50th Anniversary Rewatch Thread

[johnnybear]

All three of the banned episodes by the BBC are a little hard to enjoy! I waited years to see them and once I had I was disappointed I have to say! I wanted to watch something that the BBC in their pompous wisdom had said was not fit to view on their channel but sadly they were correct! Although they were wrong about Miri!
JB

 

[CorporalCaptain]

All three of the banned episodes by the BBC are a little hard to enjoy! I waited years to see them and once I had I was disappointed I have to say! I wanted to watch something that the BBC in their pompous wisdom had said was not fit to view on their channel but sadly they were correct! Although they were wrong about Miri!
JB

According Memory Alpha, four TOS episodes altogether were banned by the BBC, three never seen until 1992, and one that was originally broadcast but not repeated until 1993 [https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/BBC]:

During their original run of The Original Series, the BBC had chosen not to show the episodes "The Empath", "Whom Gods Destroy", and "Plato's Stepchildren", deeming them unsuitable for the series time slot, due to their assessment that "(...) they all dealt most unpleasantly with the already unpleasant subjects of madness, torture, sadism and disease", as stated in a letter sent to the UK-based Star Trek Action Group in 1976. These episodes were eventually shown during the 1992 repeat run. "Miri" was not repeated by the BBC until 1993 for similar reasons, following audience complaints after its original transmission. (Star Trek Magazine issue 177, p. 33)​

That lines up with what other other sites say, that it is four:

https://www.metv.com/lists/5-original-star-trek-episodes-that-were-banned-overseas
http://mentalfloss.com/article/50066/8-more-surprising-things-banned-bbc

 

[Discofan]

All three of the banned episodes by the BBC are a little hard to enjoy! I waited years to see them and once I had I was disappointed I have to say! I wanted to watch something that the BBC in their pompous wisdom had said was not fit to view on their channel but sadly they were correct! Although they were wrong about Miri!
JB

You know what they about broken clocks?

 

[Pauln6]

But they were happy with the Enemy Within?

 

[Discofan]

But they were happy with the Enemy Within?

You don't like "The Enemy Within"?

 

[Henoch]

Were these episodes just banned in general, or was the show targeted to kid's and deemed too mature for that audience?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Were these episodes just banned in general, or was the show targeted to kid's and deemed too mature for that audience?

They weren't aired at all in any time slot during the indicated respective periods.

 

[Pauln6]

You don't like "The Enemy Within"?

I love it but you would have thought unsuitability for a young audience would cover attempted rape. What simpler times we lived in.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Star Trek
"The Lights of Zetar"
Originally aired January 31, 1969
Stardate 5725.3

The Enterprise must deal with incorporeal cloud-like aliens who have already destroyed the inhabitants of a library planet and plan to eliminate the Enterprise crew if they cannot acquire a human host.

What was going on the week the episode aired.

One of the most gratifying things about the Internet age was learning that I wasn't the only one who wasn't feeling it for episodes like this. I went into this viewing with the intent of determining whether I like it more or less than my historic "worst episode" pick, "The Alternative Factor".

And...it's not as bad as I remember. I used to think that this was a prime example of the characters frustratingly being a couple commercial breaks behind the audience, but that angle didn't bother me as much this time. The Scotty romance angle is very cringeworthy. But Jan Shutan is quite striking and does what she can to carry her part of the story, demonstrating some solid dramatic chops; she might have been better served as a guest crewwoman of the week minus the romance angle.

Conceptually it's a bit loosey goosey. How does being linked with the Zetarians allow Mira to see the future? How did the Zetarians achieve their current state? It doesn't sound like anything they did deliberately. And as behind the curve as the regular crew are for the first couple acts, once they have an idea what's going on, they start making seemingly unfounded logical leaps about how to deal with the Zetarians, including that they would enter Romaine's body and that pressure would harm them. But there's nothing here as mindnumbingly stupid as some parts of "The Alternative Factor". You can tell that this one is trying to be a good, interesting episode, whereas parts of "The Alternative Factor" are so awful that they're on the verge of being parody.

In two weeks, the Enterprise makes a stop at Willoughby:

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[GNDN18]

In two weeks, the Enterprise makes a stop at Willoughby

By way of Medical Center.

 

[Poltargyst]

Plato's Stepchildren was banned in the UK for many years! Surely that is evidence enough that it's a stinker, Polty?
Kirk and Spock's humiliation at the hands of the Platonians is not nice to watch and equally embarrassing too for the casual viewer to not like the series either! All I ever read on here is how much hatred is directed towards And The Children shall Lead which I think is an okay episode. Nothing great just okay. But Plato which is really bad is free from attack? I can understand why you like it and I don't miss it out of a rewatch either but you should accept what we feel is a legitimate point!
JB

Well I'm sure PS wasn't banned for it's quality, but for its content, right?

Hey, I get it. The humiliation scenes are embarrassing. I was always embarrassed watching them as a kid. Especially if someone else was in the room. For someone to know that I loved Star Trek and for that to come on? Yikes! Could be hugely embarrassing.

But as I've said before, humiliation scenes aside, there are some good things there that put PS ahead of some of the cellar dweller episodes. As I've said, Alexander is a great character. His mere presence in this episode elevates it above some of the others. You're not just trying to say PS is a bad episode, you're trying to say it's the worst, and I don't see how that can be possible.

 

[Poltargyst]

It's funny how opinions diverge! To me Plato's..., is one of the worst episodes ever, not only of TOS but of the franchise. I haven't watched it in years and yet I still get visual PTSD from it. I feel like the veteran of an audiovisual war.

But see, Discofan, johnnybear, CorporalCaptain, you guys are talking about how subjectively PS makes you feel. If you say PS makes you feel worse than any other episode, and therefore you like it less than any other episode, fine, I couldn't argue that. But you guys aren't just saying subjectively you like it least, you are trying to say that objectively it is the worst episode, and I don't see how that can possibly be true. I can't debate your subjective feelings. I can debate your objective claims.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

But you guys aren't just saying subjectively you like it least, you are trying to say that objectively it is the worst episode, and I don't see how that can possibly be true.

Again, I never said that. I only ever said it holds the dishonor of being the episode that I consider to be the worst.

Maybe people are having a problem with my use of the word "dishonor," but I had explicitly established it as a dishonor with respect to how good I consider episodes to be, complete with antecedent reference and everything. So, I don't know what the issue is here....

 

[Phaser Two]

I think there's a lot to like in LOZ. For one thing, it's genuinely scary (including possibly the most terrifying scene in all of TOS - we all know what I'm talking about here and one of the things I love about that scene is how all four Starfleet officers show no fear). Jan Shutan is completely charming and capable as Mira and I think there's actually a lot to like in Doohan's portrayal of Scotty's romance. It's never really clear to me if they're actually in a romantic relationship or not, but she seems to remind him of her well-respected father and that's hardly a unique angle. It works for me.

Memory Alpha is a terrific bit of world-building, something that S3 was really, really good at.

 

[Commishsleer]

Plato's Stepchildren was banned in the UK for many years! Surely that is evidence enough that it's a stinker, Polty?
Kirk and Spock's humiliation at the hands of the Platonians is not nice to watch and equally embarrassing too for the casual viewer to not like the series either! All I ever read on here is how much hatred is directed towards And The Children shall Lead which I think is an okay episode. Nothing great just okay. But Plato which is really bad is free from attack? I can understand why you like it and I don't miss it out of a rewatch either but you should accept what we feel is a legitimate point!
JB

I don't think "Plato's" ever been free from attack.
All the time poor little Plato is attacked and unjustifiably too.

All three of the banned episodes by the BBC are a little hard to enjoy! I waited years to see them and once I had I was disappointed I have to say! I wanted to watch something that the BBC in their pompous wisdom had said was not fit to view on their channel but sadly they were correct! Although they were wrong about Miri!
JB

If "the man" hates Plato then that's one more vote for my side.

 

[Discofan]

But see, Discofan, johnnybear, CorporalCaptain, you guys are talking about how subjectively PS makes you feel. If you say PS makes you feel worse than any other episode, and therefore you like it less than any other episode, fine, I couldn't argue that. But you guys aren't just saying subjectively you like it least, you are trying to say that objectively it is the worst episode, and I don't see how that can possibly be true. I can't debate your subjective feelings. I can debate your objective claims.

I am sorry but if watching an episode makes me feel worse than if I spend one hour looking at a wall, its entertaining value is worse than zero, it's actually negative.


I think Plato's should be rechristened Socrates' because it makes you want to drink hemlock!

 

[dahj]

Much like Romaine, this episode is kinda stuck in the transporter buffer for no reason. it starts of nice with an interesting location to visit, some weird aliens with mysterious motives, and a budding romance, but instead of reassembling all of those bits into a coherent shape they're just left randomly out there till it just... ends.

Scotty's patronising really grates as well.

Not the only one who is patronizing, unfortunately. There's a whole angle of the episode that paints Romaine in a more positive light, growing stronger, resisting the aliens by herself and asserting her identity when it gets threatened... and then at the end the guys get together and give credit to her being able to resist them not to her strength but to Scotty's "love."

I suppose the question I'm asking is, on a ship that seems to be two-thirds lieutenants, how does the average crewman tell who should be giving orders in a crisis?

The lieutenant who yells the loudest?

the authors originally placed Romaine in the cryochamber of the herbarium and lowered its temperature to absolute zero (on the Kelvin scale) because it "rested the Zetars by ceasing the movement of their molecular matter." And yes, if you're wondering, Romaine survived the procedure.

That would have made the episode more memorable at least.

Memory Alpha is a terrific bit of world-building

World-destroying more like, considering the "disaster to the galaxy" that happens.
I do hope the Federation frequently backups.

 

[wayne66]

Zetar is ok. Not that good an episode. Still, I don't skip the episode when it comes on. Jan Shutan is good as Mira Romaine. Scotty acts like a love sick teenager again. The briefing scene where Spock and McCoy realize that Lt. Romaine brain patterns are the same as the creature is pretty good. I like how Romaine floats in the pressure chamber. Looks like fun. I like how Kirk says Pressure. "Pressure Spock"

 

[CorporalCaptain]

It's been cataloged!

From "Zetar": http://weknowmemes.com/2012/02/wtf-am-i-doing-gif/

 

[johnnybear]

During their original run of The Original Series, the BBC had chosen not to show the episodes "The Empath", "Whom Gods Destroy", and "Plato's Stepchildren", deeming them unsuitable for the series time slot, due to their assessment that "(...) they all dealt most unpleasantly with the already unpleasant subjects of madness, torture, sadism and disease", as stated in a letter sent to the UK-based Star Trek Action Group in 1976. These episodes were eventually shown during the 1992 repeat run. "Miri" was not repeated by the BBC until 1993 for similar reasons, following audience complaints after its original transmission. (Star Trek Magazine issue 177, p. 33)​

That lines up with what other other sites say, that it is four:

I knew that it was four episodes, Corp, but Miri had been shown the once back in 1970 I believe! Besides Miri was the one episode out of the four that I quite liked where as The Empath was okay but dealt with torture which wasn't very pleasant to watch as a family show! Whom Gods was a bit boring to be honest and Plato's only redeeming factor was how Spock and Kirk started to develop Kironide powers like their oppressors and were turning the tables on Parmen's gang! I do not like the episode as I have said many times but I don't miss it out of a re-run either!
JB