Episode of the Week : Obsession
- Thread starter Botany Bay
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Six and a half, rounded up to seven for the poll. At times in this episode Kirk seems to sound as if he has a cold.
This episode has some great stuff. And some cheese. Eight.
Another glimpse into what made Jim Kirk - and although it may seem that Kirk loses his cool in this episode, it's more an extension of the trademark calmness in face of a horrible threat, and the usual irrational refusal to share anxiety-alleviating information with his crew.
That the threat should be intensified by the fact that the beast is about to spawn is a fallacy here as it was in "Immunity Syndrome": if the beast is capable of spawning, then its species necessarily already exists in great numbers and this spawning is no more a threat than the myriad others that have already taken place. In order to combat the strategic threat, Kirk should study, rather than destroy his one and only chance for doing so...
Extra points for the rare inserting of a sympathetic guest character, and one that works for Starfleet (and thus supposedly competes with Kirk for dramatic fame) no less! So, a nine rather than a seven, for an episode with high production values to begin with.
Timo Saloniemi
That the threat should be intensified by the fact that the beast is about to spawn is a fallacy here as it was in "Immunity Syndrome": if the beast is capable of spawning, then its species necessarily already exists in great numbers and this spawning is no more a threat than the myriad others that have already taken place. In order to combat the strategic threat, Kirk should study, rather than destroy his one and only chance for doing so...
Extra points for the rare inserting of a sympathetic guest character, and one that works for Starfleet (and thus supposedly competes with Kirk for dramatic fame) no less! So, a nine rather than a seven, for an episode with high production values to begin with.
Timo Saloniemi
I never really enjoyed this episode. I gave it just five. To be honest I thought it kind of boring. Even the suspense at the - you know Kirk is not going up anti-matter heaven. I also didn't think Spock's lean toward compassion or understanding (which is how I took it) when went to visit Garrovick was too Vulcanesque. Seemed vastly out of character. And Garrovick always annoyed me.
Spock was just exercising his duty as XO in a personnel matter, which we rarely see.
Anyone else think the Chapel/Garrovick scene was a De Kelley scene with the name McCoy scrubbed out to get Barrett into the show?
Every word she says sounds like McCoy to me.
Every word she says sounds like McCoy to me.
I would probably peg this as an 8. It's perhaps my favorite Shatner performance, particularly during the inquiry with McCoy and Spock. When I was first able to go through this episode with a vcr 15-20 years after first seeing it, I began to realize Shatner was a better actor than I'd originally thought.
Love this one: great story for Kirk with some nice backstory for him; a huge redshirt body count; great scene of real military protocol when Spock and Bones officially question Kirk; fantastic use of the Doomsday Machine music.
Funny things about the episode: Spock trying to stop the cloud with his fingers. My "nice save" mind likes to think he was attempting to mind meld with it. But really, would a starship be open to space like that where a cloud could enter through a vent? When Kirk shoves Garrovick against the boulder, the whole thing rocks back. Shatner was wearing two communicators. One on his belt, which fell off during the fight and one tucked in his waistband. It's a continuous shot, so after the prop falls off, you can see it in his pants (wow, that came out badly).
And while Garrovick is never seen again, Leslie is resurrected before long.
Shatner's cold is distracting, especially when he says "don't you understand?" It's missing the usual Shatner power.
An 8 all told.
Funny things about the episode: Spock trying to stop the cloud with his fingers. My "nice save" mind likes to think he was attempting to mind meld with it. But really, would a starship be open to space like that where a cloud could enter through a vent? When Kirk shoves Garrovick against the boulder, the whole thing rocks back. Shatner was wearing two communicators. One on his belt, which fell off during the fight and one tucked in his waistband. It's a continuous shot, so after the prop falls off, you can see it in his pants (wow, that came out badly).
And while Garrovick is never seen again, Leslie is resurrected before long.
Shatner's cold is distracting, especially when he says "don't you understand?" It's missing the usual Shatner power.
An 8 all told.
...So, when did Trek medicine vanquish the common cold, exactly? Do we get a datapoint here?
Timo Saloniemi
And interestingly, it's a varied one, with the casualties including "clean" deaths and mere injuries (even when there is no dramatic or plot logic reason for such realism). Supposedly Leslie could fall in the latter category, too.
Why not? The Farnsworth Argument probably applies: any pressure exceeding one atmosphere might cause a breach or a penetration, at least locally. But we don't really have to worry about such things, as it is already clearly established that the monster is capable of being fully transparent to everything the heroes can throw at it, and thus suggested that it is also capable of walking through walls: a vent might simply be a weaker wall than the rest of the hull.
Timo Saloniemi
I know it's a dramatic tension/surprise turn kind of plot device that we at home don't know Mr. Spock is immune to the creature, however I always wonder why we, including me, don't seem to think Spock thought this an entirely logical outcome of the facts and was basically giving the creature a "bad taste in it's mouth" intentionally to drive it away. He knew how it kills and what it consumes. There was a risk involved, but he probably weighed them, computed the odds and then acted accordingly. So I don't believe Spock was "desperate" to stop it with his hands but using the best means available to halt it.
Probably Majel's single best scene.
Did anyone else pick up on the "monster" seemed to alway leave an immediate surviver? They might pass later, but someone lives through the initial attack.
Maybe it wants to spread fear and terror?
Or it has a constant rather than recurring appetite, and keeps on snacking - but doesn't have a stomach for large individual helpings. So odds are against its appetite being satisfied by an integer number of human victims.
If the beast has humanlike motivations and thought processes, those are well hidden. It is willing to leave one planet for another at the drop of a hat, but still insist on eating people that pose at least theoretical danger to its survival if angered. It turns to fight when it could outrun. And it fails to appreciate an obvious trap. OTOH, would a dumb animal be that dumb? It might take human intellect to fumble that badly!
Timo Saloniemi
If the beast has humanlike motivations and thought processes, those are well hidden. It is willing to leave one planet for another at the drop of a hat, but still insist on eating people that pose at least theoretical danger to its survival if angered. It turns to fight when it could outrun. And it fails to appreciate an obvious trap. OTOH, would a dumb animal be that dumb? It might take human intellect to fumble that badly!
Timo Saloniemi
I gave it a 9. One of my favorites. Lots of action and character insights. The coincidence that Garrovick's son is aboard the Enterprise when Kirk encounters the creature again is pushing it a bit. I do have one other problem and maybe I'm overanalyzing. Kirk and Garrovick beam down with the antimatter bomb and the container of hemoplasm which is to be used a bait. Why do Kirk and Garrovick, then, proceed to move the bomb AWAY from the container of hemoplasm?? Wouldn't you leave them together, step aside and beam up from those new coordinates when the creature appears? Why move the bomb away and let the creature chow down on the bait when you're backs are turned? If the antimatter blast is strong enough to rip away half the planet's atmosphere, why move the bomb away from the bait at all? What am I missing here??
Possibilities.
They wanted the bomb away from the immediate area of the bait, worrying that the bomb might scare the creature off.
They wanted both the bomb and the bait together, but more out in the open. So the intent was to move first the bomb, and then the bait, away from the large rocks.
They wanted the bomb away from the immediate area of the bait, worrying that the bomb might scare the creature off.
They wanted both the bomb and the bait together, but more out in the open. So the intent was to move first the bomb, and then the bait, away from the large rocks.
Definitely a good use of music. I'll have to watch for Kirk's communicators the next time I see it. That kind of reminds me of the scene in "Gamesters of Triskelion" when Shatner rolls over and destroys a communicator lid. Some may find that footage disturbing, and viewer discretion is advised.
Is this the only time Leslie died? I'm thinking yes.
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