Yup. Helen can make anyone stand to attention.
Episode of the Week : The Empath
- Thread starter Botany Bay
- Start date
I like the poster more than the episode
Yeah, but Helen is like secret dreams a Bored Ship Captain might have!
... and that being the case, you're probably right, I'd just fall asleep and have secret dreams.
I gave it a "9" - losing a point for the music. it's a pretty theme- the tone is just annoying after a time.
Love the Viians. Love the minimalist Soundstage. Love the slow-mo Kirk. I felt compassion for Gem, so it works as a unique hour of the series
I'm amused by Shatner being shirtless, but Kelley not in the torture scenes. I always figured it was because Kelley wasn't as buff as Shatner.
Love the Viians. Love the minimalist Soundstage. Love the slow-mo Kirk. I felt compassion for Gem, so it works as a unique hour of the series
I'm amused by Shatner being shirtless, but Kelley not in the torture scenes. I always figured it was because Kelley wasn't as buff as Shatner.
This is one of the best episodes to show McCoys friendship for Spock. Counteracts an episode like "Trouble With Tribbles".
I loved the music and yes even Kirks slo-mo. Even the scientists scene helped create the unusual atmosphere of this episode.
This episode is one of my guilty pleasures.
Did the other planet in the Minaran system get a chance to prove their worthiness for survival? We never saw or heard any evidence that the Vians kidnapped one of their citizens and performed an experiment where he/she/it got a chance to demonstrate their own willingness for self-sacrifice.
Let's try and get a coherent picture of the Minaran system first.
Supposedly, there are two planets each inhabited by a different species, of which one is Gem's. Supposedly, both species are primitive enough that they cannot escape the nova without Vian help, nor stop it from happening. Supposedly, "millions" are involved (although that could well be "hundreds of millions" before the characters would bother with the next level of accuracy and start talking about "billions").
Then there is the planet of the Vians themselves. Or at least the Vians don't contradict Spock when he claims that "their" planet will be consumed by the nova.
But are there three inhabited planets? Or just two? For all we know, Vians are testing Gem and Gem alone to decide whether to save her species, or their own!
The number of inhabited planets is not further limited by dialogue. Spock says "the millions of inhabitants of its planets", establishing a plural, but two will suffice for that. Yet six would be equally fine.
What does the UFP know of the situation here? They've been around for six months, and know nothing of either the Vians or of Gem's people - that is, both species are explicitly unfamiliar-looking and not associated with anything they know about Minara. They know the planet with the UFP observatory and the Vian torture chamber is not Gem's native planet, but for all they know, it may be the Vians'.
Yet Spock is ready to claim that there are millions of inhabitants in danger from the nova. Is that deduction from what they have just learned, or is the UFP aware of a third (and perhaps fourth through ninth) species in the system? If the latter, why were these not discussed when the heroes wondered about Gem's origins?
IMHO, the episode would work the smoothest if there were just two species, on two planets: Gem's, and the Vians'. Spock would then be just speculating about the millions, after having gotten indirect confirmation about the two planets and the two species. And the UFP would know of neither of the local species, and therefore make no effort whatsoever to save even individual members of the species, let alone large groups.
Is the observatory/torture chamber planet the Vians'? They can obviously reach from planet to planet, and move Gem from her home, so this could well be a third, unrelated world - but is it too much to ask for three Class M worlds at Minara? (Or are the Vians comfortable with Class M but native to some other environment?)
Any other takes?
Timo Saloniemi
Supposedly, there are two planets each inhabited by a different species, of which one is Gem's. Supposedly, both species are primitive enough that they cannot escape the nova without Vian help, nor stop it from happening. Supposedly, "millions" are involved (although that could well be "hundreds of millions" before the characters would bother with the next level of accuracy and start talking about "billions").
Then there is the planet of the Vians themselves. Or at least the Vians don't contradict Spock when he claims that "their" planet will be consumed by the nova.
But are there three inhabited planets? Or just two? For all we know, Vians are testing Gem and Gem alone to decide whether to save her species, or their own!
The number of inhabited planets is not further limited by dialogue. Spock says "the millions of inhabitants of its planets", establishing a plural, but two will suffice for that. Yet six would be equally fine.
What does the UFP know of the situation here? They've been around for six months, and know nothing of either the Vians or of Gem's people - that is, both species are explicitly unfamiliar-looking and not associated with anything they know about Minara. They know the planet with the UFP observatory and the Vian torture chamber is not Gem's native planet, but for all they know, it may be the Vians'.
Yet Spock is ready to claim that there are millions of inhabitants in danger from the nova. Is that deduction from what they have just learned, or is the UFP aware of a third (and perhaps fourth through ninth) species in the system? If the latter, why were these not discussed when the heroes wondered about Gem's origins?
IMHO, the episode would work the smoothest if there were just two species, on two planets: Gem's, and the Vians'. Spock would then be just speculating about the millions, after having gotten indirect confirmation about the two planets and the two species. And the UFP would know of neither of the local species, and therefore make no effort whatsoever to save even individual members of the species, let alone large groups.
Is the observatory/torture chamber planet the Vians'? They can obviously reach from planet to planet, and move Gem from her home, so this could well be a third, unrelated world - but is it too much to ask for three Class M worlds at Minara? (Or are the Vians comfortable with Class M but native to some other environment?)
Any other takes?
Timo Saloniemi
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Same here.
For me, that is certainly part of its appeal--such lovely, unforgettable music that completely supports the danger and friendship shared by the Big Three.
Yeah--Batman's use of black sets happened because of a severe cut in the budget, hence its use in too many season 3 episodes; at least "The Empath" used it as an alien realm beyond the understanding of / familiarity to the Federation, and it worked.
Rating: 9.
I gave it a 1 only because 0 wasn't an option. I absolutely hated it when I saw it in syndication. I think the main reason was because it was a "bottle" episode where most of it was filmed on a darkened set but I also found the mime actress very annoying. Spock's Brain was Oscar material compared to this.
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Imaginative, well thought out and realized, and rather touching. One of the most effective ones that I've seen so far!!!!!
Perhaps the Vians already and long knew that this other planet's inhabitants were mainly bastards and didn't merit even having time wasted on being evaluated in this same way.
Kidnapped in Space comes to mind.
Aside form the LIS reference, your comment about the size of the underground facility, reminds me immedeiately of the Night of The Puppeteer from WWW. They kept running and running and running until they found the elevator!!!
I'm not sure why you would suggest that the Vians would need or desire sending a distress signal. There doesn't seem to be any question that they are perfectly capable and have planned their escape with their chosen people, even when time was growing very short indeed..
The presence of Ozaba and Linke contained a couple of interesting minor points. First, Ozaba's biblical quotation is surely one of the few times in the series or even the whole franchise where one hears such a direct Earth religion reference. Also the Vians comment that the pair's own fear killed them. They certainly don't appear to resemble McCoy after his ordeal. Were, the Vians just being sensitive to their next visitors by cleaning up the bodies, or did these two Feds expire from heart attacks before anything malign was even inflicted upon them?
My point is that if the Vians were perfectly capable. They would be able to transport the entire population of the entire star system to safety. There would be no need to choose just one.
They seem of a technological level that would enable them to detect the presence of other star faring civilizations. It would be only logical that if they couldn't evacuate the entire system themselves that they'd call for help.
They seem of a technological level that would enable them to detect the presence of other star faring civilizations. It would be only logical that if they couldn't evacuate the entire system themselves that they'd call for help.
Slightly truer than many know, since some of the props in this episode were from Fox and formerly in Lost In Space, notably the Jupiter 2 freezing tubes repurposed here (link).
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Whether calling for help would be viable depends not only on how far that help would be (see the argument about whether the UFP is distant or not), but also on how much advance warning there is. The UFP sent a research team six months before the kaboom, but did they know about it six months and one day in advance, or six decades? If the latter, why were Vians, self-admitted locals, slower on the uptake? (Or alternately, why did they interrogate Gem for six decades?)
Odds would seem to be that the star going nova was a somewhat unexpected twist, perhaps the very reason the UFP sent observers (when in "All Our Yesterdays" they only sent one starship for a very brief last-minute visit to an "ordinary" nova, and never mind that both occasions seem misuses of the current scientific terminology).
Vians are so far the only mortals to demonstrate a capacity for evacuating an entire planet of millions, no matter how much time is available. But getting help from the far less capable UFP might not be completely futile, provided a hundred other similarly weak cultures joined. Still, that's probably peanuts compared with what the Vians can do. So we have to ask, if one planet's population can be "transported to safety", why not two for merely twice the effort? (Or half and half, if it's merely a matter of head count?)
That's the big question in the episode. The little one is, why not help a little? The UFP being ignorant of any local life is a good reason for them not to make any effort to save anybody, but why are they so ignorant? Vians might hide because they know everybody would hate them at first sight anyway, but why are Gem's people invisible? Do they know everybody hates mimes? Or does everybody in the Minara system live deep underground, perhaps because their star is so quirky?
Timo Saloniemi
Odds would seem to be that the star going nova was a somewhat unexpected twist, perhaps the very reason the UFP sent observers (when in "All Our Yesterdays" they only sent one starship for a very brief last-minute visit to an "ordinary" nova, and never mind that both occasions seem misuses of the current scientific terminology).
Vians are so far the only mortals to demonstrate a capacity for evacuating an entire planet of millions, no matter how much time is available. But getting help from the far less capable UFP might not be completely futile, provided a hundred other similarly weak cultures joined. Still, that's probably peanuts compared with what the Vians can do. So we have to ask, if one planet's population can be "transported to safety", why not two for merely twice the effort? (Or half and half, if it's merely a matter of head count?)
That's the big question in the episode. The little one is, why not help a little? The UFP being ignorant of any local life is a good reason for them not to make any effort to save anybody, but why are they so ignorant? Vians might hide because they know everybody would hate them at first sight anyway, but why are Gem's people invisible? Do they know everybody hates mimes? Or does everybody in the Minara system live deep underground, perhaps because their star is so quirky?
Timo Saloniemi
I gave this one an 8 measured against the somewhat lower standard of the 3rd season. I liked how they turned some of that lower budget into a sort of dark and surreal subterranean world. I liked the cockeyed camera work when the Vians appeared. I liked we got to see the brave side of McCoy yet again....along with a farewell appearance of previous seasons velour tunic. When I was younger this episode sort of bored me; the score was nothing to write home about. But as I've aged, I see that despite some short-sighted choices and budget cuts, there were people behind the scenes who still loved this show, and did them damnedest to make it work, even as the end approached. I see The Empath as a flawed and poorly cut jewel.....a gem....if you will.....but a gem nonetheless.
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