50th Anniversary Rewatch Thread

[omnirad]

The sadistic brutality exhibited by the Platonians may be appropriate for the story being told, but it's just damn uncomfortable for the viewer. When Kirk is playing horsey with Alexander on his back I don't know whether to laugh at the actors or cry with the characters. It does keep your attention better than 'The Mark of Gideon' or 'The Alternative Factor' though.

 

[Discofan]

The sadistic brutality exhibited by the Platonians may be appropriate for the story being told, but it's just damn uncomfortable for the viewer. When Kirk is playing horsey with Alexander on his back I don't know whether to laugh at the actors or cry with the characters. It does keep your attention better than 'The Mark of Gideon' or 'The Alternative Factor' though.

It was bad enough that Kirk et Al were forced to move against their will. The humiliation was overkill, IMO, and didn't add to the story, except that it made me uncomfortable.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Noteworthily, Barbara Babcock appeared on the same week's Mission: Impossible ("The Cardinal," Nov. 17, 1968), as the chief henchwoman of Worf's future dad, Theodore Bikel.

 

[Discofan]

Noteworthily, Barbara Babcock appeared on the same week's Mission: Impossible ("The Cardinal," Nov. 17, 1968), as the chief henchwoman of Worf's future dad, Theodore Bikel.

For a moment there I wondered what you were talking about. I didn't realize that you were speaking of his foster dad.


He was also the murderer in one of the Columbo's.

 

[The Old Mixer]

For a moment there I wondered what you were talking about. I didn't realize that you were speaking of his foster dad.

We never met his bioparents onscreen, did we?

 

[J.T.B.]

[...]Worf's future dad, Theodore Bikel.

He was also the "Centurion" character in the original "Balance of Terror," The Enemy Below.

 

[Discofan]

We never met his bioparents onscreen, did we?

Hence my puzzlement.

 

[Commishsleer]

It was bad enough that Kirk et Al were forced to move against their will. The humiliation was overkill, IMO, and didn't add to the story, except that it made me uncomfortable.

The point was the humiliation.
Kirk and Spock were tortured in "Patterns of Force" which was treated mostly humorously.

They wanted to show this was different. If they just had them moving exaggeratedly against their will and laughing about it later then the point of the story would have been lost.

 

[Discofan]

The point was the humiliation.
Kirk and Spock were tortured in "Patterns of Force" which was treated mostly humorously.

They wanted to show this was different. If they just had them moving exaggeratedly against their will and laughing about it later then the point of the story would have been lost.

Be that as it may, when I watch that episode which happens more rarely than for most others, I fast forward the passages because I just can't stand them. I don't think it's the goal of entertainment to elicit cringes from the audience.

 

[Tallguy]

I heard Denise Okuda talking about this episode once and she was just about to run screaming from the room.

 

[dahj]

I don't think it's the goal of entertainment to elicit cringes from the audience.

Mostly no, but on the other hand that's The Asylum's whole business model.

 

[Poltargyst]

Be that as it may, when I watch that episode which happens more rarely than for most others, I fast forward the passages because I just can't stand them. I don't think it's the goal of entertainment to elicit cringes from the audience.

But eliciting emotions is, and clearly the writers were successful in eliciting emotions in you.

 

[wayne66]

Difficult episode. Not one of my favorites. Michael Dunn is great to watch as always. I do like the scene where Spock guesses Barbara Babcock age as 35. She says guess, I am not vain. So Spock matter of factly guesses 35. I like the look on her face. Apparently she is vain. I don't like the humiliation scene, it goes on too long. The scene afterward where they are recovering from the humiliation is good. The message of letting go of hate is a good message. So there is some good in the episode.

 

[Discofan]

But eliciting emotions is, and clearly the writers were successful in eliciting emotions in you.

Yeah, detestation is an emotion but not one an author hopes to elicit in his readers unless he's suicidal career-wise.

 

[dahj]

So there is some good in the episode.

Like McCoy inventing a Kryptonite shot that gives regular humans the power to shake ships in orbit.

I wonder why they didn't use those when the Borg attacked...

 

[GNDN18]

Like McCoy inventing a Kryptonite shot that gives regular humans the power to shake ships in orbit.

I wonder why they didn't use those when the Borg attacked...

Or even next week, against those pesky Scallosians. Shake ‘em down to normal speed.

 

[Discofan]

Or even next week, against those pesky Scallosians. Shake ‘em down to normal speed.

Most obvious flaw of that episode is that time passes roughly at the same speed in both the slow and the fast world...

 

[dahj]

Or even next week, against those pesky Scallosians. Shake ‘em down to normal speed.

Can you shake a speedster or do they just phase if you do?

 

[Tallguy]

Can you shake a speedster or do they just phase if you do?

Dammit, Barry!

 

[UnknownSample]

Tholian Web--- McCoy was definitely under the influence of the space. I don't know why we even hesitate to attribute his meltdowns to that.

Plato's Stepchildren is great. They were trying to convey just how out of control power with no responsibility can take people, as with Caligula. What's hanging over these scenes is what's coming, the stuff they couldn't actually show on TV. But it was coming. We saw the torture instruments.
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I know from my own life what an awful thing an extreme loss of personal dignity can be. I never had any difficulty getting what those scenes were about, that had Kirk acting like a horse, with he and Spock used as puppets. That's humiliation. It's bad. That's a particularly harsh and bleak moment, going into the commercial, when all this crap is going on, and Parman says to McCoy "How can you let this go on?" I get a chill at that moment, sometimes.