50th Anniversary Rewatch Thread
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The Apple. Good discussion between Spock and McCoy about whether they should interfere with the native culture. Amazingly high red shirt deaths. The ultimate red shirt episode. Good mix between the planet and the Enterprise. Scotty is back in command. Always good to see.
Just to back track a little with Mirror Mirror. An earlier poster commented that when Scotty called Kirk "Jim" and Kirk gave him a you do not get to call me Jim look. It reminded me of Kirk in Balance of Terror. Meaning in Mirror Mirror we get to see Kirk give a slight smile when Scotty calls him Jim. In Balance of Terror when McCoy is giving his speech that ends with "Don't destroy the one named Kirk" we see Shatner giving a slight smile when DeForrest Kelly is speaking. In both scenes I am watching Shatner and his slight smile (could it be a smirk)? Is this an acting technique of Shatner that draws your attention to him and not the other actor?
Just to back track a little with Mirror Mirror. An earlier poster commented that when Scotty called Kirk "Jim" and Kirk gave him a you do not get to call me Jim look. It reminded me of Kirk in Balance of Terror. Meaning in Mirror Mirror we get to see Kirk give a slight smile when Scotty calls him Jim. In Balance of Terror when McCoy is giving his speech that ends with "Don't destroy the one named Kirk" we see Shatner giving a slight smile when DeForrest Kelly is speaking. In both scenes I am watching Shatner and his slight smile (could it be a smirk)? Is this an acting technique of Shatner that draws your attention to him and not the other actor?
Star Trek
"The Doomsday Machine"
Originally aired October 20, 1967
Stardate 4202.9
Are MeTV descriptions canon?
Another planet-destroying "robot" so soon...Nomad stole this one's thunder in airing order.
Guest-starring everyone's favorite crazy flag officer, William Windom...his scenery chewing may seem a bit OTT, but at least he didn't bring one of his Mission: Impossible accents.
And filling in for Lt. Uhura: Lt. Not Uhura.
This episode brings us not one, but two walking-in-front-of-the-viewscreen shots. No doubt shot back-to-back.
Kirk booting Decker from command is one of the series's best moments.
Scotty's much more in his wheelhouse here than when he's acting all lovesick and getting himself killed.
Next week, Trek takes a frightening turn for the worse:
"The Doomsday Machine"
Originally aired October 20, 1967
Stardate 4202.9
MeTV said:
Are MeTV descriptions canon?
Another planet-destroying "robot" so soon...Nomad stole this one's thunder in airing order.
Guest-starring everyone's favorite crazy flag officer, William Windom...his scenery chewing may seem a bit OTT, but at least he didn't bring one of his Mission: Impossible accents.
And filling in for Lt. Uhura: Lt. Not Uhura.
This episode brings us not one, but two walking-in-front-of-the-viewscreen shots. No doubt shot back-to-back.
Kirk booting Decker from command is one of the series's best moments.
Scotty's much more in his wheelhouse here than when he's acting all lovesick and getting himself killed.
His muttered curse when he has to get back in the Jefferies tube is classic.
Next week, Trek takes a frightening turn for the worse:
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If the ratings relied on me to watch it friday nights, this show would be in trouble. 
The opening and closing make a very ham-fisted allegory for "Ye Old Timey H-Bomb" as something that shouldn't be used. Ironically future Star Trek installments will show that both Earth and Vulcan have in fact nuked themselves almost into oblivion in the past.
"It came from another Galaxy as an ancient weapon used in a war then set loose" explanation comes from nowhere and is backed up by nothing in the story itself, nobody even attempts to find out what it is, Spock doesn't even try a mind meld, Kirk just guesses that's what it is, so whatever, roll with it...
They could have done without the repeated "transporter works! oh no it doesn't! *Scotty speedy spark fix go*" in the last minutes, the entire episode had a lot of good tension build up, then that last bit is just obvious fake tension because we know Kirk will beam out in the last moment.
Other than that it's a really good action packed episode, it's never been one of my absolute favourites, but I do like it and I get why a lot of people like it a lot more.
The original planetkiller is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cooler than the remasterd one.
The opening and closing make a very ham-fisted allegory for "Ye Old Timey H-Bomb" as something that shouldn't be used. Ironically future Star Trek installments will show that both Earth and Vulcan have in fact nuked themselves almost into oblivion in the past.
"It came from another Galaxy as an ancient weapon used in a war then set loose" explanation comes from nowhere and is backed up by nothing in the story itself, nobody even attempts to find out what it is, Spock doesn't even try a mind meld, Kirk just guesses that's what it is, so whatever, roll with it...
They could have done without the repeated "transporter works! oh no it doesn't! *Scotty speedy spark fix go*" in the last minutes, the entire episode had a lot of good tension build up, then that last bit is just obvious fake tension because we know Kirk will beam out in the last moment.
Other than that it's a really good action packed episode, it's never been one of my absolute favourites, but I do like it and I get why a lot of people like it a lot more.
The original planetkiller is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cooler than the remasterd one.
The Doomsday Machine is upper tier Trek. The Enterprise vs. the Big Giant Cheetos. William Windom turns in another great acting performance. Weeping Willie indeed. Dramatic tension as he takes command of the Enterprise from Spock and then he throws McCoy off the bridge. Spock looking stone-faced unable to help McCoy, and then the Crew looks at Decker like nobody humiliates McCoy like that. Kirk ordering Spock to take back command and then "Vulcans don't bluff". Scotty briefly loses his Scottish accent when he tell Kirk how to destroy the ship. Great episode.
Plus we get a great little bit of music that is rarely heard again! Only a few chords in Obsession, A Private Little War and By Any Other Name cast a memory!
JB
JB
I used to play it on loop over and over again! 
JB
JB
I always found it strange that Kirk and Spock discuss this super race of The Fabrini as if we'd all heard of them before too! Seems as though it was shoe-horned into the script at the last minute!
JB
JB
This is the best holiday themed episode on Star Trek... by virtue of being the only one.
Overall, it's a bit of a mess of things we've seen before, it's got the weird aliens who manipulate matter and energy of The Squire combined with mistaking the subconscious for real of Shore Leave, the Enterprise stuck in orbit trying to break free of... well about 20 previous episodes, all packed in a horror themed holodeck episode.
I kinda like the gothic atmosphere, and I didn't find it as slow and plodding as I remembered it, but I'd say the biggest mistake of this episode was trying to play it straight. The best bit was the "very bad poetry" line and if more of the episode was lighthearted and fun this could have been a lot better.
Unlike The Apple's bunch of almost laughed off and quickly forgotten redshirt deaths, the death of Jackson is repeatedly brought up, right to the final lines ending on a somber note.
The fact that Uhura wasn't left in charge of the Enterprise is made worse by DeSalle being extremely boring and bland. We had a black commodore in Court Martial, and a woman left in charge in The Menagerie, but I guess a black woman leading the crew would have been too much for 60s America.
In the end, the only truly horrifying thing about this episode is Chekov's hair.
Overall, it's a bit of a mess of things we've seen before, it's got the weird aliens who manipulate matter and energy of The Squire combined with mistaking the subconscious for real of Shore Leave, the Enterprise stuck in orbit trying to break free of... well about 20 previous episodes, all packed in a horror themed holodeck episode.
I kinda like the gothic atmosphere, and I didn't find it as slow and plodding as I remembered it, but I'd say the biggest mistake of this episode was trying to play it straight. The best bit was the "very bad poetry" line and if more of the episode was lighthearted and fun this could have been a lot better.
Unlike The Apple's bunch of almost laughed off and quickly forgotten redshirt deaths, the death of Jackson is repeatedly brought up, right to the final lines ending on a somber note.
The fact that Uhura wasn't left in charge of the Enterprise is made worse by DeSalle being extremely boring and bland. We had a black commodore in Court Martial, and a woman left in charge in The Menagerie, but I guess a black woman leading the crew would have been too much for 60s America.
In the end, the only truly horrifying thing about this episode is Chekov's hair.
Star Trek
"Catspaw"
Originally aired October 27, 1967
Stardate 3018.2
What was going on the week the episode aired.
Next week...Trick or Treat is over, but the pranks are just getting started:
"Catspaw"
Originally aired October 27, 1967
Stardate 3018.2
MeTV said:
What was going on the week the episode aired.
The flaw in the aliens' perception of what they've learned about Earth is also reminiscent of "Squire"; an initial landing party that got into trouble and included Sulu is reminiscent of "Return of the Archons" and I think "Squire," IIRC; and Kirk taking advantage of an alien who's learning the sensations of being in the form of a human female by seizing the opportunity to play Bond is something we'll see again in "By Any Other Name."
Spock said:
It feels a bit padded to me; and good observation on the second point. It was hard to take these generic Halloween trappings seriously as things that were supposed to be truly and universally frightening. Are these things really part of the "twilight world of consciousness"? They seem pretty culture-specific. Kirk and crew wouldn't have knowledge of these specific symbols if they hadn't been exposed to them in their conscious lives. I could have sworn there was a contradictory beat in there somewhere in which Spock or McCoy questions whether these are things that really frighten humans...but if so, I missed it this time around.Kat Austen said:
DeSalle is a good continuity nod, at least. I like the idea that there's at least one senior officer aboard that we don't usually see on the "day shift." And he gives us the "credits to navy beans" reference, a linchpin in arguments that they were using a form of currency in this period. (We also learn something of the Enterprise's pre-replicator manufacturing capabilities in this era.)
An appropriate episode for his fright wig...a reminder that this is is the first episode of the season production-wise, and therefore Chekov's first filmed appearance.In the end, the only truly horrifying thing about this episode is Chekov's hair.
Next week...Trick or Treat is over, but the pranks are just getting started:
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People say "bet your ass" all the time, I doubt any one of them actually has a donkey.
The best part of 'Catspaw' is Jackson's dead wood fall off the transporter platform in the teaser. He was played by the shows regular stuntman, and they didn't have to give him a SAG card, 'cause he had no lines. I bet Bob Justman loved this budget saving bit. The rest of the episode is a bunch of padded fluff...
It's TOS. There's money. (I did just notice that in Generations Kirk says he sold his house.)People say "bet your ass" all the time, I doubt any one of them actually has a donkey.
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