Journey to Babel: little question

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I just watched Journey to Babel for the umpteenth time. Scary fact: I have been watching this episode for 32 years. I love most Trek and have seen all Trek but I really do think Journey to Babel is the PINNACLE of Trek.

So, little question. WHERE are the Vulcans? Why does Dr. McCoy have to perform the operation on Sarek? All those ambassadors on board.. they must be reasonably near populous trade routes.. and yet not within distance of a Vulcan ship with competent medical officers? At one point Dr. McCoy comments on what Sarek's blood pressure is during the op and says something like "I wish I knew whether that was normal or not.." Surely he is kidding and this is a bit of stress relieving self-deprecation.

I was also impressed once again by the tendrils of SMOKE arising from the medical covering over Sarek during the op, LOL.

 

[Forbin]

Hot surgery!

I wonder what brand it was.

 

[Outpost4]

When McCoy operates, he's smokin'.

As to your specific question, the Vulcans were lost in a plot hole, which we all know is a couple of orders of magnitude stronger than even a black hole.

 

[Christopher]

So, little question. WHERE are the Vulcans? Why does Dr. McCoy have to perform the operation on Sarek? All those ambassadors on board.. they must be reasonably near populous trade routes.. and yet not within distance of a Vulcan ship with competent medical officers?

Space is big. Really, really big. Realistically, the only time one ship would be anywhere near any others without specifically arranging for it is when they're in or near populated systems. This was a rule that was generally honored in TOS, and in fact was actually written in the series bible: "Don't treat deep space as a local neighborhood." I.e. don't downplay the hugeness of distances between worlds, even in civilized territory. This is a rule TOS occasionally violated (especially when the edge of the galaxy was portrayed as being within range), but generally honored more than the modern shows do.

I was also impressed once again by the tendrils of SMOKE arising from the medical covering over Sarek during the op, LOL.

The procedure was a cryogenic one, although it was mispronounced onscreen as "seerogenic." So it was probably meant to be condensation fog from the extreme cold, not smoke.

 

[Outpost4]

^ Christopher, I have to hand it to you. That is the most creative explanation I've ever read for the existence of Kelley's cigarette burning behind the prop.

 

[TIN_MAN]

Maybe it was a cygarogenic procedure?

 

[cooleddie74]

I always thought the surgery was cryogenic and the wisps of smoke or vapor were meant to represent the colder temperatures underneath the surgery cover/barrier that stretched over top of Sarek.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Maybe it was a cygarogenic procedure?

Yes. Carcinogenic, even.

 

[Christopher]

^ Christopher, I have to hand it to you. That is the most creative explanation I've ever read for the existence of Kelley's cigarette burning behind the prop.

What? No, I wasn't aware there was anything that needed a creative explanation. I just always assumed that was what it was meant to be.

 

[Outpost4]

I guess I'm humored easily. One of the things I've always found funny is how we use elaborate 23rd century rationalizations to explain very real 20th century facts, from the AMT shuttlecraft not being completed yet to, in a recent thread, the existence of the concrete floor on the soundstage. Kelley being a chain smoker and wanting a cigarette in the middle of shooting has now become cryogenic fog.

But as I'm a Trekkie and I am as willing as anyone to play this game, if it was a cryogenic fog, shouldn't it be falling rather than rising?

 

[Kelso]

Kelley being a chain smoker and wanting a cigarette in the middle of shooting

What leads you to believe that this was the case?

 

[Timo]

Sudden puffs of smoke would probably only be expected when one films a scifi show. The ingredients are there like nowhere else: exceptionally many electric lights built into the sets and props themselves, usually into structures hastily made in complex shapes out of flammable materials...

Don't we get some smoke out of Spock's cabin decorations at one point, too? Again, one could readily claim that this is a feature rather than a bug, and that Vulcan meditation lamps spread puffs of incense at regular intervals.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Evil_Kirkneivel]

Maybe it was a cygarogenic procedure?

Oh, man, you're killing me here! I know that was funny, but for some reason I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.

 

[Christopher]

I guess I'm humored easily. One of the things I've always found funny is how we use elaborate 23rd century rationalizations to explain very real 20th century facts, from the AMT shuttlecraft not being completed yet to, in a recent thread, the existence of the concrete floor on the soundstage. Kelley being a chain smoker and wanting a cigarette in the middle of shooting has now become cryogenic fog.

No, you're not listening to me. I wasn't making a rationalization. A rationalization is when you recognize a problem and make a conscious effort to justify it. I just always assumed that the smoke was intended by the filmmakers themselves to represent vapors from the procedure which was explicitly stated to be cryogenic (once you parsed Nimoy's mispronunciation). I'm frankly surprised to learn that anyone thinks otherwise, because it's something I've always simply taken for granted.

 

[alchemist]

Kelley being a chain smoker and wanting a cigarette in the middle of shooting

What leads you to believe that this was the case?

Good question. Although the smoke could be from a cigarette, the lights for the surgerical frame around Spock (that illuminate McCoy's face) were turned off prior to filming, presumably to keep them from overheating the set pieces, props, and De Kelley. Thus, it is quite conceivable that the lights got hot enough to smoke (either themselves or their surroundings) once turned on.

BTW, I know they were turned off prior to the start of filming because I have clips, pre-slate spanking, that show De Kelley's face in the dark.

 

[Outpost4]

Kelley being a chain smoker and wanting a cigarette in the middle of shooting

What leads you to believe that this was the case?

I read it on this board as a reason for this smoke. Maybe it was just speculation I took as fact, but looking at the smoke in the past, this seemed like a logical explanation to me. That Kelley was a chain smoker I have also read somewhere, in a book or here. I can't remember. I have seen pictures of him smoking. As we all unfortunately know, smoking was quite common in the late 1960s.

I like the burning lights explanation, too, alchemist. Certainly stage lights can smoke.

And Christopher, you're right. I didn't understand your feeling that the smoke was intentional. It would be nice if we knew one way or another but I guess that would be asking too much.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Actually, I was always bugged by Kirk’s behavior in the beginning of the episode. Follow along:

Kirk, Spock and McCoy await the Vulcan ambassador. Three old friends, one of whom is Spock’s CO. Okay, so what happens when Sarek and his human wife arrive? Kirk asks Spock if he wants to beam down to visit his parents. Great shock ensues when Spock is forced to impart personal information in public to the two men who should already know this.

To be fair, Bones might have been well aware of this, but respected Spock’s privacy, observed professional courtesy and military discipline and (for once) shut his pie hole.

Kirk, however, comes off as a complete schmuck. Why is it totally unreasonable for Kirk to not know who Sarek and Amanda are on sight at this point? Glad you asked:

1. Kirk should know the history of his own first officer, and would have learned this information at least as far back as when he first reviewed Spock’s file before taking command of the Enterprise. We already know that Kirk is aware Spock’s mother is human and that his father is a Vulcan ambassador because Kirk taunted him with it in This Side of Paradise. Unless I am way off base, it is not standard Vulcan procedure for an ambassador to marry a human woman and have a hybrid child. It’s safe to say Sarek is the only one who did this at this point.

2. Since Chekov told Kirk that Ambassador Sarek was due to arrive (and Kirk didn’t ask “Sar-wha?”) Kirk knew the man’s name. It’s also pretty safe to assume Starfleet told Kirk who was coming and sent along background info. Notice that Spock is not at all surprised, except, possibly, at Kirk’s total lack of couth.

3. And finally, Kirk knows Vulcan’s value their privacy, and especially knows Spock hates being publically embarrassed (not that this ever stopped Kirk from making a fool out of Spock at the end of an episode for a chuckle). Yet, he still breaks protocol and – in front of a dozen guards and the newly arrived ambassador – loudly asks Spock if he wants to go down and visit mommy and daddy. Forget that it’s Spock, how is asking this proper behavior toward ANYONE in this situation?

I get past this pretty quickly when watching it, but it hits me every time that Kirk is wildly out of character by asking this. Granted, for the sake of a strong teaser, they needed this revelation in front of Kirk, McCoy and Spock’s folks. But jeez, it was really clumsy.

 

[Brian]

It's absurd to think it was a cigarette. Are we to believe that De Kelley was so unprofessional an actor (something refuted by everyone who ever worked with him) that he would insist on keeping his cigarette lit while shooting and hiding it behind a set piece? Please.

The smoke/vapor was clearly there with intent, whether it was meant to be smoke or cryo vapor may be debatable, but it was not an accident. Or do we also think they would continue filming when one of the principal actors is about to burn up in a flaming set?

 

[alchemist]

It's absurd to think it was a cigarette. Are we to believe that De Kelley was so unprofessional an actor (something refuted by everyone who ever worked with him) that he would insist on keeping his cigarette lit while shooting and hiding it behind a set piece? Please.

The smoke/vapor was clearly there with intent, whether it was meant to be smoke or cryo vapor may be debatable, but it was not an accident. Or do we also think they would continue filming when one of the principal actors is about to burn up in a flaming set?

Brian,

You raise some good points and you may be right - we can only speculate. And although I do agree with you about De Kelley and his cigarette, I do have to allow for the fact that he may have kept one close by. Leonard Nimoy, also a smoker then, sometimes smoked up to the point when the AD clapped the slate (I have a clip that shows him putting his cigarrette out before the director yelled "action" on The Enterprise Incident.)

And similarly, although the "cryo smoke" may have been intentional, I think it was caused by hot lights. These things did happen on the set (e.g., Amok Time and the smoking lamp) given the tight production schedules, budgets, etc. And try as they did to be safe, the production crew did occasionally have some accidents. For example, I was fortunate enough to locate some production footage from A Taste of Armegedddon that shows the stage crew running to the set to put out a fire caused by Spock "shooting" the disintegration chamber. That was indeed an accident.

Regards,

Dave

 

[JustKate]

Among my little duties around here is shooting some photos (stills) in the studio, and I share said studio with the guy who shoots video. Well, I set a sheet on fire once in the studio -- I was borrowing one of the lights he uses for video for one of my shots, and I had draped a sheet over the light to soften it a bit, not realizing that those studio lights get up to, like, 1000 degrees F or something like that (I'm really not sure, but it is WAY hot). That sheet was on fire within a couple of minutes. So all I'm saying is, it could happen very, very, very easily. My sheet wasn't even touching the bulb and it burst into flame, so it wouldn't take long at all for something (a little piece of cloth or cardboard) to start smoking. Something besides Kelley or Nimoy, I mean. They wouldn't continue filming on purpose once a prop started smoking, but weirder accidents have ended up on TV.

But it's of course perfectly possible that the smoke is there on purpose. I mean, why not?