It's 49 years ago today...
- Thread starter Mudd
- Start date
What choice did they really have? Beam it back to the planet and allow it to die of starvation or whatever had already killed the majority of life on the planet? Allow it to kill Kirk because it was the last of its kind?
I think the moral of the story is pretty clear: life is harsh.
They wrote themselves into a corner really..it was an intelligent creature, not a monster..it's only function couldn't have been to suck salt. They made it really desperate when all it had to do was ask for salt. There had to be a way to capture it and give it due process...
The moral really winds up being: Humans wind up killing everything..Buffalo, whales, etc, despite themselves. If every TOS episode was written this way (much less the sequel series) Star Trek would have a very different message.
Sometimes life is simply harsh. It may not have known how to ask. For me, this is what makes the episode sad and memorable.
That episode is called "Devil In the Dark".
I hadn't thought of that! Within a few minutes, I found pics of the Zenith Space Command device I mentioned earlier.
Now, isn't that something from the future!
It was about as big as a club sandwich, as I recall. The keys gave off an audible *thunk* when you depressed them and they snapped back. Note the speaker grille up front: it operated on sonic signals.
Well the salt vampire was killing the crew members and tried to kill kirk. The creature could have easily went to a food replicator and gotten a large quantity of salt. Crater could have been more of a man and found a better way to get salt instead of letting the vampire kill. I don't know maybe Crater was getting busy with the vampire and all that alien sex messed with his brain.
One point about "The Man Trap" is that Crater isn't out of salt, yet, so the Salt Vampire isn't necessarily starving. But, like the Scorpion in The Scorpion and the Frog, its "nature" may be to kill to get sustenance.
The thing is, it's smart enough to spare Crater because it knows he is the only means it has for staying alive (kill him and maybe visitors like Kirk won't bring tasty salt), yet it immediately starts killing the crew when it doesn't seem to need to, thus putting itself in jeopardy. Perhaps the salt tablets have been rationed to the point where it IS starving, and once some since human Saltines arrive it can no longer control itself (hence chasing the salt shaker).
I get why the creature ultimately kills Crater, though: He admits he can identify it, and, fearing for its life, it has to snuff him to protect itself.
The thing is, it's smart enough to spare Crater because it knows he is the only means it has for staying alive (kill him and maybe visitors like Kirk won't bring tasty salt), yet it immediately starts killing the crew when it doesn't seem to need to, thus putting itself in jeopardy. Perhaps the salt tablets have been rationed to the point where it IS starving, and once some since human Saltines arrive it can no longer control itself (hence chasing the salt shaker).
I get why the creature ultimately kills Crater, though: He admits he can identify it, and, fearing for its life, it has to snuff him to protect itself.
Last edited:
Well the salt vampire was killing the crew members and tried to kill kirk. The creature could have easily went to a food replicator and gotten a large quantity of salt. Crater could have been more of a man and found a better way to get salt instead of letting the vampire kill. I don't know maybe Crater was getting busy with the vampire and all that alien sex messed with his brain.
Saltpeter?
In folklore and popular culture
Potassium nitrate (saltpeter) was once thought to induce impotence, and is still falsely rumored to be in institutional food (such as military fare) as an anaphrodisiac; however, there is no scientific evidence for such properties.
Link --> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_nitrate
Navigator NCC-2120, USS Entente
/\
Two TVs? Wow your family must have been well off. I wasn't around in the 60s but most family still had one set at the time. My family didn't even have 2 sets until the late 90s.
By 1971, we had 2. One was a small portable B&W though. We weren't well-off by any means, but were solidly working class/lower middle class.
We had an old black and white set my parents were given as a wedding present which had been relegated to the kitchen and a big (and I mean 24"!) colour set in the living room from Radio Rentals. Not quite as long ago as some of the posters on this board, but still a little unusual when I was young. I don't remember multiple sets really being really common until the mid 80's. Weirdly it seems to be going the other way now.
My dad recalls watching Trek when it was first broadcast in 1969 on BBC 1 in the Doctor Who slot (5.15 on a Saturday). He was at University at the time in Norwich and he'd watch it in the common room after Grandstand (the sports). He was never a fan, but he certainly remembers it and enjoyed watching the show. I'm pretty sure The Man Trap was held back for several weeks, so I don't know what episodes they'd have seen - the original UK run was in a very odd order.
My dad recalls watching Trek when it was first broadcast in 1969 on BBC 1 in the Doctor Who slot (5.15 on a Saturday). He was at University at the time in Norwich and he'd watch it in the common room after Grandstand (the sports). He was never a fan, but he certainly remembers it and enjoyed watching the show. I'm pretty sure The Man Trap was held back for several weeks, so I don't know what episodes they'd have seen - the original UK run was in a very odd order.
We didnt have cable till about 1980. We had a 19" and a 13" black and white TV, of which the smaller one wound up in my room...and is how I started sneaking watching TOS at midnight on WPIX. We finally upgraded to a 19" color TV and 13" color TV in 1981, which I again got in my room. That was fantastic for the colorful TOS watching.
To clarify, neither of those sets were color. My father didn't purchase a color set until September 1969. (I distinctly remember the first broadcast I saw in color was "Shazzan", a Hanna-Barbera action fantasy cartoon featuring a titan sized genie. But I swear I remember a set resting upon a tubular aluminum "trolley" in our basement den. But I also remember watching the first wave of imported anime (like Astro Boy, Kimba, the White Lion, Speed Racer, Marine Boy, and Prince Planet) in the living room on the main floor. It is possible it was the same set moved from one room to another. But I'm trying to recall events nearly 50 years ago before I entered first grade. I'm bound to be confusing some memories.
We weren't "rich", just solidly "middle class".
Sincerely,
Bill
We weren't "rich", just solidly "middle class".
Sincerely,
Bill
Cable wasn't available where we lived until about 1984, so I had to rely on rabbit ears and my 12" B&W zenith. I don't remember the channel, but TOS was played everyday at 4, and I got home at about 3:30 and went straight to my room!
To this day, while I enjoy all the series, TOS will always be the gold standard.
I watched one of my favorite episodes, Mirror, Mirror, on Netflix last night. It was definitely bittersweet since it was the first TOS I've watched since Leonard Nimoy died.
To this day, while I enjoy all the series, TOS will always be the gold standard.
I watched one of my favorite episodes, Mirror, Mirror, on Netflix last night. It was definitely bittersweet since it was the first TOS I've watched since Leonard Nimoy died.
I wasn't born when this show premiered. I was born in '96. But I've been a Trekkie my entire life, as my parents both watched the show. I just recently acquired TOS on bluray, and I've been going through it. Wasn't exactly captivated by this episode, but I still appreciate it for what it did for science fiction and television in general.
Two TVs? Wow your family must have been well off. I wasn't around in the 60s but most family still had one set at the time. My family didn't even have 2 sets until the late 90s.
[Back to the Future]Oh honey, he's teasing you, nobody has two television sets![/Back to the Future]
This seems appropriate here. I found it by accident! Fun reading, I think.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beyond-heroes-and-villains/201209/star-trek-the-mental-frontier
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beyond-heroes-and-villains/201209/star-trek-the-mental-frontier
This thread puts me in mind of asking this question. Were any of you stalwart, discriminating individuals present at the Worldcon screening of WNMHGB barley a week before this epochal event? I've read accounts saying that the excitement and enthusiasm of that crowd in Cleveland was rather sensational. So, can any troopers of a certain vintage testify, Yea Brother?
Last edited:
Similar threads
