Does anyone like "That Which Survives"?

[hellocomputer]

You're right, Doug Otte, it's Hindu and not Hindi the language. I googled Rahda & came up with numerous references to a Hindu first name. Besides the appearance of the bindi, I also happen to have a copy of the final draft of the "That Which Survives" script which was filmed back in September of 1968. In it, Lt. Rahda was described as woman of Indian/Hindu origin & appearance.

As for Kagan's Losira-like encounter with the girl who sat behind him in the 4th grade, that is way too funny!

Also, as I recall, Kagan, Lee Meriwether was unavailable to assume the TV role of Catwoman that Julie Newmar had vacated because she had already accepted a lead role on another TV show, the sci-fi based program, "The Time Tunnel."
"Time Tunnel" lasted only 1 season but it was very close to being renewed for a 2nd one when some dumbass exec at ABC managed to kill it in favor of a horrific & racially offensive to Native Americans western titled "The Legend of Custer." Then again, if there was a 2nd season of "Time Tunnel," we would never have had the beautiful Lee Meriwether star in the role of Losira, who happens to be my favorite and who would have been unavailable at that time for the part of Losira.

I read an interview with Lee Meriwether in Starlog magazine some years ago in which her 2 young daughters, who happened to be huge TOS fans, constantly teased their mother about the fact that she wasn't a real actress unless she appeared on Batman &, Star Trek! Lee told her agent to call and find out if she could audition for a guest role and, bingo, she landed the role of Losira, Commander of the Kalandans.
I have no idea if she had auditioned for other guest roles on TOS prior to landing her part on "That Which Survives," but I'm hoping that someone out there who does know & happens to read this will kindly tell us about it.

While I am on the subject, what are some of the female guest roles in Season 3 of TOS that could have been switched around? By that, I mean, what if Lee had played the role of Natira in "For The World Is Hollow and I Have Touched The Sky" or the Orion Slave Girl Marta from "Whom Gods Destroy" instead of as Losira? No? Then, how about Lee as the bitchy Dolman of Elaas? Or how about Frances Nuyen, who played the Dolman of Elaas, in the role of Losira instead? It also doesn't need to be someone who played a role in TOS.

Ursula Andress as Odona or Droxine, anyone?

Please feel free to jump in and stimulate my dormant adolescent fantasies! :thumbsup:

 

[euphorik]

Bad Atom said:
Anyone love it, or like it? Just wondering.

the planet stuff is boring - aside from sulu actually having something to do, for once - but the scenes with scotty in the service crallway are priceless, and are just about as classic as classic trek gets.

a lot of people seem to hate the spock dialog in this episode, but i love it - "that positon, mr scott, would not only be unavailing, but also...undignified..." - that's the kind of line bermatrek-era writers couldn't have coughed up if their lives depended on it.

bottom line: the scenes on the enterprise are great. the planet stuff is boring.

 

[Stompy]

the one thing that always SAVED this episode for me was the real Losira's message at the end. Leeann delivered the lines with such feeling that you really felt like you got a glimpse into what her society was like.

I never liked Naomi Pollock's character. I always felt that the women in gold looked washed out on the show. It wasn't until the DVDs came out that I discovered she also played Miramanee's handmaiden in "The Paradise Syndrome"

Art was really good as D'Amato-I liked that everybody on the ship wasn't 22 years old and that it showed what I considered to be a real working environment. He was friendly with Eddie Milkis and later appeared on Milkis' show Happy Days. He also directed a lot of stuff in his later years.

 

[Wingsley]

The real deficiency of the ep (I think it was brought up in this thread already) was that Kirk and company are stranded on the planet and they don't even have a canteen of water among them. Not even a bottle of hand sanitizer. What if someone had to potty while on the planet?

Seriously, why would a Federation starship beam down a survey party to an unknown planet with only minimal gear? That is dumb.

If you were on the staff of Starfleet Command, what would you stipulate in general orders for survey parties to beam down with them? I would think that there should be a contingency in case the team looses contact with their mother ship. What if the Enterrpise had a run-in with an unexpected visitor, like a Klingon or Romulan starship, and didn't have time to beam the crew back aboard?

Here's a good idea:

Every survey team to a previously unknown planet should dress in planet fall gear (like Pike's crew did in "The Cage") and they should be required to take a "planet pack" with them. The pack should fit on a single transporter pad, and include:

1: power source
2: provisional replicator for food, drink, medicine and needed tools/equipment
3: transmitter/scanner, to assure the team won't loose contact with the ship or Starfleet, if the ship suddenly has to leave orbit.
4: Maybe a "fly" tent, to provide shelter.

What a "planet pack" might look like:

http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=38&pos=6

The galling thing about this is that someone should've thought of this during TOS production run. I can't think of any stories which would've necessarily been hurt by the addition of such a concept. In fact, it would've opened up new opportunities for stories.

 

[Plum]

.. well, they could eat the local stuff and build a fire. Works for "survivor man".

Oh, phasers are handy.

Stompy said:
the one thing that always SAVED this episode for me was the real Losira's message at the end. Leeann delivered the lines with such feeling that you really felt like you got a glimpse into what her society was like.

I never liked Naomi Pollock's character. I always felt that the women in gold looked washed out on the show. It wasn't until the DVDs came out that I discovered she also played Miramanee's handmaiden in "The Paradise Syndrome"
<SNIP!!>

Art was really good as D'Amato-I liked that everybody on the ship wasn't 22 years old and that it showed what I considered to be a real working environment. He was friendly with Eddie Milkis and later appeared on Milkis' show Happy Days. He also directed a lot of stuff in his later years.

Thanx Stompy.

 

[Sulu_Love_child]

One of the better 3rd season episodes.
Could use a better planet background
I see a good opportunity for CBS to dress it up with CGI

 

[Phantassm]

Love it-one of my third season favorites.

 

[KeepOnTrekking]

"That Which Survives" is a guilty pleasure episode for me. It was one of the very first ones I saw as a 7 year-old kid. Scared the heck outta me. My brother and I were spending the night at my grandparents and were sleeping on the floor much like the landing party on the planet. It was late at night when we watched this. Late being 9pm on a weekend. So it definitely left a lasting impression one me.

As far as Spock acting out of character. He gets overly Vulcan when Kirk is in danger. Whether it's responding to Uhura's question or the quip about Scotty nursing the engines. I tend to see this epsiode as coming after "Tholian Web" where spock was attempting familiarity with McCoy with the "Forget it, Bones" comment. Maybe he was experimenting a little with Scotty, too, with the Vulcan joke about nursing the engines. He also seemed to let his guard down about noting Scotty's observations without always understanding them. A big if not huge confession on Spock's part towards Scotty. I think Spock was trying to lean on Scotty's advice here much like Kirk admonished him to lean on McCoy's back in "Tholian Web." Spock was faced with an illogical situation with the Enterprise being thrown 990.7 light-years away and was using Scotty's insight along the way to see into the situation from another angle...like the "feel" of the ship being wrong which led to the solution of saving the ship.