One of my favorite episodes. Nice outdoor location makes it very inviting. I always loved the fight between Kirk and Finnegan was a classic. One of the best fights in the series.. Also, the "death" of McCoy was very moving. The reaction of Kirk, Spock and Barrows to his death is very real. Even though the show has only been on for half a season, you feel the sense of loss for this character. You get a sense that Barrows character was originally supposed to be Janice Rand. Still, if that was the case, what was she flirting with McCoy for? Kirk and Rand has a thing for each other. Throw McCoy into the mix and we could have trouble between the two men. I like the fact that they came back to this planet in The Animated Series. That was a nice sequel.
50th Anniversary Rewatch Thread
- Thread starter dahj
- Start date
Here's the thing. I think. Being "ravished" can be a fantasy and often is, or was. As a fantasy it never actually means a forced, brutal thing. It's never undesired, or unexpected. That's the make believe part. I can understand a fantasy about being suddenly overwhelmed sexually. What if you could have that, while still knowing ahead of time that it will all be within exactly your desired parameters? Best of both worlds.
Having cake and eating it. No harm, but a bit of the rush of danger. Not to the point of trauma, though, because you're supposed to know going in that it's the amusement park planet.
That the show treats this as normal is precisely the issue here, though. Because unfortunately history(and even more unfortunately present day as well) is filled with "reasonable" explanations for rape and "I thought she was into it" is the oldest one in the book. She was clearly not into it. Compounding the tastelessness of it is that this is supposed to be a fun episode(in which a woman ends up being chased by a rapist, so fun!).
It's so painfully obviously written from a male perspective, because the rape itself is not even depicted as her problem or something she has to deal with, but as a something that the men have to protect her from.
Also, this is already the second time that the show suggests that women might actually want to be raped after Spock's also "lighthearted and jokey" comment of "hey that rapey Kirk was alright" to Janice in the Enemy Within.
Just, ugh...
On a lighter note... Happy New Year 1967, folks! 
I'm still wondering about the "cold bowl of soup in bed" thing.
So was Kirk in bed with the flu, and then Finnegan came in and said:
"Here's a nice hot bowl of soup, Jimboy"
And then Kirk tasted it.
"Ha-ha, it's actually cold!"
Is that how that's supposed to work?
I'm still wondering about the "cold bowl of soup in bed" thing.
So was Kirk in bed with the flu, and then Finnegan came in and said:
"Here's a nice hot bowl of soup, Jimboy"
And then Kirk tasted it.
"Ha-ha, it's actually cold!"
Is that how that's supposed to work?
These are the obvious objections to make. I thought I'd throw something else in to consider, though.
Listen to the line again.
"He was the kind of guy to put a bowl of cold soup in your bed or a bucket of water propped on a half-open door."
He'd put something messy in your bed, not serve it to you!
I've seen the bucket on door in many a cartoon, but never the soup thing.
So literally just pour a bowl of soup in your bed?
Why does it matter if it's cold then? Do you have to be in the bed at the time?
I can't get over the first scene with the fake rabbit. Puts me off the whole episode. I wish they'd CGId that out.
I wasn't sure at first if he was fake, but then he started talking which confirmed it for me
That's right. Why would a British rabbit talk with an American accent?I wasn't sure at first if he was fake, but then he started talking which confirmed it for me
"The Galileo Seven", Episode 16, January 5th
Tonight's Episode:
I see a giant silhouetto of a man,
Taurean, Taurean will you do the fandango?
All the fog and spear throwing, very very frightening me!
Galileo, Galileo,
Galileo, Galileo,
Galileo Figaro... Ilogicooooooooo!
Tonight's Episode:
I see a giant silhouetto of a man,
Taurean, Taurean will you do the fandango?
All the fog and spear throwing, very very frightening me!
Galileo, Galileo,
Galileo, Galileo,
Galileo Figaro... Ilogicooooooooo!
My thoughts on "The Galileo Seven" . Great episode, with one minor opinion.
Next week: Omnipotent being galore!
Next week: Omnipotent being galore!
I'm surprised this one doesn't get my traction as a top-10 all timer for TOS. The stuff with Spock and the shuttlecraft crew is really solid and the Makus III subplot is an effective ticking clock. There's even foreshadowing to Spock's final decision earlier on in the dialogue!
As an adult, it's a favorite for the conflict over feeling vs logic, Spock vs a world that doesn't understand him... but when I was a kid it was too harsh for me. The ganging up on Spock represented to me the kind of thing I saw in the world all around me, that I turned to Trek as a sanctuary from, or alternative to. I mean, it was some of "our" own guys doing it, Ent crewpeople.
I agree. Also, all of them are supposed to be Starfleet officers, trained to follow orders and respect the chain of command, and considering none of Spock's decisions are actually wrong the fact that they immediately turn on him just seems really inappropriate.
It's still a bit too harsh at times for me. Boma is just a flat out racist asshole, and that McCoy takes his side just doesn't feel very McCoyish.
While I can agree that it's a good look at at how Spock is treated in a human world, I have to disagree that it's a good logic vs emotion episode. To be fair most of logic vs emotion episodes are heavily rigged in favor of emotion, but even though this one is rigged as well it still manages to really fail in its intent.
The point of the episode is supposed to be that emotion beats logic, but the results of the episode are precisely the opposite. Emotional people make bad decision, like irrationally insisting on "properly" burying the deceased while still under threat, arguing for wholesale slaughter of indigenous lifeforms, and all around not helping at all by being unnecessarily confrontational and offering no helpful alternatives at all to Spocks decision. Scotty is the only one that actually contributes ideas and does his job while others do nothing but complain and rage at Spock for no reason.
Spock's decisions are the right ones, his only mistake is when he's having a crisis of logic while the shuttle is being hit by rocks and he's questioning his decisions, which is a borderline emotional outburst, but once he snaps out of it again he's the one that comes up with a solution while the rest just panic and shout at him how he was wrong.
The alleged emotional "act of desperation" at the end is also a perfectly logical decision.
So I guess I have this kind of weird reaction to this episode, I really like it for what it actually does despite the fact that it's not what the writer intended at all.
I also liked very much that Uhura gets a to be the second most important person on the bridge for the episode.
On the minor nitpick side, the setup for the episode is kinda weak. Enterprise is carrying urgently needed medical supplies, but they decide to take a break to look at some pretty lights that aren't going anywhere.
This is supposed to be Spock's first command, but wasn't he technically in command when both Pike and Number One were captured by the Talosians? Also, he's been in Starfleet for over a decade at this point, that he never lead an away mission doesn't seem very plausible.
Wow! "The Galileo Seven" is 50 years old! I love that episode; it scared the stuff out of me when I first watched it, and I watched it when it originally aired! I was, like, 6 when it came on!
To this day, the drama and consequence still get me thinking how exceptional the series really was (and still is).
To this day, the drama and consequence still get me thinking how exceptional the series really was (and still is).
This time around, I just couldn't get past all the emphasis on it being "Spock's first command," and on Spock having pure intellect unbalanced by common sense. It's hard to believe that the Spock in this episode could have risen to the position of second-in-command of a starship, if he'd had so little experience commanding humans.
The moment in which Spock has his little meltdown over having been wrong reminds me of when Kirk talks a computer or android into self-destructing by feeding it a paradox. "I am incapable of error...but I have committed an error--Illogical! Illogical! SQUAWK-fizzzzzzz...!"
It's also a bit contrived that all of Kirk's closest advisers are on the shuttle so Kirk has nobody to lean on when dealing with Ferris. In-universe, why the hell would McCoy be on that shuttle?
The moment in which Spock has his little meltdown over having been wrong reminds me of when Kirk talks a computer or android into self-destructing by feeding it a paradox. "I am incapable of error...but I have committed an error--Illogical! Illogical! SQUAWK-fizzzzzzz...!"
It's also a bit contrived that all of Kirk's closest advisers are on the shuttle so Kirk has nobody to lean on when dealing with Ferris. In-universe, why the hell would McCoy be on that shuttle?
I felt the same way, almost, for years. It did seem as if the viewpoint of the writer was far more for "human/emotional", than for Spock. It's strange how we can be so sure that we know what the writer's intent was, despite our having been handed such a conflicted episode. It doesn't help that our society's general point of view is to put "emotion -- right or wrong" up on a pedestal. Decide with your heart, not your head (as if the two have to be mutually exclusive). And before, in science fiction, aliens were often the baddies, and evil, specifically because they were for intellect over "good old human emotion". In context, it had to look as if G7 was more of the same.
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But note all those scenes where Spock turned out to have been right. Those were in the episode. We see the practical consequences of rejecting Spock. And since the writing isn't contrived or forced, it almost seems as if Spock's side hasn't even occurred to the writer himself.
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The biggest contradictory moment always seemed to me to be when they're all arguing over whether or not to give the giants a bloody nose (I think?). Spock says he's often appalled at the low regard Earth men have for life. A human being then says
"At least we're practical about it!"
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Now, that seemed unintentionally contradictory to me, for decades. Now, though, it seems to me to be the pivotal moment, as far as its overall message. The hypocrisy of that, the 180 degree turnabout on the part of the human crewman, there's where the truth comes out. The humans had been riding Spock for being callous and calculating, and getting them killed, as a result of not empathizing with and protecting them enough. He doesn't feel like we decent folk do, supposedly.
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Then what's-his-name shoots off his mouth about how they've got to kill just to scare the aliens off. Suddenly Spock's the bleeding heart, and it's the good old, right-minded human who doesn't let sentiment get in the way, and is "practical" about death.
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One thing tripping us up here is that TV takes sides. It usually has one message, and it's right, and the other side is wrong. In real life, the other side often has good arguments, and it irritatingly and disorientingly refuses to send out "villain" signals. The "writer" gives no clue whatsoever who's in the right. G7 is like that. Which side seems "right" shifts maddeningly from moment to moment. It eventually comes down on Spock's side, I think, but the humans' point of view was to some extent understandable, and not always completely wrong.
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As for racism, they think Spock's logic is going to get them killed. While that logic is attached to the fact that he's a Vulcan, and due to that, and yes, associated with that in all their heads.... still, this is panic over his decision-making, not hatred of ethnicity or skin color.
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50 years ago this week:
New on the U.S. charts:
"Go Where You Wanna Go," The 5th Dimension
(#16 US)
"The Beat Goes On," Sonny & Cher
(#6 US; #29 UK)
And airing Thursday night:
Star Trek
"The Squire of Gothos"
Stardate 2124.5
New on the U.S. charts:
"Go Where You Wanna Go," The 5th Dimension
(#16 US)
"The Beat Goes On," Sonny & Cher
(#6 US; #29 UK)
And airing Thursday night:
Star Trek
"The Squire of Gothos"
Stardate 2124.5
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