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50th Anniversary Rewatch Thread

I came to like Paul Fix on The Rifleman, but he's such a waste of screen space here...sandwiched between two much more interesting CMOs. And why does he try to give pills to unconscious people when he's got a hypospray?

You mean like people are given aspirin under the tongue? Perhaps that particular drug works better sub-lingually.

Did we ever even see a dentist on a Federation starship?

The closest is when Phlox fills one of T'Pol's cavities, but the Federation didn't exist then.
 
"The Naked Time", Episode 4, September 29th

Tonight's Episode: The crew of the Enterprise gets drunk off their tits and blows up a planet.
Meanwhile, Sulu gets naked and runs around showing his sword to everybody.

Also, will somebody please take Kathleen home?
Find out tonight in this brand new episode of Star Trek!
 
Star Trek
"The Naked Time"
Stardate 1704.2

And now we get to our first indisputable top-tenner among the broadcast episodes.

[Insert dispute here.]

Anyway, it's such a seminal installment that TNG, intent as it was to establish its own identity, ripped it off immediately after the pilot.

Early installment weirdness: The cold suits (definitely not environmental suits with the hoods all open like that); the non-tricorder scanner...I was wondering if we'd seen the tricorder yet at this point, and there's one on Tormolen...but we only see him use it as a loot bag.

Ah, for the heady early days of Trek, when "It's like nothing we've dealt with before" was seen as a sufficient tease into the opening credits....

Hey look, regulation black undershirts! Then they clearly demonstrate that Kirk doesn't wear one when we get the only time a shirt needed to be ripped for a hypospray....

This episode features a brief but important early Spock/McCoy beat. In production order, the seeds of their relationship were planted in "The Enemy Within," but solidified here. A couple of other "firsts" in this episode that actually originated in TEW...the Vulcan neck pinch and (IIRC) the engine room. (Or do we see the latter in "Mudd's Women"?) While Spock specifically having a human mother is first referenced back in "The Corbomite Maneuver" in production order.

Sulu's penchant for multiple hobbies is established (in production order, botany literally was "last week").

It strikes me how out-of-place this episode would have been in Season 3, with its increased focus on the Big Three and relative avoidance of guest crew. Nevertheless, the climactic scenes with Spock and Kirk are the meat and potatoes of the episode.

Ah, for the heady days of early Trek when a butter knife was a credible suicide instrument...oh wait, a butter knife was never a credible suicide instrument....

Is this our first look at McCoy's surgical instruments? IIRC, it's the only time we see that blowtorch thingie among them. And sometimes "futuristic" doesn't seem like much of an improvement...like a respirator that's so miniaturized that the nurse has to hold it up to the patient's face the entire time.

We get multiple shots of Uhura standing at her post early in the episode...methinks somebody wanted us to notice her legs. And while she never got to take the captain's seat in live action, note how she doesn't miss a beat filling in as navigator. (Rand, OTOH, seems surprised and flustered when she's asked to sit at the helm.) Remember that when taking Uhura to task for never learning Klingon!

Spock sure seems to be observant of everyone's personal quirks...exposition is a powerful motivator. Just look at how it makes McCoy have an obviously one-sided conversation with an afflicted assistant on the intercom.

Note how Riley addresses the ship's cooks...between this and "Charlie X," they're definitely real in this era. Guess that lends credence to existence of the bowling alley....

Scotty first appeared last week, but it's here that he truly emerges, complete with Jeffries tube crawling, giving inflated estimates of how long a task will take, and asserting that he can't break the laws of physics just before he breaks the laws of physics.

Kirk's apology to Uhura after snapping at her is a great understated moment for both of them.

Was Majel wearing a wig? Amusing how Chapel praises Spock for his honesty, and then mentions how he hides his feelings in her next breath.

Love how seeing Kirk succumb to the disease seems to snap Spock out of it. And, once again in production order, Kirk not wanting the crew to see him under the influence in the corridors is a nice callback to the concerns about his authority raised in...you guessed it..."The Enemy Within."

"Never lose you...never."

Don't think I ever noticed how the left part of the chronometer stops at 00:07--a nod to Goldfinger?
 
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I loved the not one, not two, but THREE spray bottles in sick bay,

This is not only the first Jefferies Tube, it's the first "Doohan hides his missing finger"!

These early episodes are doing a great job at giving the Enterprise "life". The crew knows each other and has a life on the ship. I think we've seen the corridors more crowded though.

Engineering seems pretty easy to clear out.
 
Gah, I can't get over the awful sound mix on the Blu-Rays. The obnoxiously loud engine rumble, which drowns out Kirk's log entries and the added "swishes" for Sulu's sword, in the "original mono mix" no less," are totally distracting. I really much prefer the closer to the actual original mix on the Laserdiscs, which have NO engine rumble at all, and no added "swishes." Such a shame, because the picture quality is so damned outstanding. Maybe for the 75th, we'll get an accurate release of the series.
 
This is the first classic episode of the series. It is great to see so many scenes with the supporting characters. It would have been nice to see them continue that trend. Riley scenes and Sulu's give the episode some comic relief while Spock and Chapel have a nice moment where she tells him she loves him. Spock realizing that he had to get out of the corridors and be by himself because he knew he was about to lose it is a great scene. Kirk slapping Spock and then Spock responding in kind is great. This is the episode where Leonard Nimoy got a major boost in fan mail. Major episode for Nimoy.
 
And now we get to our first indisputable top-tenner among the broadcast episodes.

[Insert dispute here.]

Nobody?
Fine, I'll dispute it...

While The Naked Now is certainly an iconic episode, it's not really a particularly well written one. Most of the stuff that happens during the episode just happens because otherwise there wouldn't be an episode. Tormolen gets infected because of his stupidity and jumping blood, but after that the virus spreads through perspiration and not blood jumping. Also, the virus seems to affect people differently according to script needs, Spock and Kirk reveal some deep inner turmoil, and on the other hand we have Sulu who just wants to be a French pirate for some reason and Riley as a stereotypical drunken Irishman.
Bones doesn't know what it is or how to cure it, until he just does without any explanation on how he figured it out, Riley can take over the entire ship single-handedly while completely wasted because there's apparently no security protocols to prevent that, the doors to Engineering can't be unlocked until they can because you can only cut plastic plot fast, engines can't be restarted until they can, and so on...

It's basically an episode on how a bunch of drunkards accidentally invent time travel. :techman:

Having said that, I still like it, the character moments, the increasing tension and the humor work so I don't really mind all its plot faults, it's probably like no.11 in my book ;) :D


Ah, for the heady days of early Trek when a butter knife was a credible suicide instrument...oh wait, a butter knife was never a credible suicide instrument....

"Losing the will to live" is also a poor excuse for dying if you're unconscious and can't even exercise your will(or lack thereof).

(Rand, OTOH, seems surprised and flustered when she's asked to sit at the helm.)

There were two Rands at the helm this episode, Spock calls Leslie "Rand" when he tells him to take over. Though that could be just because all humans look alike to him... :D

Was Majel wearing a wig?

Seems like Chapel and Lwaxana had something in common.

Don't think I ever noticed how the left part of the chronometer stops at 00:07--a nod to Goldfinger?

If it was, they unnodded it for the remastered edition.
 
While The Naked Now is certainly an iconic episode, it's not really a particularly well written one.
I'd argue that "The Naked Now" is neither iconic nor well-written, but I think you meant "The Naked Time". :p
 
I'd argue that "The Naked Now" is neither iconic nor well-written, but I think you meant "The Naked Time". :p

Gah, such a rookie mistake on my part. :alienblush:
But you mentioned the TNG sequel/remake first so it's actually kinda your fault I even remembered the other title to mistype it :p
 
I'll argue within an inch of my life because this was preceded by Where No Man Has Gone Before.
 
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