Can you use your imagination to think of two other times/locations that our TOS friends, Kirk, Spock and McCoy, could have been transported to by Mr. Atoz on the planet Sarpeidon?
What about during the great flood of Sarpeidon my Lord? Or the war of liberty with two factions fighting for their freedom from the tyrant Zor Khan? Or even the civilian outburst at being exiled in time to save their species instead of seeking refuge in outer space by building ships of their own? JB
Sarpeidon's version of the late 1940s would be a nice opportunity for a film noir romantic triangle, with an urban setting offering more period detail than the ice age could.
The immediate past in the technological heyday of Sarpeidon, sort of like Neo in the trans-millennial United States in Matrix, would have been a good contrast piece, too: there'd have to be actual pondering involved in whether to leave this nice place or not, and lingering awareness that the world will end very soon and one better die sooner rather than later. Plus, contaminating the past would be a more tangible risk. But faux 1940s would have been infinitely easier for TOS to do than faux 1990s, all things considered! Another thing difficult to pull off with TOS S3 budget (barring serendipity with some swords-and-sandals movie being produced at the same time) would be ancient Mediterranean type stuff: the society is just plain horrid for 90% for the people, but unlike that dark medieval town we got, the environment itself is actually a paradise. You get to enjoy splendid scenery as you starve in slavery or die in pointless brutal wars over the possession of this stretch of beautiful beach and olive trees. Timo Saloniemi
It would have been interesting to see if anyone who went back tried to alter future events for the better. Perhaps a script change to make the disaster man-made would have tied in. But the ep is pretty perfectly plotted as is.
I think the Ice Age aspect was merely backdrop. The whole idea was what happens to a Vulcan who is sent into the ancient past. He turns into a savage, that's what happens. That's the interesting part.
The thing about Sarpeidon is that it's a paradox or will be or was! How many eternities have passed since the people went back into their own pasts and sought out new lives and tried to create the technology that allowed them to escape the end in the first place! JB
The irony is that it's probably their treks into the past that made them have to escape there. But it may also be what allows them to return. Has any lit (aside from the Spock had a kid with Zarabeth books) tried to explore the atavachron concept further?
Forgotten History by Chris Bennett discusses the device, and ties in pretty much every other time travel mechanism from early Trek, too. Timo Saloniemi
I've always assumed that Zarabeth was exiled to the frozen wastes by the tyrant Zor Khan many, many years before the Enterprise crew landed there in the episode! JB
If the Enterprise crew found the right era before Zarabeth was exiled, could they have brought her back and took her away even before she was exiled to the ice age?
I rewatched most of this episode on Netflix the other night and always thought that Spock didn't have time to be naughty with Zarabeth to have her give birth to his son as in the two novels! But last night there is a direct end of scene where Leonard hoists Mariette Hartley up into the air and takes her over to the bed! The BBC used to cut the Trek episodes to pieces and for years they were my only way of viewing the shows but now we have those DVDs and Netflix too! JB
I would doubt it as she had been already been prepared to live in that era, so she could not come back to the present! If you're asking could they have rescued her before she was exiled in time, then yes they could have if they knew the correct time period of Zor Khan's reign and would they have had enough time to do that from the episode we saw? There was only a few moments when Spock and McCoy returned to the library before Beta Niobe exploded and time seemed to run at the same speed in both realities so I'd have to say it was impossible! But if Kirk used the slingshot effect he could have gone back into the planet's past and took on the combined forces of the tyrant and saved the girl for his first officer, yes! JB
We never see anybody explicitly affected by the "preparation" or lack thereof. Perhaps the whole thing is a sham, and anybody could come and go as she or he pleases? Surely the primary purpose of the "preparation" would be to frighten people away from trying to return (to make the banishments work, and to protect the atavachron stations from logistical problems when millions or billions want to reconsider - and, the most importantly, to stop people from abusing the time machine the way all time machines naturally are going to be abused). And surely that could be accomplished through mere propaganda already, without having to bother with the "actual" preparation bit? Anybody trying to return would just be quietly taken to the next room and shot dead, and nobody would be the wiser. That Spock goes all funny may be due to preparation or lack thereof; telepathic cries from the distant savage Vulcans of the past; or simply Spock seeing a pretty girl and excusing himself with random bullshit, consciously or unconsciously. Whether McCoy or Kirk are affected at all, one way or another, is more or less impossible to tell. Timo Saloniemi
I love this episode. So underrated. This is the only TOS show without any scenes aboard the Enterprise, right?
Kirk seems to have a headache or such before he finds the portal in the brick wall! That seems to me like his time in the past without being prepared is coming to an end and like in The Outer Limits episode, The Man Who Was Never Born, he might just wink out of existence! JB
Ooh, interesting, I never caught that before, JB! Guess what just sprung to the top of my rewatch list? I'll look out for what you spotted there.