50th Anniversary Rewatch Thread

[johnnybear]

Close your windows and you won't get a chill! The episode was the pits! Kirk and Spock's scenes were very embarrassing to say the least to us the viewers let alone the characters! A thirty years ban on the BBC that I could never understand back in 1980 but after renting it in 1982 I sure found out why!!
JB

 

[Discofan]

The problem is not what they were trying to convey, it's the way they did it.

 

[GNDN18]

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.

I had the RCA VideoDisc of this ep when I was a kid—I watched it incessantly—and that never occurred to me. It’s so obvious! I guess I granted McCoy some kind of hero-immunity (much as he had in “The Naked Time”), but your supposition makes perfect sense.

 

[The Old Mixer]

The thing is that if McCoy was supposed to have been affected by the interphase effect all that time, the episode never makes that explicit, as TV was very much wont to do at the time. And everyone else we see fall victim to it exhibits much more dramatically crazy behavior, whereas McCoy is functioning normally throughout the episode, just being irrational in his dealings with Spock. It comes off much more as badly written McCoy than driven insane by interphase McCoy.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

McCoy did say explicitly that the area of space they were in was affecting the whole crew.

 

[dahj]

Close your windows and you won't get a chill!

Now, now, in this thread size, shape, colour or one's opinion of Plato's Stepchildren make no difference.
There's no reason to dismiss someone's experience of the episode if it differs from your own.

 

[GNDN18]

The thing is that if McCoy was supposed to have been affected by the interphase effect all that time, the episode never makes that explicit, as TV was very much wont to do at the time. And everyone else we see fall victim to it exhibits much more dramatically crazy behavior, whereas McCoy is functioning normally throughout the episode, just being irrational in his dealings with Spock. It comes off much more as badly written McCoy than driven insane by interphase McCoy.

 

[dahj]

"Wink of an Eye", Execute Order 66, November 29th

Tonight's Episode: Enter the Speedforce.

 

[Commishsleer]

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.

The only episode where I like to fast forward is the white rabbit bit in "Shore Leave". I think it just looks so fake (and I'm OK with the Gorn and Mugatu).

 

[Discofan]

The only episode where I like to fast forward is the white rabbit bit in "Shore Leave". I think it just looks so fake (and I'm OK with the Gorn and Mugatu).

My main objection to the Mugatu is that it's overkill, when a creature is bearlike in its size and its strength then why would it need to be venomous to boot?

Look at our animals that are deadly with their venom, you have spiders, snakes, scorpions etc... all creatures that would be otherwise harmless (because they're too damn small) if not for their poison. Do you have venomous anacondas? Nope.

 

[johnnybear]

Now, now, in this thread size, shape, colour or one's opinion of Plato's Stepchildren make no difference.
There's no reason to dismiss someone's experience of the episode if it differs from your own.

I'm only having a bit of a laugh, dodgey! I'm okay with people liking the episode! Hell, I'll rewatch it myself if it comes up even if it's not one of my out and out favourites!
Plus the Mugatu as you all most definitely know was originally called the Gumatu but DeForest Kelley mispronounced it and it stuck, that or he really couldn't say Gumatu!!!
JB

 

[dahj]

My main objection to the Mugatu is that it's overkill, when a creature is bearlike in its size and its strength then why would it need to be venomous to boot?

Before the Mugato there were the much larger and much fiercer Gumato, so the Mugato developed it as a defense mechanism against them.

 

[alchemist]

Plus the Mugatu as you all most definitely know was originally called the Gumatu but DeForest Kelley mispronounced it and it stuck, that or he really couldn't say Gumatu!!!
JB

This is actually a myth, Mr. Johnnybear.

 

[Pauln6]

My main objection to the Mugatu is that it's overkill, when a creature is bearlike in its size and its strength then why would it need to be venomous to boot?

Look at our animals that are deadly with their venom, you have spiders, snakes, scorpions etc... all creatures that would be otherwise harmless (because they're too damn small) if not for their poison. Do you have venomous anacondas? Nope.

Komodo Dragons are both large and venomous.

 

[Discofan]

Komodo Dragons are both large and venomous.

Barely, their so-called venom is actually a skin irritant. What makes their bite often deadly is the nastiness of their dentition which causes very ugly wounds and the dirtiness of their mouths that are riddled with germs of all kind. Infection from the germs + gangrene caused by deep wounds and tropical climate (favorizing the proliferation of pathogens) are the cause of the deaths and at the origin of the legend that their venom is deadly.

 

[Pauln6]

Barely, their so-called venom is actually a skin irritant. What makes their bite often deadly is the nastiness of their dentition which causes very ugly wounds and the dirtiness of their mouths that are riddled with germs of all kind. Infection from the germs + gangrene caused by deep wounds and tropical climate (favorizing the proliferation of pathogens) are the cause of the deaths and at the origin of the legend that their venom is deadly.

I suppose the venom only needs to be as deadly as evolution requires. If the prey on that planet has co-evolved resistance to venom, the Mugatu might evolve venom that might be deadly to non-resistant life forms.

Plus I know people who can be killed by cat saliva!

 

[Discofan]

I suppose the venom only needs to be as deadly as evolution requires. If the prey on that planet has co-evolved resistance to venom, the Mugatu might evolve venom that might be deadly to non-resistant life forms.

Plus I know people who can be killed by cat saliva!

A child with an allergy died (I read that in the papers) a few days ago. He only ate part of a pancake in a festive school gathering. The teacher either didn't know that child's status, even though it was noted in his School personal file, or she knew it and neglected it. Either way, she's facing serious charges now.

The point is that people die because of all sort of things, things are harmless to most sometimes.

 

[Poltargyst]

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.

Because there are several other episodes where McCoy is a jerk to Spock with no alien influence?

Plato's Stepchildren is great.

Glad someone gets it.

 

[johnnybear]

Glad someone gets it.

JB

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

It's a little more dramatic for Kirk to have to wrestle a space gorilla and try to avoid its venomous bite than have Kirk dancing around trying to avoid a scorpion, or jumping and screaming "Get it off! Get it off!"

Though I suppose you could have had a dramatic sweaty faced Kirk holding still while Spock attempts (unsuccessfully) to Vulcan charm a small creature off Kirk's arm before it bites.