Day of the Dove (unresolved ending)

You mean, he acted like a Klingon.

I often wondered if the Beratis, Kesla, Redjack, Piglet, whatever alien and * were similar or even the same. One possessed a body and lived on fear, the other seemed to be quite a bit more dangerous and lived on hate. Maybe it was an exiled Orgainian that liked pissing things off, the opposite of the rest of them being disturbed by strong emotion. Maybe
Trelane without a body, he could change things. I'm just thinking about the nature of * I don't really think it was one of those others, but it has some aspects of the others, too.

 

I think it would have been cool if the * had returned in another series. Kirk did say something about "maybe you've caused a lot of pain and suffering" or something like that. Imagine if it had shown up on Enterprise. Heck, they wouldn't had to even have known it was there!

 

The only mention of Stardate in the episode is a Captain's Log dated "Stardate: Armageddon," which is fitting for a series finale. It also has thematic parallels with TUC, the TOS film series finale. Finally, it ends with Shatner and Kelley looking straight into the camera and saying, as if to the viewer, "You're done here, we won't perform for your entertainment anymore."

 

And Tige Andrews, as Kras, had a good time on the show. It was his first film work where he got to wear a real costume instead of regular clothes. I'd guess the outdoor work was fun too, just getting away from the studio.

"This is no fantasy!" - Jor-El

 

I feel the need to point out that Blish, after the first four collections, wrote pretty much nothing but the introductions. He was suffering from a severe writer's block (ironically, as this was the first time in his life that his writing income was enough to let him do the work full-time) and his wife (Judith Ann Lawrence) and mother-in-law were ghostwriting the books after that point.

My recollection is that the adaptations in the first four books are the ones that most vary from the aired episodes. Whether that reflects the change in actual writers (perhaps Lawrence and her mother were less confident they could get away with changing scripts) or reflects being able to get more nearly final-draft scripts, or finally getting to even see the series (Blish lived in England at the time) I cannot say.

 

"Close enough to _____" is not exactly an uncommon metaphor, as in "Hunting season is so close you can smell it," or "Christmas is so close I can taste it." If he'd said, "I can smell them from the next quadrant, yeah, that'd be a slur.

 

I think "close enough to smell them" in Tribbles was absolutely a racist play on words.

 

Great stuff; Blish's adaptations usually added more color / character to the filmed scripts (in other words, the novels were not reprinting scripts with a few descriptions added).

 

I did not know this. Thanks.

 

KOLOTH: Captain, we Klingons are not as luxury-minded as you Earthers. We do not equip our ships with, how shall I say it, non-essentials.

Given the proability that the entire crew (approx. 440 according to Kang in "Day of the Dove") of a Klingon Battlecruiser occupies its forward main section, conditions inside may rather resemble those of a submarine with bunk beds shared by crew members of different shifts.

For all we know, even on the Klingon homeworlds crew members returning from away missions may be identified by their "smell" among their own people. Heck, it might even be something Klingon crews are proud of as it distincts "warriors" from others.

Bob

 

That's a good catch.

 

Worf did seem to react disagreeably to bathing, in the 24th century.

 

I'm afraid "distincts" isn't an English word. You mean "distinguishes".

 

And Tige Andrews was born TIGER because tigers are strong and Klingons are strong.

I don't see what's the problem with Kras. Of course, he looks more like one of those plumbers in Errand of Mercy than Genghis Kor, but he has more charisma than Genghis Kor's plumbers and he's not supposed to be a big shot like Genghis Kor. He's surely a respected agent (and officer) since the Klingon Empire wouldn't have send a janitor to obtain mining rightss, especially since the Federation didn't either send a janitor. I mean, Kor's lieutenant wasn't a monument of bravery.

 

Okay, I can't resist mentioning that the * shows up again in a story I wrote for the Tales of the Dominion War anthology. Needless to say, it fed well during that particular conflict . . . .

 

Glad you did mention it, Mr. C! I did not know!

Maybe that's something I should read!

 

^ Archanis.

Or perhaps Klingons just like to take sonic showers instead of baths. They still get clean, but they do it in a completely no-frills manner.
Hell, I sympathize with them if that's the case. I don't take baths either (mostly because I'm too tall, I can't fit in a tub!), I just shower. No reason the Klingons couldn't do the same.

In any case, a line like "close enough to smell them" is probably racist when applied to humans (although I don't think Chekov meant it that way - just a metaphor. Getting close enough, you can smell anything!), but not necessarily Klingons. We know from at least one DS9 episode that Klingons really do have a unique smell. How can a line be racist if it's TRUE?

 

Well, it's not true that you can smell them across a parsec of space, which is even the point of the very next line from Spock.

 

^ Point taken.