Beloved episodes you can't get into

[Kor]

The Enterprise Incident is largely horrible Spockophilic, Kirk-hating fan fic. It's a mess.

D.C. Fontana had some comments on things that should have been done differently, like the Romulan Commander being more skeptical and cautious toward Spock than what we saw in the episode. Reportedly, Roddenberry's edits to the story would have included Spock "raining kisses" on the Commander. That would have been quite odd.

Kor

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

. . . the [salt vampire] is handled with more intelligence and consideration than most "monster on the loose" type shows of the day.

Funny, that's exactly what I would say about the Horta, in "The Devil in the Dark."

 

[Ssosmcin]

Funny, that's exactly what I would say about the Horta, in "The Devil in the Dark."

And you'd be 100% correct. I just prefer this style of story over what Coon did.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

I'd love to do a comparison in the style of George Carlin's beloved "Baseball/Football" bit, but it would take too long to come up with examples. Instead, I'll simply note that when Kirk and Spock realize that the "silicon nodules" are Horta eggs, and that the Human miners were, albeit unwittingly, the real monsters, the real "Devil in the Dark," the whole dynamic changed, the "monster on the loose" story got turned upside down, and a true happy ending became possible. Whereas "The Man Trap" just ended with an apparently sentient being getting hunted down, and killed for trying to eat Kirk. (But apparently not really the last of its species, given that salt vampires keep turning up as sight-gags in LD)

 

[Timofnine]

They're both garbage. They are beloved to some people? And the animated sequel was trash as well.

I just assumed that some people liked the Mudd episodes as the character is often described as being a ‘lovable rogue’. Therefore to Mudd fans, his episodes could be considered ‘beloved’.

 

[fireproof78]

I'd love to do a comparison in the style of George Carlin's beloved "Baseball/Football" bit, but it would take too long to come up with examples. Instead, I'll simply note that when Kirk and Spock realize that the "silicon nodules" are Horta eggs, and that the Human miners were, albeit unwittingly, the real monsters, the real "Devil in the Dark," the whole dynamic changed, the "monster on the loose" story got turned upside down, and a true happy ending became possible. Whereas "The Man Trap" just ended with an apparently sentient being getting hunted down, and killed for trying to eat Kirk. (But apparently not really the last of its species, given that salt vampires keep turning up as sight-gags in LD)

I think we can assume that both the salt vampire and Crater were not exactly reliable narrators.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

I think we can assume that both the salt vampire and Crater were not exactly reliable narrators.

You have an almost-Vulcan talent for understatement.

 

[Phaser Two]

You have an almost-Vulcan talent for understatement.

It's not a very pleasant prospect at ALL!

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Count me among the folks who don't really see the appeal of "The Enterprise Incident." I know they were trying to do a Mission: Impossible style story, but here's not much in the way of thrills or suspense in this episode. The Romulan Commander is easily fooled throughout and the plan goes off without a hitch. The fun in heist stories is when the plan goes awry and our heroes have to scramble and improvise a solution.

Plus, I never buy the supposed attraction between Spock and the Romulan Commander. Leonard Nimoy and Joanne Linville don't have any chemistry, IMO, and I can't buy Spock ever being attracted to someone who's so gullible.

I know "The Empath" also has its fans, but I've always found it to be an absolute slog.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Count me among the folks who don't really see the appeal of "The Enterprise Incident." I know they were trying to do a Mission: Impossible style story, but here's not much in the way of thrills or suspense in this episode. The Romulan Commander is easily fooled throughout and the plan goes off without a hitch. The fun in heist stories is when the plan goes awry and our heroes have to scramble and improvise a solution.

This episode is soooo close to being great. The all too human and quick love affair is its downside. As soon as we get to Spock and the commander making gooey eyes at each other in her quarters, the episode drags. I like the Kirk goes crazy act to get the Commander to have some trust in Spock. But the "Kirk goes nuts! Kirk is killed by Spock! Kirk gets pointy and goes back!" is a little convoluted without having a better reason for Kirk being the person to sneak back aboard other than Shatner is the lead hero. He didn't get a tour on his way to their brig, so he didn't know where to go. He should be back on the Enterprise getting ready to execute some grand "Kirk" escape plan. Spock should have been the one to steal the cloak instead of just being some weird pointless distraction for the female commander. He already looks like them, so he should have pinched the commander as they did their thing, got into a Romulan uniform and made the disconnection. Then just as he gets it loose, he's caught by Tal and the commander. He quickly places his communicator on the device and the Enterprise beams it off, leaving Spock behind. Then the rest of the episode plays out pretty much the same.

I'm sure Shatner would have had none of that, but it would have made for a better episode and a hell of a choice to open the season.

 

[Noname Given]

Count me among the folks who don't really see the appeal of "The Enterprise Incident." I know they were trying to do a Mission: Impossible style story, but here's not much in the way of thrills or suspense in this episode. The Romulan Commander is easily fooled throughout and the plan goes off without a hitch. The fun in heist stories is when the plan goes awry and our heroes have to scramble and improvise a solution...

I like The Enterprise Incident, BUT the one thing I have to laugh at is Kirk's ability to remove it from the Romulan ship with NO TOOLS WHATSOEVER -- and it's also clear the Federation Intelligence service had no information as to the size or 'look' of the Cloaking device itself as when Kirk goes into the room where its installed, he is unsure and when caught by the Guard says, "There's a spy aboard...he'll be after the cloaking device and of course (for Kirk and the Audience) we have a close up as the Guard's eyes momentarily shift gaze to the large/lit Styrofoam Ball with NOMAD's 'head'.

(And d0n't get me started on Scotty being able to install it in the 1701 Engine Room and get it working in 15 or so minutes.)

But yeah, even with the above, I still enjoy the episode. YMMV of course.

 

[fireproof78]

I love the Enterprise Incident. It is one of those that I always wished for a follow up on. Part of the reason I enjoyed "Yesterday's Child" as a book.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Aside from the nightmare aspects of "The Man Trap" ("Young Nancy" bore a striking resemblance to my elementary school's music teacher), there's also the weak premise:

Sodium is an alkali metal. Like all the other alkali metals (lithium, potassium, rubidium, cesium, and francium), it's extremely reactive (hypergolic with water!), and much happier as a positive ion. Chlorine is a halogen. Like all the other halogens (fluorine, bromine, iodine, and [maybe] astatine), it's also extremely reactive, and much happier as a negative chloride ion. Both have completely stable isotopes, so they don't go away from radioactive decay. They're lighter than iron, so neither releases energy from nuclear fission, but they're heavy enough that it takes a lot of heat and pressure to induce thermonuclear fusion.

Compounds of alkali metals are generally salts: ionic solids that dissolve readily in water, and are extremely bioavailable. Ditto for most chlorine compounds, at least the inorganic ones.

I would say that even somebody with multiple doctorates and post-doctoral fellowships in chemistry would be hard-pressed to find a reaction that consumes sodium chloride in a manner that is sufficiently exothermic that it could be the basis of metabolism, much less such a reaction that would also tie up either the sodium or the chlorine in such a way that they were no longer bioavailable.

So how is it that the biology of M-113 would be so dependent upon salt that a means for one life form to extract salt from the body of another would evolve?

 

[Kor]

What I like about the Enterprise Incident is the world-building aspect, learning a little more about the Romulans and showing them using another kind of ship (even if due to real-life behind-the-scenes considerations). I think I read somewhere that D.C. Fontana's original story outline had Spock asking the Romulan Commander why they are dealing with the Klingons, who are known to be without honor.

The episode lacks a real sense of peril, though. Although it was loosely inspired by the real-life Pueblo Incident, things didn't go anywhere near as badly for the Enterprise as for the Pueblo.

Kor

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

And I rather liked "The Enterprise Incident."

I think I read somewhere that D.C. Fontana's original story outline had Spock asking the Romulan Commander why they are dealing with the Klingons, who are known to be without honor.

Kind of ironic, in light of how Klingon and Romulan cultures were ultimately developed.

 

[Ssosmcin]

What if you take out the cards? (Talk about Rand ignoring a humanly-impossible feat.)

I'd lose the songs. "Charlie's our new daaaah-ling!" is awful.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

So how is it that the biology of M-113 would be so dependent upon salt that a means for one life form to extract salt from the body of another would evolve?

Curious, what would you have it drain instead? Carbon? Glucose?

 

[Grant]

So if an episode is beloved by a few it becomes "a beloved episode" and the thread becomes meaningless.
Clearly the OP meant highly rated episodes.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

TOS should have had Uhura sing more.

For me, it's The Cage. I recognise the importance of it and I understand that to stand up as well as it does some 60 years later is an impressive feat. It's well made, well directed and well cast. It's like a sequel to Forbidden Planet on a generous TV budget and it's clear everyone involved on both sides of the camera are trying really hard. I should love it. On paper it's right up my street.

But I just find it to be so staid. It's angsty, disturbing and strange and lacks the warmth (even in the design of the Enterprise bridge) that TOS has. Sometimes I get this mad idea about watching it, but when I do I never finish it.

I'm glad it still exists. It's a near priceless thing in terms of it's cultural significance. I also know we are lucky to have it and have it in colour.

However, I'm also glad we got the course corrections we did in the second pilot.

 

[PCz911]

Hearing D.C. Fontana say that "The Doomsday Machine" was her least-favorite episode (!) got me to thinking: What other precious episodes aren't necessarily beloved by everyone?

Others?

I never like doomsday machine either. And I thought william windom over acted so much that his portrayal always just irritates me.