50th Anniversary Rewatch Thread

[dahj]

Why does it make a game-changing good impression on the Melkotian that Kirk won't kill what everybody knows is a fake person with what everyone knows is a fake gun?

But do they know they're fake persons? Spock does indeed come to the conclusion that this is an illusion of some kind, but after all if the landing party are all real, the locals might also be real. And if Chekov could be killed(and he isn't sure that he isn't dead at this point), so could they.

 

[The Old Mixer]

First, it was revealed that the crew had never left the bridge, so the entire thing was an illusion. And if they weren't illusions, who were they? If they were Melkotians, they would have been in on the "fake bullets" thing, so they shouldn't have been harmed.

By the time of the gunfight, they had enough evidence that the environment at large was an illusion (the gas not working) for Spock to be absolutely certain that the bullets couldn't harm them. And by the time Spock tut-tutted Kirk in the coda about being ready to kill, any doubt that it was all an illusion should have been erased.

Of course, there's another inconsistency. Illusory bullets can kill, but illusory gas doesn't work.

 

[dahj]

And if they weren't illusions, who were they?

Westworld style robots?

I agree that the logic of the whole illusion revelation could have been handled better, but I don't really see it as much of a fault because they've consistently tried to resolve the conflict peacefully and non-lethally throughout the episode, well before realizing it's an illusion... they tried to reason with the opposition, tried to get away from the conflict all together, appealed to the law to stop the fighting, and devised a non-lethal gas to prevent the fight from taking place. The Melkotians had ample opportunity to deduce they're not very "killy" people.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I can rationalize the Melkotians being all the more impressed because Kirk's instinct against killing is so strong that he won't even pull the trigger on an illusion. But that just makes Spock's somber coda moment all the more jarringly off-message. And honestly, it shouldn't be news to Spock at this point in the series that humans as personified by Kirk still have some killer instinct left in them.

 

[wayne66]

Great episode. My favorite of season 3. I always like Scotty's angry reaction when Chekov is "killed" His rage is well played by Doohan. I also liked Kirk talking to the sheriff and the sheriff tells him to "kill him anyway you can". It is a very heavy episode for 1968. A reaction to Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy assassinations. I remember when the British series called "The Prisoner" did a western where No. 6 refused to wear a gun. American television bosses refused to show that particular episode. I also liked Spock's speech at the end. It sounded very psychedelic I half expected to hear sitars playing in the background.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Of course, there's another inconsistency. Illusory bullets can kill, but illusory gas doesn't work.

That one always bothered me.

 

[The Old Mixer]

It is a very heavy episode for 1968. A reaction to Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy assassinations.

Star Trek isn't being especially edgy or topical here. Other contemporaneous shows in real-world settings are dealing with topical issues head-on. Recent 50th anniversary episodes that come to mind are an Ironside from a couple weeks back involving a black activist (Paul Winfield) who's framed for a murder that happened during a riot that he instigated; and this past week's Mod Squad, which had Lou Gossett as a disgruntled Vietnam vet who's...framed for the murder of a fellow vet against whom he'd harbored a grudge. There are probably other good examples that aren't springing immediately to mind, which may or may not involve somebody having been framed for a murder.

 

[dahj]

And honestly, it shouldn't be news to Spock at this point in the series that humans as personified by Kirk still have some killer instinct left in them.

He's still a bit disoriented from merging with and/or looking at Kollos last week.

 

[GNDN18]

That one always bothered me.

I take your point, but the Melkotians raided the game. As Spock noted, “Physical laws simply cannot be ignored. Existence cannot be without them.” Yet some laws were observed—gravity, for instance—but others were discarded or altered. In other words, the Melkotians set the conditions of the test in ways that suited their needs.

 

[Tallguy]

They COULD have called the episode Chekov's Gun...

 

[dahj]

They COULD have called the episode Chekov's Gun...

But, they didn't fire...

 

[Discofan]

But if it's an illusion then no rules apply, anything can happen, whether it's logical or not.

 

[omnirad]

How long was the landing party sitting on the bridge while under the spell of the Melkotian's illusion? What was the rest of the crew doing? Did this all take place in an instant?
Did they get a gun as a memento? -Picard got a flute for his mind warp.

 

[Discofan]

How long was the landing party sitting on the bridge while under the spell of the Melkotian's illusion? What was the rest of the crew doing? Did this all take place in an instant?
Did they get a gun as a memento? -Picard got a flute for his mind warp.

One thing that people don't always get is that the flute was there all along, so that suggests that Picard didn't choose to play the flute but was forced by the program to play it, also to do everything else. In fact, the only thing Picard in the illusion could be his initial brief act of rebellion at the very beginning, IE one day vs. twenty to thirty apparent years.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

And if they weren't illusions, who were they?

Relics from the Shore Leave planet?

 

[dahj]

"Day of the Dove", Episode 62, November 1st

Tonight's Episode: An account of the first Federation-Klingon alliance against a swirly thing that hates smiles.

 

[Tallguy]

A good third season episode.

I now laugh at how we're meant to widen our eyes in shock and disbelief when Bones (BONES) makes the remark "We all know what a Klingon is!" Leonard McCoy disparaging someone based solely on race? UNHEARD of!

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Except McCoy's jibes at Spock are supposed to be friendly jabs, not "kill all Vulcans".

 

[Tallguy]

Except McCoy's jibes at Spock are supposed to be friendly jabs, not "kill all Vulcans".

Some of them are, sure. But hardly all of them. (And no, genocide wasn't usually Plum's bag.)

This was originally supposed to be Kor, wasn't it? On the one hand it would have helped the story because it would have been a person Kirk actually had experience with. On the other hand Kang seemed a more honorable if ruthless Klingon and Kor, well Kor had his own ideas.

At least neither of them were sniveling. (Looking at you, guys from Private Little War and Friday's Child. Man, second season 'Gons took it on the chin, didn't they?)

Damn it, this is going to make me read Final Reflection again. And I was just starting the Vorkosigan books over, too.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

At the end of the day, McCoy would die for his friend. And Spock knows it.