Episode of the Week : The Naked Time

[KeepOnTrekking]

I give it a 10.

My take on when people caught the disease:

Joe when he took his glove off down on the planet,
Sulu and Riley when they tried to stop Joe from suicide,
Kirk and Spock when they stopped Sulu's escapade on the Bridge.

Spock touches Chapel in Sick Bay but Spock had already nerve pinched Sulu a while back. Kirk gets belted by Spock in the Briefing Room but, again, Kirk was wrestling with a bare chested Sulu earlier in the story, too.

 

[Botany Bay]

1) Joe Tormolen is an idiot. From the crappy environment suits to him taking his glove off and then not saying anything afterward (apparently thinking decon would take care of
it) was just ridiculous.

Every person I've ever watched this show with (including my 6 year old) thinks Tormolen is an idiot! It takes the gloss a little off this othrwise classic episode. I suppose, yeah, he could have just assumed de-contamination could have fixed things.

One thing I really enjoy about these early TOS episodes is the greater budget allowed for us to spend a bit of time with crew members other than Kirk, Spock and Bones. I would have liked to keep bumping into the likes of Janice, Riley, DeSalle, Kelowitz, etc in seasons two and three.

As for the TNG remake, I loved it as well, and thought it was one of the more entertaining early episodes. I can see how it would have disappointed a lot of content-starved Trekkers in 1987, though - "episode 2 and they're doing remakes already".

 

[BillJ]

As for the TNG remake, I loved it as well, and thought it was one of the more entertaining early episodes. I can see how it would have disappointed a lot of content-starved Trekkers in 1987, though - "episode 2 and they're doing remakes already".

The one that killed me was "Code of Honor" which aired the week after "The Naked Now". Painfully bad then and painfully bad now.

 

[Pauln6]

One thing I really enjoy about these early TOS episodes is the greater budget allowed for us to spend a bit of time with crew members other than Kirk, Spock and Bones. I would have liked to keep bumping into the likes of Janice, Riley, DeSalle, Kelowitz, etc in seasons two and three.

Yes, for me this is a definite strength for the early episodes. One of the things I liked about B5, NuBSG, and DS9 was the multi-tiered cast. You get more of a sense of Uhura's and Sulu's characters in the early episodes than most of the rest of the series combined. I would really have enjoyed seeing Riley and Rand reappear for one or two meaty episodes per season.

 

[Commishsleer]

Part of the problem with "The Naked Now" is that it came far too soon in the series. It smacks of being a copycat and wannabe effort, right done to the title, at a time the series needed to be striving for its own identity. It also struggled with the cast not yet comfortable with their roles. Instead of being intrigued with its approach I found it embarassing.

If "The Naked Now" had been done in 2nd or 3rd season it likely would have come across completely differently.

I absolutely hate 'The Naked Now'. Made me dislike TNG for years. I wish I'd never seen the thing.
The reason was you had the two major girl leads throwing themselves at the two major boy leads and being turned away. I just absolutely hate that. Early in TNG you had the girls there seemingly just to be on love with the boys like Chapel was with Spock in TOS (well maybe not as bad as that).

Maybe it would have been better later in the series. Maybe if it was not both Troi and Beverley.

 

[The Old Mixer]

^Three and three...don't forget Tasha and Data...!

 

[Push The Button]

I gave this episode a nine. The Enterprise in real trouble here, and with the crew falling to pieces at the worst possible moment. If you can keep your head while all around you are losing theirs...

Kirk really shines in this episode, struggling to save his ship and crew while the s*it hits the fan at every turn. Scotty and McCoy are as professional and reliable as ever, and my favorite Kirk-Uhura moment of all time happens here:

RILEY [OC]: Kathleen. And now, crew, one more time!
KIRK: At least try cutting him off!
UHURA: Sir, if I could cut him off, don't you think I'd-
RILEY [OC]: I'll take you home again Kathleen
UHURA: Yes, sir. I'll keep trying.
KIRK: Sorry.

We have the Spock emotional breakdown, Kirk admitting his love for/relationship with his ship, a really great Sulu freakout, and even Janice Rand taking the helm at one point!

One of my favotites for sure, certainly in my top ten.

 

[EnsignHarper]

And as gets pointed out here at least couple of times a year - Spock never gets the antidote shot! He literally pulls himself together, and goes directly to engineering with Scott, and then back to the bridge. We can all say, well McCoy must have given to him - but did he? Maybe the infection stayed with him in a 'supressed' way, and its might be what led Spock to try and reach kohliar, or whatever...

Or maybe not - we have been shown many times the self healing ability of Vulcans..

 

[Ssosmcin]

I like the implication that it was Kirk's crumbling that gave Spock the focus to push off the effects of the disease.

 

[Warped9]

I like the implication that it was Kirk's crumbling that gave Spock the focus to push off the effects of the disease.

It's also possible Spock was inoculated before Kirk got the bridge. We didn't most of the crew inoculated but we can assume they were.

 

[scotpens]

We have the Spock emotional breakdown, Kirk admitting his love for/relationship with his ship, a really great Sulu freakout, and even Janice Rand taking the helm at one point!

Not to mention the first of two appearances by Bruce Hyde as Lt. Kevin Riley, one of TOS's most engaging and likeable guest characters. I would like to have seen Riley in a recurring or semi-regular role.

"You know what Joe's mistake was? He wasn't born an Irishman."

 

[Botany Bay]

TRIVIA

You sometimes hear that this was supposed to be a two part episode, with Tomorrow Is Yesterday being the second part. I was present when someone asked Bob Justman if this was correct, and he categorically denied it, saying it would not have been practical due to uncertainty over which part would have had its optical effects completed first. He went on to emphasise that getting any show to air in the first season on time was an around the clock effort.

 

[Harvey]

^^
The script I've seen of "The naked Time" says "(Part I)" right on the front and has an ending which is dated weeks after the rest of the episode was shot (But before the series premiered). Justman's memory was probably just hazy after so many years.

 

[Warped9]

I have long heard "The Naked Time" was supposed to be Part I of a two-parter. And I'm sure I've heard and read D.C. Fontana affirm it on more than one occasion.

 

[Botany Bay]

^^
The script I've seen of "The naked Time" says "(Part I)" right on the front and has an ending which is dated weeks after the rest of the episode was shot (But before the series premiered). Justman's memory was probably just hazy after so many years.

Yep, agreed it could be that, this was in 2005 when he was asked, after all.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Well then Fontana wanted to do a two-parter, but for practical reasons it was never going to happen, as Justman would know better than anybody.

The only two-parter in TOS was done by shooting a single show ("The Menagerie" framing story), cutting it in half, and adding in the pre-existing other single show ("The Cage").

 

[Ssosmcin]

I like the implication that it was Kirk's crumbling that gave Spock the focus to push off the effects of the disease.

It's also possible Spock was inoculated before Kirk got the bridge. We didn't most of the crew inoculated but we can assume they were.

Going by the conditions of the uniforms, Kirk was the only one to get the shot after Sulu...

 

[ToddPence]

I've been trying all week to come up with something profound to say about this one, and I find that I really don't have too much to add to what others have already said. It's just a great early episode. There's a real sense of crisis operating all through the segment, with an even more realistic feel than that of "The Corbomite Manuever". The final minutes of this show are as awesomely suspenseful and dramatically cathartic as anything in the original series. It's a shame that John Black only wrote this one episode for Star Trek.
And - oh yeah, the original musical score rules once again as well. I don't think I need to point out to anyone the greatness of the music - one quality which will never flag throughout the original series' full run. Unbelievably, I read a post by some idiot recently where he said if he had the chance he'd re-release the original series with a newly recorded modern score. Hard to fathom some people.

 

[2takesfrakes]

I'll give it an 8 if only just for Spock's breakdown in the Briefing Room.

I liked that stuff with Chapel preceeding it, too. This was the one time where her love-sickness was played really well. Nimoy's acting here is great. I don't know what he's drawing from, but you can see Spock's becoming increasingly affected by the virus and by Chapel's desperate pleas ...

 

[Pauln6]

Caught this on CBS Action - I'd forgotten it's the only episode in the first season that had all the 'regulars' in together.