At the year's end we get a lighthearted comical episode to see off 1966. I liked the banter between the cast (and that it was an expanded cast) throughout the episode, but it's kinda weird that they continued to do that in what is surely a slightly too jovial tone while they still think McCoy is actually dead.
It's also funny how
"everything you imagine becomes real" was only a few weeks ago treated as the worst possible thing ever that could happen to humanity, the mere possibility of encountering it still punishable by death and any contact with the aliens who can do that strictly forbidden, yet now it's considered just fun and a harmless diversion.
Not sure why everyone found the environment "magical"? It's just a lightly forested area near a lake, the likes of which they must have seen before. They do spend most of the time on the ship and usually beam down to rocky desolate planets(that can be created in the studio

) so I guess it might be considered a welcome change of pace, but the jump to "magical" seems like a slight overreaction.
I get they needed to kickstart the fantasy elements somehow, but still...
The fantasies they have are so '60s. Tigers attacking in the jungle, damsels in distress, knights jousting, Japanese air raids, hacking samurais, gun prop leftover from a cop procedural, Irish drunkard jokesters and such. It's oh so very cheesy and outdated in both look and sentiment, and doesn't really reflect fantasies that would pop up in people's minds today. But since there's never really any immersion to begin with, there's nothing to break it so it's enjoyable in its own weird way.
When we're on the subject of weird fantasies, I've heard people say his name, but I'm not really familiar with the character of Don Juan, is he always that rapey? (I'm not even gonna go into that apparently Barrows was walking down and thinking "wow this is so lovely, but what a girl
really needs here is a rapist"

)
Oh, and that princess dress. No woman would imagine wearing that outfit in that weather and surroundings. Ever. Even the kookie ones that really, really wanted to be a princess and frolic around would surely imagine some lighter fabrics...
Other random thoughts:
- Sulu apparently has a thing for both Westworld and Samuraiworld. And flowers, but we already knew that.
- Finnegan proves instrumental in helping Kirk scout out a location for the fight with the Gorn.
- When McCoy lists all the life that isn't found on the planet he also says "no insects", but on the hi def blu rays you can clearly see insects buzzing about when Kirk is gushing over Ruth, it's hard to think anyone would just choose to imagine those
Next week: Time to Party Like It's 1967! Are we even allowed to do that here?
Of course. You just have to slightly adjust your partying levels due to inflation.
