I Don’t Watch This Episode Until…

[Spock's Barber]

There are some TOS episodes I don’t enjoy watching, but I would watch them if there were a few changes.

Example : I don’t really like Plato’s Stepchildren, but if the scenes with Kirk horsing around and Spock dancing were left on the cutting room floor, I could tolerate this episode.

Do you have any similar thoughts on any TOS episode that could be bearable with 1-2 edits/changes?

 

[Warp Core Breach]

No. They're fine as they are, warts and all.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Even with this wart?

 

[Phaser Two]

There are some TOS episodes I don’t enjoy watching, but I would watch them if there were a few changes.

Example : I don’t really like Plato’s Stepchildren, but if the scenes with Kirk horsing around and Spock dancing were left on the cutting room floor, I could tolerate this episode.

Do you have any similar thoughts on any TOS episode that could be bearable with 1-2 edits/changes?

Well . . . my least favorite episode is "The Alternative Factor"—although I am due for a rewatch of some shows in that "neighborhood" of S1, having just recently watched "Tomorrow Is Yesterday," for the first time in a long while, which I found to be outstanding. So maybe I will rewatch "Alternative" sometime soon and decide that there's something about it that could be changed for the better. Right now, not having seen it in a long time, it just seems like an overall mess.

"Plato's Stepchildren" could be improved if the torture scenes were cut back. They're not even really that bad as is—they're meant to make the viewer cringe, and they do. In other words, they work as they were intended to work, I think. But maybe they could have skipped some of that material and developed the kironide solution a bit more.

"And the Children Shall Lead" could, for me at least, be made into an actually good (yes, I said it) episode if the hypothetical All-Powerful Retrospective Editors fixed three things: (1) solved the extremely regrettable honks & gestures by replacing them with something less ridiculous; (2) had Shatner make different acting choices during Kirk's two freakouts; and (3) made Scotty immune to the alien influence, like Spock and Kirk more or less were, just in a different way. (For example, if they had handled Scotty the way they did in "The Naked Time," where the virus didn't really seem to affect him as he worked in the background on a solution to the overall problem, while we saw Kirk & Spock fight it off, I think that would have worked well.)

 

[johnnybear]

It took me years to finally see Plato, Empath and God's. All banned by the ever mind controlling BBC. But when I saw them, I totally understood the reasoning for the excise. Empath is the best of the three but even that is not really wholesome. I mean torturing people is not my idea of fun and although I'm a horror fan I'm certainly not into things like Saw and Hostel which are absolutely vile.
JB

 

[XCV330]

It took me years to finally see Plato, Empath and God's. All banned by the ever mind controlling BBC. But when I saw them, I totally understood the reasoning for the excise. Empath is the best of the three but even that is not really wholesome. I mean torturing people is not my idea of fun and although I'm a horror fan I'm certainly not into things like Saw and Hostel which are absolutely vile.
JB

Yeah I remember seeing The Empath as a kid in the late 70's on reruns. It disturbed me, and I honestly haven't made much effort to rewatch it. It's probably an ok episode but it just isn't the kind of thing I want to watch.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

You could easily omit the Spock-thought flashback from CLOUD MINDERS, but you'd need to replace it with an Uhura musical number. What better way to add 2-3 minutes.

''I see spaceshine.....on a cloudy world....''

 

[SatrianiRules]

"Spock's Brain" should have been called 'Spock's Mind' and it would have been far more credible and less ridiculous if they had taken his consciousness and left a shell (like Uhura in "The Changeling")

but physical removal of the brain???? the pinnacle of stupidity

 

[Spock's Barber]

"Spock's Brain" should have been called 'Spock's Mind' and it would have been far more credible and less ridiculous if they had taken his consciousness and left a shell (like Uhura in "The Changeling")

but physical removal of the brain???? the pinnacle of stupidity

That’s a great premise and it would also have eliminated the need for this episode ending scene, too…

**Thanks to TrekCore for providing access to this screencap**

 

[Ssosmcin]

Even with this wart?

This scene was fire.

Now the songs in Charlie X were ruinous. I loved the episode growing up when WPIX in New York would slice that entire rec room scene out, but once i saw it uncut, my appreciation dropped like a stone.

 

[Warp Core Breach]

Even with this wart?

Especially that one.

 

[Spock's Barber]

This scene was fire.

Now the songs in Charlie X were ruinous. I loved the episode growing up when WPIX in New York would slice that entire rec room scene out, but once i saw it uncut, my appreciation dropped like a stone.

Yes, when I watched the episode as a kid I thought it was okay. There wasn’t very much action in it, but the concept was fine. I guess since it was the recreational room then some singing was allowed. Maybe they were just highlighting Nichelle’s vocal ability. I thought it kind of briefly diverted the episode from Charlie, though.

 

[johnnybear]

"Spock's Brain" should have been called 'Spock's Mind' and it would have been far more credible and less ridiculous if they had taken his consciousness and left a shell (like Uhura in "The Changeling")

but physical removal of the brain???? the pinnacle of stupidity

Yes, I agree plus the last few scenes with McCoy trying to rewire the ganglia of the brain back into Spock's head and without a scratch too would have been much better. How to drain the energy of his mind from the Controller receptacle and replace it into his body, but I think that that scenario had already been done in Return To Tomorrow with Henoch and Spock in season two. To do it here would have too much like a repeat of the same events perhaps?
JB

 

[Ssosmcin]

Yes, when I watched the episode as a kid I thought it was okay. There wasn’t very much action in it, but the concept was fine. I guess since it was the recreational room then some singing was allowed. Maybe they were just highlighting Nichelle’s vocal ability. I thought it kind of briefly diverted the episode from Charlie, though.

It has no bearing on the episode and even when Charlie takes away Uhura's voice and Spock's lyre sound, nobody comments on it in the rec room or brings it up again. It feels like a tacked on scene.

It was a great concept - and was great on The Twilight Zone and in Where No Man Has Gone Before, but the real horror once Charlie starts wishing people away and wiping away faces is pretty awesome. Charlie X is also fun for the early series weirdness. This episode has a number of sloppy edits, probably because of the rush to get the episode in the can for airing. And it has the distinction of being the only episode shots after the pilots to have no exterior clips of the Enterprise filmed for the series itself (other than the orbit shot in the main series titles). All of the model shots come from the pilots. A perfectly good trivia question ruined by the TOS-R effects.

 

[Phaser Two]

although I'm a horror fan I'm certainly not into things like Saw and Hostel which are absolutely vile.

I strongly agree, JB. At a certain point you have to wonder why you're watching something. Vile is a terrific word for those sorts of films. Personally, I just don't get the appeal, but no offense to anyone who does.

None of the three episodes you mentioned bothers me to that extent, though. The torture is obviously uncomfortable to watch, but it's in service of some interesting concepts and helps develop the K/S/M troika, or just Kirk and Spock in "Whom Gods Destroy." (And actually, I never really understood why the BBC banned that one—was it the rather stark portrayal of mental illness?)

@Ssosmcin — that's good stuff about "Charlie X"; thanks. I really struggle with early S1, and as an airdate watcher, it's jarring to see so many plot elements repeated back-to-back between "Charlie" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before." Honestly, add in the uneven nature of "The Man Trap" and "Mudd's Women," and it's sort of surprising that the show drew such a cult following so fast. But "The Naked Time" and "The Enemy Within" were just that good, and Shatner and Nimoy were both so compelling from jump despite, as you said, the early weirdness.

In other news, it's always interesting to me how divisive "Spock's Brain" is! I think it's extremely funny and entertaining. Like "A Piece of the Action" and "I, Mudd," I don’t think it's meant to be taken too seriously.

 

[Metryq]

Nothing could save "The Alternative Factor." You'd have to cut it down to the titles. The "story," such as it is, is based on Lost in Space quality science—where the evil twin has to meet his good counterpart to cause a matter-antimatter annihilation, yet each is perfectly fine walking about in an alternate universe. And there's not a single line of dialog in the entire episode that makes any sense. Couple that with all the "mystery" and melodrama, and you have a total bust of an episode.

Doctor Who had a better antimatter episode in "Planet of Evil," which is not saying much. But at least it had Elisabeth Sladen.

"Spock's Brain" was not a bad episode, by comparison. It was just silly, and didn't seem to have any point. (While "A Piece of the Action" could at least lay claim to some allegorical value amidst the comedy.) Still, "Spock's Brain" made a great Wonder Years episode.

 

[Warp Core Breach]

I kinda like "The Alternative Factor". Sure, it's dopey as all hell and makes no sense at all, but I like counting how many times that guy falls off that damned cliff. If there's one episode I will take a hard pass on it's going to be "And The Children Shall Lead".

 

[Metryq]

but I like counting how many times that guy falls off that damned cliff

Ah, the ole "drinking game" episode!