to see some nice Saturn V footage, and Spock wearing a few goofy hats, so it is not a total loss. Oh, and Terri Garr was super cute as Gary's clueless secretary/sidekick. Gary's pen gizmo was cool also.

More proof that even the not-so-great episodes of TOS still had some greatness baked into them.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Actually, the most inexcusable part is the less-than-flattering portrayal of NASA; they make Kirk's bumbling look mild by comparison.

[Points in the direction of I Dream of Jeannie....]

 

[scotpens]

This episode was intended as a pilot for a new series, starring Gary Seven and Roberta Lansing, which is why the Enterprise regulars were reduced to being extras in their own show.

I assume you mean Roberta Lincoln (the character played by Teri Garr) and you were mixing her up with actor Robert Lansing.

Hey, anyone can have a brain fart.

 

[Metryq]

Gary's pen gizmo was cool also.

Which no one thought to remove from him—along with his "watch"—before throwing him in the brig. Heck, after seeing Seven's interstellar transporter in action, even the buttons on his shirt should have been suspect. Yet, as someone else was griping in another thread, our Federation heroes are disarmed first thing in many stories.