Hey, I never noticed that before....

In "The Trouble With Tribbles," Kirk makes a big deal about assigning one Enterprise security guard for every Klingon that beams over to the station. When Scotty, Chekov, and Freeman enter the bar on K-7, two Enterprise security guards walk out of the bar, even though several Klingons are still sitting right there. Scotty even nods to them on their way out. Then, after the fight breaks out, five security guards charge back in to break things up.

So if the Enterprise security guards were supposed to be guarding the Klingons, why the heck did they leave the bar? They weren't following anyone. If they were going off duty, presumably they'd wait for their relief to arrive first. I hope Kirk disciplined them for this blatant dereliction of duty.*

(*Of course, I know that the real reason the guards leave is so that the fight can break out in the first place. It's just kind of funny when you realize how artificially they set it up.)

 

Shift change.

 

Patrolling. Making the rounds. IOW, they are assigned to the station in equal numbers bu not necessarily glued to the Klingons's hips, as it were.

 

So Kirk wasn't where he was expected to be and Spock realises he's made a mistake and not accounted for the Tholian entry.
So Spock says I'll just have to recalculate and Mccoy effectively says lets not bother with the recalculation Jim's lost and its too risky for the ship.
For one thing its not McCoy's call, or Scotty's or Sulu's despite what McCoy thinks.
And McCoys not the kind of guy who would normally do that. In Galileo 7 Spock suggests that they leave someone behind to save the rest and McCoy complains that Spock has no heart and here it is McCoy suggesting that the should abandon Kirk at the first opportunity - while not necessarily the wrong decision really is un McCoy like.
Then there's all the barb McCoy throws at Spock - you'll never be as great as Jim Kirk, you just fired at the Tholians to get Jim's command, the crew has lost faith in you - imagining seeing Kirk. ts all terrible. Look Kirk told Spock in his last command to follow McCoys advice - what good advice did McCoy give - just nothing. Uhura was crazy when she wasn't, have a funeral for Kirk (great way to inspire the crew)

 

Yes, McCoy does contradict himself, but given Spock's observant reaction shots (particularly whilst sat by Kirk's safe), and the way Nimoy plays it, I just assume McCoy's constant flipping is due to his being affected by interspace:

Firstly McCoy insists they leave the region (as mentioned, very un-McCoy like).

After the service, he demands that despite the pressing time, both men view Kirk's final log. He makes a point of stating that Spock declared 'Jim dead', despite he, himself, making that assumption in his earlier demand to leave the area. Spock simply came to accept McCoy's own conclusion here.

And then, when in Kirk's quarters, he turns on Spock and goes back on his earlier demand that they watch Kirk's final log, and says he has more pressing things to do than undertake the task at hand in Kirk's quarters.

This is despite the fact that Spock insisted he remain in the lab in the first place, whilst McCoy insisted on coming to the service and reviewing Kirk's log.

 

...It's always great for disjointed writing if one can assume the characters are crazy or drunk. It just seldom works to the advantage of the episode, unfortunately. But it's a saving grace here, even if it sorta undermines the only thing in the adventure that should matter to us, the very personal reactions of the other heroes to the death of Kirk.

Timo Saloniemi

 

Honestly, The Tholian Web is so good that I have no problem overlooking McCoy's behavior, which grates in so many other episodes, chiefly G7 and GOT. But of course, TW is far, far better-written than either, and McCoy is at first possibly - and later definitely - under the influence of the space madness.

I think that TW is also the series' best representation of Spock-in-command (DM is a contender here as well; WMFA is as well). That, strangely, helps mitigate McCoy's behavior.

 

I think Nimoy said in I am Not Spock (all of this is in my words) that Spock works best when he has Kirk to play off of. He's missing something in stories that take him away from Kirk, because Spock is not the propulsive character putting stuff out there, he's a reactive character who shines when someone else is initiating. Spock had to be cool and laid-back, so Kirk's extroverted style bridged the gap between them and gave Spock a connection.

He needed McCoy to go big in "The Tholian Web." I'm sure Nimoy liked "The Doomsday Machine" as well, because Decker gave him an even bigger springboard for acting Vulcan.

"Amok Time" is an exception, where Spock becomes the propulsive character who's coming in hot.

 

Does everyone forget that the interphase is causing the crew to go nuts? McCoy may not be Chekov crazy yet but its probably making him extra crotchety.

 

^^^
It's actually pretty evident in the episode itself. There's a scene where McCoy grabs the captain's chair while Spock is sitting at it and spins it around to face him as he's yelling, "Spock!..."

At that point McCoy apologizes to Spock saying it's nothing he's done, and Spock responds with, "I believe the captain would have said, 'Forget it Bones.", a fter which McCoy collapses.

It's pretty clear they're all being affected by the interphasic space that they're in.

 

I realized you based that partly on Nimoy's own words, but you expanded it nicely, Zap. Good analysis. Of course, McCoy comes in hotter than anyone (except for the ridiculous "mutiny" scene in GOT, Scotty rarely shows anything but respect for and deference to Spock, and that includes even the xenophobic party in G7), but I think you and Nimoy probably meant that the propulsion needs to come from someone who can order Spock around.

 

Rarely from Day of the Dove:

 

But you leave out a lot of context here. Scotty said that because he was being mind controlled and fed false memories by an alien entity that fed off strong emotions.

Same entity made Chekov Believe he had a brother that was killed during a Klingon raid on a research outpost. Trouble is, Sulu already knew, (probably from previous conversations with Chekov), that Chekov was an only child.

So yes Mr Scott was definitely not himself during that exchange in the TOS S3 episode "Day Of The Dove".

 

Yes, that episode and ATCSL are probably the only real times Scott does get affected.

TTW is only mildly, and TNT and TIS he is on top form.

 

Do these acronyms actually save much time?

 

No. I have to wrack my brain decoding them.

 

Ditto.

 

FTWIHAIHTTS

That hurts to type.

 

Indeed, every statement from the teaser on, by heroes and villains alike, is likely to be perverted by that fact. Thus:

Or then Sulu was the one in error. That's how it usually works in Trek: surprise siblings exist for real.

But "Day of the Dove" has other gems we can flip for the shinier other facet, too. Spock claims that there would be something risky about intraship transport, when there demonstrably isn't and logically shouldn't be. The evil entity at work again? Kang speaks of years of adhering to the Organian Treaty. A filthy lie due to alien influence? McCoy knows what Klingons do to prisoners? The contrary may be true. Etc.

Timo Saloniemi

 

I also had trouble with them. So here are my guesses.


"that episode" is "Day of the Dove"?

"ATCSL" is "And the Children Shall Lead"?

"TTW" is "The Tholian Web"?

"TNT" is "The Naked Time"?

"TIS" is "The immunity Syndrome"?