Episode of the Week : Amok Time
- Thread starter Botany Bay
- Start date
Not me. This is a really good episode, with a great score. I give it a nine (the way the Chapel character is treated at the end bothers me, although the episode is one of the better uses of her character in the series, ultimately).
It's the best season opener (as broadcast) of classic Star Trek.
It's the best season opener (as broadcast) of classic Star Trek.
It would have been nice to have included Sarek and Amanda in the scenes that took place on Vulcan, but otherwise a great episode, I give it a 9.
"He's saved my life a dozen times over, isn't that worth a career?"
"He's saved my life a dozen times over, isn't that worth a career?"
I voted 10, but I agree with Push The Button---it would've been awesome to have Sarek and Amanda.
But other than that, my only complaints about the episode AS IS are:
1) I wish it would've had more on location shooting since the Vulcan set was a little too obvious. But then I don't know if there was a way of making Vulcan look like Vulcan on a real world location back in the late 1960s.
2) I had forgotten, until Harvey mentioned it, about the way Chapel was utilized. The weeping followed by the jovial realization that Spock would love her to cook for him was an embarrassing moment IMO. Super awkward.
But other than that, my only complaints about the episode AS IS are:
1) I wish it would've had more on location shooting since the Vulcan set was a little too obvious. But then I don't know if there was a way of making Vulcan look like Vulcan on a real world location back in the late 1960s.
2) I had forgotten, until Harvey mentioned it, about the way Chapel was utilized. The weeping followed by the jovial realization that Spock would love her to cook for him was an embarrassing moment IMO. Super awkward.
I voted 9.
I don't know why this isn't a 10, but I just found 9 to be how I feel about it. I don't remember voting 10 for any, but I would have voted 10 for Balance of Terror but I missed the poll. I don't know why I'm so stingy on the ten, but easily a 9, never considered lower.
I don't know why this isn't a 10, but I just found 9 to be how I feel about it. I don't remember voting 10 for any, but I would have voted 10 for Balance of Terror but I missed the poll. I don't know why I'm so stingy on the ten, but easily a 9, never considered lower.
WTH is up with that poster? What's Maleficent the dragon doing there?
Originally envisioned? How do you mean?
I did the exact same thing - only I'm not sure if any TOS episode would get my 10. A double handful of 9s, but no 10 springs to mind. There's episodes that *almost* make it, but then I remember a little issue here or there.
I put it down to budget and production values, because taken as a whole, TOS was brilliant. At least as many 9s as TNG, but across three years when TNG had seven.
Eight.
This is a really good episode, especially once they arrive on Vulcan. I find the part before that somewhat tedious, which is the only reason I dinged it, although there are some great scenes there too. The part of Vulcan is easily a nine.
This is a really good episode, especially once they arrive on Vulcan. I find the part before that somewhat tedious, which is the only reason I dinged it, although there are some great scenes there too. The part of Vulcan is easily a nine.
A great episode with a terrific score. Although as mentioned previously a fan favorite, it doesn't quite make my top ten favorites. It is excellent and an important look at the background and culture of one of the big 3...but again as stated previously, something is missing (for me).
I can deal with Vulcans still having to give way to their savage roots once every seven years -- it works with the rest of the species' mythology -- but the idea that a civilized people would have a legal system where a woman becomes her husband's property or divorce is only allowed with a duel to the death strains credibility.
Still, it's an episode with excellent drama that does a lot to set up the Vulcan backstory that Trek has used for the nearly 50 years since then. I'd give it an 8 or 9.
Still, it's an episode with excellent drama that does a lot to set up the Vulcan backstory that Trek has used for the nearly 50 years since then. I'd give it an 8 or 9.
"Logic" isn't always purely correct. Any logical system that I've ever seen can suffer from Garbage In Garbage Out. Perhaps flawed assumptions were made when their marriage laws were established. Perhaps *correct* assumptions were made... that just no longer apply due to advances in technology. (In the natural environs of Vulcan, it seems to me that it would be more important than it is in most places on Earth to insure that people have at least one other person looking out for them, and probably that children have more than one, to watch them for dehydration, sunstroke, etc.) Maybe they know it is in error, but the amount of effort to fix it is illogically out of balance with the amount of difficulty it actually causes on a regular basis.
Remember Valeris. Her actions were based on a "logic".
10. No question.
By mid 1st season, ST hit its stride, but rather than holding that stride for the rest the run, it was rocketed to another level. Aside from giving an unforgettable taste of the rich Vulcan culture, the episode standout are the character relationships; from Chapel's weighty heart, Kirk's deep, career-threatening support to Spock finally, openly acknowledging McCoy as his friend, "Amok Time" burned ST into the myth realm, with all franchise relationships to come judged by the standard set here.
By mid 1st season, ST hit its stride, but rather than holding that stride for the rest the run, it was rocketed to another level. Aside from giving an unforgettable taste of the rich Vulcan culture, the episode standout are the character relationships; from Chapel's weighty heart, Kirk's deep, career-threatening support to Spock finally, openly acknowledging McCoy as his friend, "Amok Time" burned ST into the myth realm, with all franchise relationships to come judged by the standard set here.
10. A nice exploration and expansion of the Spock character that also highlights what Kirk and McCoy will do to help a friend.
Moreover, desert communities would be isolated, and quite possibly feuding over scarce resources. Arranged marriages with telepathic enforcement would allow for healthy interbreeding where inbreeding (or breeding with rare visitors from farther out than the hated neighboring village) would otherwise be the norm.
Vulcan in the time of Spock and Sarek would be technologically beyond scarcity, so the fact of these old habits persisting would indeed be illogical (or at least not necessitated by logic) and thus shameful to all Surakists. Perhaps even Sarek is ashamed of the practice and thus has added reason not to attend, even though his societal position calls for arranged marriages and his own wild decision to fornicate with aliens has undermined that position?
Certainly it's amusing to see how the torn-in-twain-since-and-by-birth Spock is no worse off than the society that cast him out!
Timo Saloniemi
Similar threads
- Poll
