50th Anniversary Rewatch Thread
- Thread starter dahj
- Start date
You've got TAS and STC... (And If I'm being impartial, NV/P2.)We're officially halfway through the rewatch now, there's fewer episodes left than we've seen so far.
Unless they renew it for Season 4 this time...
But going by 50th anniversaries of airdates, we wouldn't be doing TAS until September 2023.
Star Trek
"The Deadly Years"
Originally aired December 8, 1967
Stardate 3478.2
What was going on the week the episode aired.
This episode is far from Star Trek's finest hour, but it's a fun, interesting situation to put the crew in. OK, it gets a little padded in the hearing scene, when the audience is subjected to court testimony describing things that they just watched. And Kirk's old flame seems a bit shoehorned into the story. Also, the cure is way too magically quick--Kirk gets injected while the ship is under fire and is back to normal in time to run up to the bridge and save the day. I suppose I could buy it if the transporter were involved or something.
This would be our second appearance of the Romulans, more or less, FWIW.
Next week--After the Enterprise's annual chili cook-off, a gaseous anomaly threatens the ship:
"The Deadly Years"
Originally aired December 8, 1967
Stardate 3478.2
MeTV said:
What was going on the week the episode aired.
This episode is far from Star Trek's finest hour, but it's a fun, interesting situation to put the crew in. OK, it gets a little padded in the hearing scene, when the audience is subjected to court testimony describing things that they just watched. And Kirk's old flame seems a bit shoehorned into the story. Also, the cure is way too magically quick--Kirk gets injected while the ship is under fire and is back to normal in time to run up to the bridge and save the day. I suppose I could buy it if the transporter were involved or something.
This would be our second appearance of the Romulans, more or less, FWIW.
Next week--After the Enterprise's annual chili cook-off, a gaseous anomaly threatens the ship:
Yeah, that was a totally unnecessary 10 minute recap mid episode.
The inept Commodore was a bit much, too. I didn't even go to Starfleet, but I know that:
a) going through the Romulan Neutral Zone is a no-no.
b) instead of going through danger at Warp 5, go around danger at warp 6. Same ETA, less ambush.
c) if ten Romulan Warbirds attack you - leg it! Should be easy to outrun them, their power is simple impulse
What's worse they made him completely sensible and reasonable for the first half of the episode, his request to get to the Starbase where more people can work on a cure makes sense, and his motion to remove a clearly impaired Kirk from command was absolutely valid. And then he gets command and is suddenly a complete doofus so Kirk can be awesome at the end.
I can buy that Starfleet has some flag officers who rose through the ranks as paper-pushers with no field experience, whatever their specific level of field incompetence. And Stocker sets up the movie era, when Starfleet is staffed by the crew of the Enterprise and a bunch of strawmen who make the crew of the Enterprise look good.
I thought the "Deadly Years" was one of the better episodes.
Of course the 2-minute solution was ridiculous but you know there were a few gems from the episode. I thought McCoy and Scotty were hilarious. Chekov's scream. Corbomite being used again. Spock being cold.
I thought the aging theme was well done. But of course if you could reverse the effects of aging with that formula, send some here immediately
Of course the 2-minute solution was ridiculous but you know there were a few gems from the episode. I thought McCoy and Scotty were hilarious. Chekov's scream. Corbomite being used again. Spock being cold.
I thought the aging theme was well done. But of course if you could reverse the effects of aging with that formula, send some here immediately
Can't say I agree with that. It works in a general "getting old sucks" sense, but it doesn't have anything smart to say about it, in fact what it does say is somewhat problematic, depicting all people over the age of 60 as cranky, forgetful and unfit for any serious work.
Well McCoy was cranky before he aged.
McCoy found a cure and Spock was fine in his old-age. So its not all people - just Scotty and Kirk and dead blueshirt girl.
And if everyone aged with dignity and perfection then there wouldn't have been much of a story
I'll give you McCoy, but I recall Scotty just sort of shuffling around acting depressed.
Now something that I'd meant to touch upon is that I had an issue with the fact that everyone's default status was assumed to be "on duty" under such conditions. Whether or not it resembled aging, they were undergoing a radical transformation and rapidly losing their faculties...not at a normal rate, but at a highly accelerated one. Had they just been aged to a certain point and left there, it might have been different, but they were continuing to age at that accelerated rate. I'd think that under such conditions, they should automatically be considered medically unfit for duty. Of course, the captain and doctor were among those afflicted, so that could have presented an obstacle.
Not in good enough condition to take command, by his own admission.
Spock did say their mental faculties were aging faster than their bodies, and that they would be little better than mental vegetables in a week's time. It wasn't just a premature aging disease, it was a science fiction aging disease!
Scotty fell asleep at a meeting. I thought that was funny. Maybe its just me.
While in theory after a couple of days they were probably mostly unfit for duty, I very much doubt that if they didn't have McCoy working on a cure the Starbase medical wasn't going to be able to help them. McCoy had the skills, the experience and the motivation despite his afflictions. It was just bad luck for them that Kirk was so badly affected. So even if they had given command to Sulu or Uhura and they had relieved McCoy of duty then I doubt they would have ever developed a cure.
Spock saying he wasn't good enough to me reflects Spock's lack of self-esteem and his guilt over agreeing to take command off Kirk. I can't see any difference in his decisions. Although who knows what he would have been like by the next day.
Which brings up another point that I neglected to make...that logically, this situation would have been a good time to bring in an on-staff supporting doctor character like M'Benga. I suppose Wallace was supposed to fit that bill, but she wasn't exactly leading the charge in developing the cure.
True.
Yep, but the premise is sold on "this is what it's like to be old", they never explain anything that's happening to them in any other term but growing old fast, and that's why I think it fails as any kind of relevant commentary on actual aging. It is a fun concept, but if you scratch the surface and try to apply it to "real life" old age it falls apart.
Strange how Kirk's hair seemed to get thicker as he aged! Firstly they greased his hair down and added some grey, then they gave him a swiffy white mop of hair! Shatner calling the shots again?
JB
JB
When was this ever not the case? The only smart and good people in Starfleet are on the Enterprise. Always have been.
Good episode. McCoy is hilarious. He gets crankier and crankier. I like the scene where McCoy tells Spock that he is just an old country doctor and Spock says "Yes, as I always suspected" Checkov complaining to Sulu about being prodded and poked was funny. Good buddy chemistry between those two. We learn that Kirk is 34 years old. Commodore Stocker was good until he got command of the ship and then he goes completely incompetant. Totally froze and not fit for command. It is interesting to see how the makeup people predicted how these characters would age. Most of the actors have aged better than this.
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