Most inappropriate fade/stinger?

[Hambone]

I hated the yuk-yuk endings. I vote "Operation: Annihilate!" as one of the worst. Kirk's family all but wiped out and he jokes about Spock's ears.

The perfect ending, for me, was "Balance of Terror". McCoy's tragic announcement that Tomlinson was the only casualty and Kirk's consoling of Angela Martine in the ship's chapel, followed by his "heroic" walk through the corridor, accompanied by suitable music. You can actually see Kirk regain his Captainly composure as he strides along.

 

[Shatmandu]

^^^ This man speaks the truth.

I also liked the end of "Spock Humps the 'Death Wish' Guy's Wife."

Joe, touching

 

[Cakes488]

It was brought up in the "How would you do TOS differently?" thread that a number of episodes end with horror, only to be succeeded by a scene with crazily inappropriate, if humorous dialogue and behavior.

...

So they beam Redjac's innocent and incapacitated host, out into space, where presumably his corpse will drift forever, containing Redjac in a physical form from which he cannot quantum leap, or whatever it is he does.

...

What are your most mind-assaultingly inappropriate endings to otherwise serious episodes?

I think they DID establish that the body was dead and that Redjac was only animating it, but I take your point. While I enjoy the humorous interplay between the main characters, there are times when it was misplaced, and this episode definately was one.

"The Changeling" is another one, although not as big an offender. They don't break out in guffaws at the end, but Kirk does joke about Nomad...after the epsiode established that Nomad extinguished an entire populated star system, if I remember correctly.

You're right; sometimes it would have been better for a more reflective coda, as seen in "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and "The Man Trap."

Ive just watched The Changeling over lunch on my day off. Its surprisng, the humour is, well, not in your face but its acted with a sincerity somwhat to the events. About Kirk, Spock and McCoy being the 'parents' of Nomad somewhat.

But in hindsight, Nomad had killed four security officers, killed Scotty and repaired the unit, the three or four officers in engineering (Dead or stunned you decide) wiped Uhuras "Knowledge" (Not entire memories as some fans seem to still think. She speaks Swahili still in sickbay with Christine, so its predominantly her knowledge) which is also baffling as by the end of the episode shes at college level already and the fact she was not sent to a specialist Starfleet/Federation rehabilitation unit somewhere for professional and supported re-education and instead stayed onboard the Enterprise for the next few years.

It's the same situation as nurses and doctors in the ER etc...do you think they're not joking around under some very tense circumstances? Also you do become somewhat desensitized after working in the ER/hospital day after day -- or travelling to strange new worlds each week. Ever hear of it you don't laugh you'll cry theory...this is how I choose to look at it...it also showed some depth to their person; that they had humor and were able to joke with one another on a more personal level.

 

[Doug Otte]

I'd like to nominate a musical transition. In "Amok Time", at the end of Act IV, we have the "...for I have killed my Captain...and my friend" line, then the rest of the downbeat Spock theme as he beams up.

Cut to the Enterprise in orbit, with a real upbeat fanfare.

Always bothered me. Yes, the epilogue ends light, but at the beginning all we know is that Kirk is dead. So why the "off we go into the wild blue yonder" music?

Always bugged me.

I need to rewatch that segment, but isn't that the brass fanfare dah...dah...dah...dah...dum-diddy-dahhhhh? If so, the harmonies there never seemed upbeat to me, despite the perky rhythms. It always made me feel that we're back to running the ship, but during an unresolved situation.

Doug

 

[paustin]

well in their defense in "Wolf In The Wold" they were high

 

[cooleddie74]

^
True.

If I had an armful of super-potent medicine I'd probably be laughing at a catastrophic meteor collision.

 

[Myasishchev]

well in their defense in "Wolf In The Wold" they were high

That is true.

 

[ScatmanRescueMe]

Good call, I always found that Kirk wanting to go back to the planet and party was SO inapropriate at the end of 'Wolf in.......'

It was just a 'happy ending' era of TV

As mentioned they did this many times after multiple crew deaths.