Just Saw Journey to Babel

[RookieBatman]

Basill said:
My favorite scene is with Amanda and Spock in his quarters, while she pleads for him to go through with the live saving procedure. All the drama that leads up to her splapping him across his face is pure treasure.

That's probably the scene that single-handedly made me feel that I could recommend this ep to non-Trekkies. I can't see how any intelligent person could think of that as "just cheesy sci-fi" or whatever people say against Trek. That was real, strong, believable character development to the highest degree.

 

[A beaker full of death]

Note, by the way, how the actors' method brought believablity and consistency to the portrayal of Vulcans over the decades. Nimoy conceived of the Vulcans as being tactile - sensitive to touch. They are touch telepaths. They avoid physical contact with those with whom they are not intimate. Nimoy communicated that to Lenard, and the finger touching they devised for Sarek and Amanda plays right into that. It's alien and yet perfectly understandable - not an undignified pda like holding hands, yet not cold. You can really sense that the touch between Sarek and Amanda is really always there.

 

[Vulcanian]

Its my favorite TOS episode of all time.

I also loved the prequel spin-off in Enterprise's Fourth Season, "Babel One."

 

[Basill]

A beaker full of death said:
Note, by the way, how the actors' method brought believablity and consistency to the portrayal of Vulcans over the decades. Nimoy conceived of the Vulcans as being tactile - sensitive to touch. They are touch telepaths. They avoid physical contact with those with whom they are not intimate. Nimoy communicated that to Lenard, and the finger touching they devised for Sarek and Amanda plays right into that. It's alien and yet perfectly understandable - not an undignified pda like holding hands, yet not cold. You can really sense that the touch between Sarek and Amanda is really always there.

Exactly. Well said. And speaking of Vulcan touching... that same notion is what makes the Spock/Amanda scene more poignant in my opinion. Right after Amanda storms out of Spock's quarters, he walks to the closed door and longingly touches it, once he is alone. He is having to hold back any and all of his affectionate urges for the sake of his Vulcan sensibilities; ironically in a logical bit of reasoning that would probably please his somewhat estranged father. But that touch to the door is one of the most telling Spock ever displayed. And he didn't need sweaty-touch-viruses or alien-emoti-spores to reveal it. True inner conflict divulged.

I've heard rumors, though I don't know how true- although somewhat believable from the scene, that she really smacked the living stuff out of him with that slap. If that was one of those "fako-angle-for-the-camera slaps... damn good job.

 

[Sulu_Love_child]

This is one of the best episodes.
It has all the key elements for a great show.
It also introduces new alien races etc...

 

[AJBryant]

Basill said:
Exactly. Well said. And speaking of Vulcan touching... that same notion is what makes the Spock/Amanda scene more poignant in my opinion. Right after Amanda storms out of Spock's quarters, he walks to the closed door and longingly touches it, once he is alone. He is having to hold back any and all of his affectionate urges for the sake of his Vulcan sensibilities; ironically in a logical bit of reasoning that would probably please his somewhat estranged father. But that touch to the door is one of the most telling Spock ever displayed. And he didn't need sweaty-touch-viruses or alien-emoti-spores to reveal it. True inner conflict divulged.

Brilliant observation.

And a darned good point, too.

Tony

 

[Keith1701]

Great Episode...

 

[sbk1234]

MikeH92467 said:
Interesting point about the ship based shows. The ship based (bottle) shows were easier to produce and less expensive, but the network geniuses were constantly demanding more planet based episodes. Naturally those cost more money, either for sets or location shooting. At the same time the budget kept getting cut.

TV is such a wonderful business...

I guess that's the thing about bottle shows. They were trying to save budget, so they had to rely on GOOD WRITING. Too bad tptb never seemed to realize this simple, inexpensive truth to tv production.

Anywho, Yes, Journey to Babel is one of Trek's best. Not just TOS, but Trek in all of its incarnations. Would have made a great two-parter.

 

[TheLonelySquire]

While I agree it's one of Trek's best, I don't know if it would have made a great two-parter. It was great because there was so much going on in the ep (blood transfusions, alien ambassadors, conflict with Spock-Sarek & the Orion ship), that it kept the ep fast moving. I think if it were stretched out something might have been lost. Just a thought.

 

[Therin of Andor]

sbk1234 said:
I guess that's the thing about bottle shows. They were trying to save budget, so they had to rely on GOOD WRITING. Too bad tptb never seemed to realize this simple, inexpensive truth to tv production.

They did realize this. No one sets out to do BAD WRITING.

They also realize that audiences can get very antsy about "bottle shows" in science fiction. Unless the writing is so tight that no one notices they haven't left the ship, audiences do expect to see alien vistas, starship battles and interesting location shooting in a science fiction show.

Would have made a great two-parter.

You just shot your own argument in the foot. The big complaint about almost every Star Trek two-parter is that the good writing is spread way too thinly across the two episodes, and then the ending gets rushed anyway.

 

[Forbin]

Therin of Andor said:
They did realize this. No one sets out to do BAD WRITING.

You mean "One Night in Sickbay" wasn't supposed to be bad?!

 

[pookha]

one of my favorite trek episodes.
we get the sense of the federation with the ambassadors and the family conflict carried forward by spock and sarek.
we see bones sense of humor and humanity.
and the little touches like kirk not happy the ambassadors all are wanting to know at once what is going on.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I've seen badly written bottle shows. Not just on Star Trek - check out Stargate sometime.

 

[Buford]

Yes... Babel is one of my all time favorites. I thought Jane Wyatt was excellent in the part of Spock's mother and then to see her reprise her role in Voyage Home was incredibly cool. I too wish they had incorporated Spock's parents more into the series.

On a side note, one of the more clever things about characters in TOS were the names of characters. "City on the Edge of Forever" character Edith, who Kirk falls in love with, last name was Keeler (Keel is a part of the underside of a boat that prevents the boat from tipping over, as in " even keel"). Edith was that keel in the history of time of which her life would determine what would happen to everyone else. Then of course, we have Mr. Atoz!

 

[Therin of Andor]

^And Lethe, the river of forgetfulness; Helen Noel at the Christmas party; Mudd, whose name is mud; M'Ress the cat woman from Cait in the Lynx constellation (TAS); even Number One, the first officer! Maybe even Mr Norman, the android, passing himself off as a "normal man"?

 

[Plum]

Therin of Andor said:
<SNiP!>
They also realize that audiences can get very antsy about "bottle shows" in science fiction. Unless the writing is so tight that no one notices they haven't left the ship, audiences do expect to see alien vistas, starship battles and interesting location shooting in a science fiction show.
<SNIP!>

... just a thought... Journey to Babel is a bottle show, certainly, so look what the writers did.

They stuffed the ship WITH interesting aliens (most of them, in fact) and Spock's parents! the added diplomatic assassination plot is standard, but we have a great mound of eye candy. Just as you say is expected by the audience.

Rather like any good Agatha Christie mystery has a boat load of suspicious characters, well, if Hercule Poirot was Horatio Hornblower (Kirk).

 

[Hambone]

Therin of Andor said:
Maybe even Mr Norman, the android, passing himself off as a "normal man"?

That's great! I never thought of that one!

 

[indranee]

Basill said:
I've heard rumors, though I don't know how true- although somewhat believable from the scene, that she really smacked the living stuff out of him with that slap. If that was one of those "fako-angle-for-the-camera slaps... damn good job.

wonder how many takes THAT took.

it's a great episode, yeah.

 

[indranee]

Forbin said:

Therin of Andor said:
They did realize this. No one sets out to do BAD WRITING.

You mean "One Night in Sickbay" wasn't supposed to be bad?!

I still don't get why people pick this out consistently. there were plenty other BAD eps on ENT. ANIS is actually funny and quirky. it makes me giggle. now, say, something like Marauders... NOT. And yet...

I figure it it must be the acronym.

 

[Forbin]

I guess its just a perfect example of really terrible writing.