Episode of the Week : The Cloud Minders
- Thread starter Botany Bay
- Start date
A solid 9 for me.
I always felt Gerrold was wrong about the ending to his episode. They clearly state things will change, and there is a suggestion that there will be intermingling of the two castes.
VANNA: Yes. Our demands have just begun. Here is the zenite, Captain, just as I promised.
(Sentinels pile the containers on the balcony)
KIRK: Thank you, Vanna.
DROXINE: Stratos is so pleasant and so beautiful. I think I'm afraid to leave it.
SPOCK: There is great beauty in the knowledge that lies below, and only one way to really experience it.
DROXINE: I shall go to the mines. I no longer wish to be limited to the clouds. Is your planet like this one?
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KIRK: Perhaps some form of mediation can be helpful in your difficulties. The Federation Bureau of Industrialisation may be of aid to you.
PLASUS: I will tolerate absolutely no interference! You will not set foot here as long as I rule!
KIRK: Believe me, sir, I have neither the time nor the desire to return here. Only answering your charges against me will force me back.
PLASUS: And I shall press them. You are guilty of abduction, Captain!
KIRK: You're guilty of attacking a starship commander and plotting against his life.
VANNA: Captain, perhaps both incidents are best forgotten.
I always felt Gerrold was wrong about the ending to his episode. They clearly state things will change, and there is a suggestion that there will be intermingling of the two castes.
VANNA: Yes. Our demands have just begun. Here is the zenite, Captain, just as I promised.
(Sentinels pile the containers on the balcony)
KIRK: Thank you, Vanna.
DROXINE: Stratos is so pleasant and so beautiful. I think I'm afraid to leave it.
SPOCK: There is great beauty in the knowledge that lies below, and only one way to really experience it.
DROXINE: I shall go to the mines. I no longer wish to be limited to the clouds. Is your planet like this one?
--------------------------------------
KIRK: Perhaps some form of mediation can be helpful in your difficulties. The Federation Bureau of Industrialisation may be of aid to you.
PLASUS: I will tolerate absolutely no interference! You will not set foot here as long as I rule!
KIRK: Believe me, sir, I have neither the time nor the desire to return here. Only answering your charges against me will force me back.
PLASUS: And I shall press them. You are guilty of abduction, Captain!
KIRK: You're guilty of attacking a starship commander and plotting against his life.
VANNA: Captain, perhaps both incidents are best forgotten.
Maybe the city moved around the planet's skies?
JB
JB
A six, for Jeff Corey and the great scenes down in the mine with Vanna, Plasus and Kirk all acting like hooligans. Otherwise it is kind of bleh, though probably in the upper half of the third season for me.
Vulcans do get together, somehow, and if actual romance were involved, what we see here might be something like how Spock or a Vulcan might go about it. IF. He certainly isn't going all "mushy" on us here, is he?
Still, too much. It can't even be this similar to how humans go about it. I'm thinking about Sarek now, and I picture him being so evasive about any feeling that he would only distantly recognize any of it as such. It would be framed and experienced as unemotionally as people do when arranging a marriage. Much of that is denial, of course...
I just rewatched the episode tonight. Kirk looks so different here, in the latter half of the third season, than he did in season one, just two short years earlier. He's put on about 15 pounds, and really needs a haircut. I also noticed the beginnings of a few of the trademark Shatner mannerisms that would become dominant later on, the seeds of what we would all probably recognize as the snarky wise-ass version of himself that took over in the mid 70's.
That was my impression too, PtB.
Yet another TOS episode showcasing / predicting a society that has not faded--especially in the most prosperous nation on earth.
Yes, he was. Corey was a versatile actor, and once committed, could sell anything. As Plasus, he accurately captured the corrupt politician barely able to keep the veneer of welcoming, helpful leader. Once said veneer cracked, his agitated control issues took center stage in the episode, making for a strong leader-villain every bit as effective as David Opatoshu's Anan-7 from "A Taste of Aramgeddon."
Agreed--easily one of the most attractive guest actresses from TOS . She represented the bridge of the culture: a sheltered member of the elite with a curiosity that could not be ignored or abated, which (if followed by her society on several levels) would (one day) melt the isolationist, self-important walls of her culture.
To those who criticize Spock so liberally sharing his cultural details, they should remember that Spock is half human--he's not as stoic (stiff) and the traditionalist like those on his home world. Further, he's spent so much time around humans, that by season 3, he's at ease with his opinions and personal relationships--whenever he wanted to open that door to himself.
One element that rarely gets attention are the various set dressing and props created for some season three episodes; from the corridors, art pieces of the city--even the torture device--to the Zenite containers, the episode--like others this season--painted an attractive, alien, yet familiar location.
She was hardly scrawny.
Spock has had a few "romances" Admittedly when hes a bit cra cra but its not so much the romance technique that bothers me but the fact that its so overly gushy and inappropriate during the "urgent" mission. Also I'd like to think Spock wouldn't fall for someone as vacuous as Droxine. I know in real-life men fall for pretty but frivolous girls all the time.
I'd like to think Spock was better than that though.
Spock was playing her the whole time. That VO personal log was probably made for her benefit, and when he got the chance he deleted it as quickly as he could. I'm not saying Spock is cold and shallow, but like Kirk did so often, Spock used this opportunity to get necessary intel through pseudo-romantic verbal sleight-of-hand.
Well, that's the thing. Being Vulcan, those "romances" are either pretended for some practical reason, or caused by some outside agent that eliminates emotional suppression and self-control.
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I'm not sure what people are saying they would prefer, when they say this or that s3 episode hits you over the head with its message. Subtlety is not always to be desired. Try to tell an anti -slavery story, say, and try to be "subtle" about it, and you won't really have anything.
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Watch , someone will think I need it explained what subtlety means.
But it wasn't a log recording as I understood it. It was his thoughts.
Okay, okay, yes, tastes vary. Eye of the beholder. But to my personal attraction meter - scrawny is the word that flashes. Alternating with waif.
http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/3x21/TheCloudMinders0183.jpg
How did a race that practice racial segregation get into the lofty moral Federation?
Maybe they liked the Federation and told them that but kept their own business private from prying eyes just like what happens today!
JB
JB
My impression is that in TOS, the Federation was a political alliance of individual societies, not a society in and of itself. And its standards for joining may have been less strict in those Cold War-reflecting days than in TNG's time. If you're with us instead of the Klingons, welcome aboard!
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