Defending The Lights of Zetar

Kirk's sideboards are definitely longer if you see him in his medicine man outfit at the end!
JB

 

I don't know what you're going on about. When you tell a woman you're dying in a year, she takes that seriously, whether it shows or not. Are you still trying to say Bones was bad in bed, like that wasn't just a joke? Not sure as to the point.
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This coming together was supposed to be something special. It was, don't know how to put it, a heightened reality sort of situation. He just got the shock of finding he had a fatal disease. She has just met people from another WORLD for the first time. The landing party knows Yonada is going to smash into a planet. Everything in the situation is intensified, up for grabs, in flux. They say people often respond to death with sex, there's another idea to throw in.
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This isn't a situation for a mundane "first date"... go to a movie, hang out eat pizza and watch TV...She has to decide now before he's on his way and gone forever. Same on his end, plus he's going to DIE, so grabbing some bit of happiness at the end, why the hell not, and she is obviously something awfully special. Good going Leonard.
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I think they, and we as viewers, know everything we need to know. It's obviously what he needs, catch her Bones before she gets away...
and I love that she sees beyond the cranky cynic and sees what we see in the guy after our having hung out with him for 2 1/2 years.
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The love at first sight thing here is startling and very touching, and somehow, falls into place and makes perfect sense. The ONE thing that's wrong is his having to subjugate himself to their "god"...

Thanks for the nugget of info about xenopolycythemia, which I see now is an actual disease with "xeno" added to indicate space. Interesting.

 

Fleet Captain Unknown Sample: Yes, of course I wasn't seriously arguing that Bones disappointed Natira in the sack.

They say people often respond to death with sex: I know from personal experience that death of a family member can evoke a sexual response between two surviving people, and also that imminent and permanent separation can do likewise between those about to be separated. But it seems really implausible when those two people have just met and, moreover, are (presumably) speaking different languages and understanding each other only through a Universal Translator. When I had these experiences myself, it was a surprise, but in both cases I had known the person for months or years, and in both cases it was momentary (despite being quite mutual); there was no question of becoming a couple, much less agreeing to subcutaneous insertion of an Instrument of Obedience!

 

I've always liked the episode, too. It's hard for me reassess episodes that I've watched for decades. My opinion was baked in at a very early age.

That bothers me, too.

One other point: This interesting conversation about Scotty having awkward romantic attractions reminds me of a later Chief Engineer. I'm sure this similarity between Scotty and LaForge has already been noted somewhere, right?

 

It appears that Fred Phillips pasted fake sideburns onto Kirk's pointy sideburns. The few days of shooting did not allow them to grow enough for the script's called for 2 months elapsed time.

 

Maybe he deleted it later, or re-filed it in his personal log.

 

As Scotty would say, "Aye. You're right."

 

"The girl" is pretty jarring to me. Had the character been a male and the aliens called it "the boy," that would have been pretty weird, eh?

And I'm usually the one arguing not to impose our standards on 1960s tv. I'm just saying it's weird to my ears.

 

Well Hey,...I guess not!
JB

 

Star Trek Memo :
To: Fred Phillips
From: GR

Remember to glue hair onto Shatner's head and next to his ears.

 

Personally I'm not sure this episode needs defending. I enjoyed it. What I think needs defending, or at least advocating for placement on "Best of" lists, is Day of the Dove. Criminally underrated, that episode.

 

I don't think anyone here on this forum underrates Day of The Dove one bit, Balok! It's just fifty minutes of fantasticness!
JB

 

Day of The Dove was also the first time that The Klingons and The crew of The Enterprise could have come to an agreement on peace in an unfilmed scene where Kirk takes Kang's crew to a neutral planet!
JB

 

I liked The Lights of Zetar.

 

Me too!!!!

 

It also has a theme taken from the first few James Bond movies : a third party is fomenting tension and violence between two other parties.

 

TLOZ Lover, excellent blog! I like TLOZ, although it has never ranked among my ultimate favorites. The love story is very cool, and I think Spock summed it up quite well, "Humans do claim a great deal for that particular emotion."

Oh yeah, Day of the Dove... fantastic!

 

I always liked this one. Much as I don't love how Scotty acts whenever he has an affair of the heart, this episode has a lot going for it. Like much of the 3rd season, this is a VERY spooky episode. One of the few to really feel like a dip into the horror genre. Going back to the WNMHGB score was a great touch in selling the chills. Jan Shutan has a creepy vibe to her, the way her eyes take on an icy stare. The low growl, the glow, the dead bodies on Memory Alpha and the voice of the Zetarians really scared the crap out of me as a kid. Other great moments: the revelation of the matching brainwaves and the invasion of the ship. Watching this one at 2 am is a great way to feel unnerved.

One piece of continuity that always bothered me was Spock saying the Zetarians will answer questions "using her voice." But when they speak again, it's the alien voice...

 

Jan Shutan was a bit creepy I agree! So were the dead aliens in Memory Alpha!
JB

 

The original unremastered effect for the Zetarians makes the episode. What seems a bit empty about the ep is that the Zetarians appear to have survived as non-corporeal just because they wanted to.