McCoys Unprofessional Behavior in "The Man Trap"
- Thread starter TRON JA307020
- Start date
You are not kidding.
I'm sure it would have helped if there had been scenes of Kirk having to write to the families of the deceased crewmen or of Kirk and McCoy talking about how upset they were about the death of so and so before going to the bridge and joking around. That way it would demonstrate that they were feeling pain under their joking around. I still say the joking around at the end is not per se a sign of insensitivity to the deaths of their colleagues since you don't know how they are feeling underneath it.
When the series originally aired, we were in the middle of the Viet Nam war. Every night on the evening news for dinnertime, there was sometimes graphic footage of the war, lists of body counts, failures, captured ships like the Pueblo. Young men being drafted at 18 and dying before they were 19. Every damn night. People watched primetime television to get away from reality back then, not relive the pain of it. I was 18 when TOS was cancelled.
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Wow, good point. The viewers at the time were already acutely experiencing death.
That's why I can't understand people saying the show should have a memorial service every time a redshirt died. I was a preacher's kid, I attended a lot of funerals, some for people I'd grown up with who didn't make it to 19. I don't attend funerals anymore. So why would I want to watch one on TV? If you didn't live through a particular era, it can be difficult to understand what the world was like. I was born 6 years after WWII ended, my dad had served during it. I've seen plenty of WWII propaganda films made by Hollywood back then, but I have no concept of what the world must have been like 10 years before I was born.
Link please? I see nothing in this thread about "a memorial service every time a redshirt died."
I don't play that game. This is not the only thread where people have wanted memorial services for redshirts, or some kind of mention. My use of "every" is a mild exaggeration.
Using facts instead of making things up? Yeah, I can see where that would be a problem.
Nobody mentioned that in this thread so I'm sure the other threads you are talking about don't exist either.
Yes they do. Investigate the "Future of Trek" forum and you'll see several instances of what Mel is talking about.
I know. I'm having a bad day/week. Shouldn't take it out in these forums.
Sorry to de-rail the thread.
I've been having a bad 3 days, apartment complex cooling system started on April 1. It was nice for 2 weeks, then it stopped working around Wednesday and it's like an oven in here. It's 90f outside, at least 80 inside. So I'm a bit cross lately, as RandyS and Nerys Myk can confirm.
I'm sorry to hear you've been having a bad time Mel. I do understand though. Here in the Sacramento Valley, it's always too hot and never cold enough for me, despite mild tempatures currently.
I'm confused about you saying that I can confirm you've been cross though. As far as I can recall, we've never had a bad word between us. Of course, my cerebral palsy, coupled with my chronic migraines sometimes plays hell with my short term memory. Is there something that I missed?
No, I was obliquely referring to my rants in that special place we don't talk about. That sounds even worse.
That other forum we don't mention up here.
No, I was obliquely referring to my rants in that special place we don't talk about. That sounds even worse.
Oh. Gotcha.
With America being involved in continued wars since 2001-ish I am actually kind of surprised we still have gritty and real as the main venue for science fiction. I would have thought the old TOS and the old Battlestar Galactic style of humor along with the white hats and black hats storytelling would make a comeback to get people over everything in the news being about grey areas. Though admittedly there is a lot less death (for the US soldiers) from the wars verses things like Vietnam and World War II. Though sensationalism is still rather prominent on the news stations (not so much services anymore).
People my mother's age (Baby Boomers born right after World War II) have issues with some of the modern sci-fi because they are no longer the old westerns pattern of white hats and black hats (Have Gun Will Travel being an exception to the rule) style where you knew why the bad guy was and who the heroes were and there wasn't so much realism in the story. The main characters were not just as messed up as the villains and you wouldn't just hope the bad guys won just because the good guys probably deserved it. The gritty grey area where you really don't know who is suppose to be the heroes aside that their names are on the credits and we follow them every week. Might be a reason I stopped watching TV after Enterprise went off the air. I wasn't watched much of anything anyway.
Sometimes I catch up on something online, up even that is rare. These days about the only things I might actually watch live are Japanese anime series, and even that is down to maybe one series a season. Sometimes two, if there is something interesting being made. And it is almost always sci-fi and tends to still have the black hat and white hats mentality mixed with a more, positive take on things. The old "maybe we could be friends if we were not fighting each other in this war" kind of stories. Those are old style tales even in the 60s and 70s. Or a comedy, but again I tend to limit those to maybe one a season, if not year. It takes a specific kind of comedy to make me want to watch something in a foreign language even before it has subtitles I can read. I means that the jokes translate without words (or I've managed to pickup just enough Japanese to get the humor.)
Or Doctor Who, but that has been a recent thing for me, as I had been avoiding it as it had as many episode (more now) as all of Star Trek. The 11th Doctor finally made me watch it after avoiding it for decades (first time I saw it was in the early 80s and whatever one I saw scared me too much back then. Seeds of Doom or something like that with the Fourth Doctor).
And Star Wars, but that is more an engrained things for me as I was born in 1977 with the first movie basically marking me from birth.
People my mother's age (Baby Boomers born right after World War II) have issues with some of the modern sci-fi because they are no longer the old westerns pattern of white hats and black hats (Have Gun Will Travel being an exception to the rule) style where you knew why the bad guy was and who the heroes were and there wasn't so much realism in the story. The main characters were not just as messed up as the villains and you wouldn't just hope the bad guys won just because the good guys probably deserved it. The gritty grey area where you really don't know who is suppose to be the heroes aside that their names are on the credits and we follow them every week. Might be a reason I stopped watching TV after Enterprise went off the air. I wasn't watched much of anything anyway.
Sometimes I catch up on something online, up even that is rare. These days about the only things I might actually watch live are Japanese anime series, and even that is down to maybe one series a season. Sometimes two, if there is something interesting being made. And it is almost always sci-fi and tends to still have the black hat and white hats mentality mixed with a more, positive take on things. The old "maybe we could be friends if we were not fighting each other in this war" kind of stories. Those are old style tales even in the 60s and 70s. Or a comedy, but again I tend to limit those to maybe one a season, if not year. It takes a specific kind of comedy to make me want to watch something in a foreign language even before it has subtitles I can read. I means that the jokes translate without words (or I've managed to pickup just enough Japanese to get the humor.)
Or Doctor Who, but that has been a recent thing for me, as I had been avoiding it as it had as many episode (more now) as all of Star Trek. The 11th Doctor finally made me watch it after avoiding it for decades (first time I saw it was in the early 80s and whatever one I saw scared me too much back then. Seeds of Doom or something like that with the Fourth Doctor).
And Star Wars, but that is more an engrained things for me as I was born in 1977 with the first movie basically marking me from birth.
The reason MCCOY acts odd is that he IS under the hypnotic spell of the creature from the time that he first interacts with it.
The whole 'Hypnosis' angle was downplayed due to Broadcast Standards - and certainly not shown, nor filmed the way the story was intended to be presented in the original story.
This is why the original and working title for the story is: 'The Unreal McCoy'.
It was a double-meaning title; being an allusion to both the Doppelganger aspect, as well as the out-of-character behavior of MCCOY - being under the hypnotic influence of the creature.
In the eyes of the Powers-That-Be, 'The Man Trap', simply looked much more exciting when printed in the TV Guide; however, 'The Unreal McCoy' would not have left so many questions as to why the character of McCoy acts 'unreal' in throughout the story.
The intended dramatizations of the creature using it's power would not meet censor approval, and instead 'Hypnosis' was reduced in focus to a few lines of throw-away interjection and supposition; effectively side-stepping the whole business, but for a wink and a nod.
Understanding this, helps the final confrontation scene make sense visually; wherein as it stands, the creature stops to become visual as it 'strikes a pose' - for some unknown reason.
The idea as originally postulated was that the creature could not maintain in an altered physical form AND maintain the attack power of 'physically freezing the victim with hypnotic control' at the same time - it had to become visible to maintain the 'Freeze' its intended victim - thus we see the creature 'Strike a Pose' as Nancy, and then it reverts to its natural state of being; and ALSO while trying to control MCCOY from shooting it.
However, with none of the working background on the creature shown, or revealed through exposition, the final scene seems odd visually; as well as the entire characterization of MCCOY.
Please re-watch the story, and the final scene with this information in mind - and enjoy 'The Unreal McCoy', as it was intended.
Also - For whatever reason. Television at the time was operating under the fear that viewers at home MIGHT actually get hypnotized through their home sets - or claim to have been, AND they might sue the Network, Producers, Sponsor, et al - if they watched an actor demonstrate hypnotism - be it real OR imagined.
I kid you not.
Understanding this Broadcast Standard, will also help explain why in 'DAGGER OF THE MIND', when SPOCK is engaged in explaining the 'mind-meld', he suddenly tacks on the end of his speech: "It is NOT Hypnotism"
Legal Disclaimer brought to you by Kellogs.
So, the reason why MCCOY seems so out-of-character, is only the effect of Broadcast Standards super-imposed on a the creative efforts of a writer,... again.
The whole 'Hypnosis' angle was downplayed due to Broadcast Standards - and certainly not shown, nor filmed the way the story was intended to be presented in the original story.
This is why the original and working title for the story is: 'The Unreal McCoy'.
It was a double-meaning title; being an allusion to both the Doppelganger aspect, as well as the out-of-character behavior of MCCOY - being under the hypnotic influence of the creature.
In the eyes of the Powers-That-Be, 'The Man Trap', simply looked much more exciting when printed in the TV Guide; however, 'The Unreal McCoy' would not have left so many questions as to why the character of McCoy acts 'unreal' in throughout the story.
The intended dramatizations of the creature using it's power would not meet censor approval, and instead 'Hypnosis' was reduced in focus to a few lines of throw-away interjection and supposition; effectively side-stepping the whole business, but for a wink and a nod.
Understanding this, helps the final confrontation scene make sense visually; wherein as it stands, the creature stops to become visual as it 'strikes a pose' - for some unknown reason.
The idea as originally postulated was that the creature could not maintain in an altered physical form AND maintain the attack power of 'physically freezing the victim with hypnotic control' at the same time - it had to become visible to maintain the 'Freeze' its intended victim - thus we see the creature 'Strike a Pose' as Nancy, and then it reverts to its natural state of being; and ALSO while trying to control MCCOY from shooting it.
However, with none of the working background on the creature shown, or revealed through exposition, the final scene seems odd visually; as well as the entire characterization of MCCOY.
Please re-watch the story, and the final scene with this information in mind - and enjoy 'The Unreal McCoy', as it was intended.
Also - For whatever reason. Television at the time was operating under the fear that viewers at home MIGHT actually get hypnotized through their home sets - or claim to have been, AND they might sue the Network, Producers, Sponsor, et al - if they watched an actor demonstrate hypnotism - be it real OR imagined.
I kid you not.
Understanding this Broadcast Standard, will also help explain why in 'DAGGER OF THE MIND', when SPOCK is engaged in explaining the 'mind-meld', he suddenly tacks on the end of his speech: "It is NOT Hypnotism"
Legal Disclaimer brought to you by Kellogs.
So, the reason why MCCOY seems so out-of-character, is only the effect of Broadcast Standards super-imposed on a the creative efforts of a writer,... again.
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