Gary Mitchell

[shatastrophic]

After watching where "No Man Has Gone Before" remastered over the weekend, I got to thinking about Mitchell. When I viewed it for the first time as a kid, he was scary to me. Now as an adult, not only does it reinforce the show was way ahead of it's time, but Gary was a cool character. I liked how he was relaxed at the navigator position, I liked the banter between Kirk, Spock, and him on the turbolift to the bridge concerning the chess match. It was nice to see someone not "so" dramatic, and a good pal of the captains. I just wanted to see if I was the only one or if there were others who liked him before his condition.
Also one final point because I don't know. That pretty little blonde lab tech that Gary introduced to Kirk in which Kirk replied "I almost married her!", could that maybe have been Carol Marcus? Probably not but at some level it could fit. Any thoughts?

 

[Plum]

^^^
Interesting insight. After all, Star Trek was trying to be a drama in the future. A "naturalistic" style was something the creators were going for I believe, in cnotrast to the stiff "sci-fi" sort of characters that came before, or were just kids fair like Lost in Space.

The "pretty little blonde lab tech" question is a rather old one. Was it Carol Marcus or Ruth (from Shore Leave)?

Some questions are better left unanswered?

 

[shatastrophic]

^I didn't even think about Ruth! Sweet LOL!

 

[Shatmandu]

Plum said:
The "pretty little blonde lab tech" question is a rather old one. Was it Carol Marcus or Ruth (from Shore Leave)?

Couldn't have been Ruth. She wasn't pretty or little.

She looked like an Academy cafeteria lady who gave young Jimmy Kirk his first rim job, maybe. That's where the fond memories came from: Kirk daydreaming about his first odd sexual encounter.

Joe, in the glade

 

[shatastrophic]

I really liked it when he told Kirk he was looking at "some of that long haired stuff of yours" when mentioning what library tapes he was looking at in sickbay.

 

[Plum]

^^^
The "long hair stuff" was a sly reference to much of the literature of the day. I bet someone could come along and mention a few authors that might be relevant (UWC Defiance please help!). Robbins? Vonnogut? O'Leary?

Shatmandu said:

Plum said:
The "pretty little blonde lab tech" question is a rather old one. Was it Carol Marcus or Ruth (from Shore Leave)?

Couldn't have been Ruth. She wasn't pretty or little.

She looked like an Academy cafeteria lady who gave young Jimmy Kirk his first rim job, maybe. That's where the fond memories came from: Kirk daydreaming about his first odd sexual encounter.

Joe, in the glade

When you rent old Trek programs do you go behind a curtain at the video shop? Beads?

 

[Sir Rhosis]

The expression "long hair stuff" predates this episode by decades. More like something one would say in the 1920s and 1930s, referring to "dissolute" poets, musicians, philosophers, and the like. Back when "long hair" for a man was anything below the mid-earlobe. I've also heard it in reference to classical composers (Beethoven, etc.). It of course continued in use through the 1960s--the reference was just to different authors. But it probably seemed appropos (though dated) to the military man Mitchell when referring to the poet Phineas Tarbolde.

Sir Rhosis

 

[Plum]

ah.. the "beat" poets and such? I think you're right on there.

 

[Sir Rhosis]

Ezra Pound, Ford Madox Ford, probably cummings before the "Beat" guys. But you certainly couldn't get more dissolute than Jack Kerouac.

Sir Rhosis

 

[Sec31Mike]

Gary was a character that could have grown into more if he wasn't slated to die.

The idea of the "lab tech" being Carol Marcus is indeed the most plausible explanation, considering they did have a child together and David was the right age in TWOK for it to have happened in that time frame.

Perhaps GR thought of that when TWOK was being conceived.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Dosn't Gary specifically mention the philosopher Spinoza?

 

[Sir Rhosis]

http://www.oswaldmosley.com/images/people/ezrapound3.gif

Just look at that scandalous hair from 1913. Oh, for humanity!

Actually, I picture Tarbolde looking like this, except he would be wearing a silver lame ("lah-may"; don't know how to put the accent mark over the "e") "futuristic" jumpsuit.



Sir Rhosis

 

[Plum]

^^^
scandalous!

Nerys Myk said:
Dosn't Gary specifically mention the philosopher Spinoza?

Oh yea! Nice catch, Kirk does say "Spinoza?" to Gary, commenting on what he's reading in sickbay.

 

[Sir Rhosis]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinoza

Dude had some long hair as well.

Sir Rhosis

 

[Kryton]

Sec31Mike said:
Perhaps GR thought of that when TWOK was being conceived.

While the Carol Marcus thing has been long debated (I generally tend to like the idea), there was almost zero possibility Roddenberry had ANYTHING to do with slipping any such reference into TWOK, as he'd been relegated to mere "Executive Consultant" status well before a Khan script had been considered, let alone produced.

I don't even know that blond hair was specified for the character when the part was being cast (though a wig/dye job could always fix that problem if it WAS an intentional reference).

 

[Gary Mitchell]

Re: Me

I always like to see this subject come up. The blonde lab technician was in fact Carol Marcus. If Elizabeth Dehner was a walking freezer unit, Carol Marcus was a warp core breach waiting to happen, if you know what I mean.

 

[Ronald Held]

Re: Me

So do I.

 

[Keith1701]

Sec31Mike said:
Gary was a character that could have grown into more if he wasn't slated to die.

The idea of the "lab tech" being Carol Marcus is indeed the most plausible explanation, considering they did have a child together and David was the right age in TWOK for it to have happened in that time frame.

Perhaps GR thought of that when TWOK was being conceived.

This episode is one of TOS best and still enjoyed by millions,

 

[Basill]

I never fully understood what Mitchell meant by "I outlined her whole campaign for you." Was he just feeling full of himself or had he actually plotted something with or without the young girl's cooperation? Its an interesting line of dialogue I like to toy with sometimes.

Until revealed otherwise, I will simply assume the blonde lab tech was Carol. The evidence for her is pretty strong and Ruth just doesn't quite fit the mold. Although I don't think Ruth was old or unpleasant or anything (besides her name that is) I've always thought she looked a tiny bit mature for someone Kirk was remembering from a fair number of years prior. And since the Shore Leave planet created things as one remembered them to be, Ruth was most likely an older lady that young Jimmy Boy learned (and swung) the ropes from. Also, he clearly had a reverence for her, and was able to look at her in that fond picnic memory way. He and Carol may have cared deeply for one another, but they clearly had issues that just didn't manifest on that Shore Leave. There is however a strong resemblance between the two ladies when Bibi Besch was younger. Wouldn't it be funny if Carol's middle name was Ruth?


http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Ruth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibi_Besch

 

[A beaker full of death]

Basill said:
I never fully understood what Mitchell meant by "I outlined her whole campaign for you." Was he just feeling full of himself or had he actually plotted something with or without the young girl's cooperation? Its an interesting line of dialogue I like to toy with sometimes.

It's pretty clear: he advised her on how best to win young Jim over.

Until revealed otherwise, I will simply assume the blonde lab tech was Carol.

GOD this aggravates me. Why do Trekies (and fan-boys of every stripe) feel the need to tie everything together like that? There are billions of women on earth. Terra-quadrillions in the known universe. That's the beauty of the universe. Why would it be the same girl?

(And that's aside from the fact that neither the writers of WNMHGB or TWOK intended for Carol to be that lab technician).