Not to quibble, but "Miri" was about a "Life Prolongation" plan gone wrong, not bio-warfare.
Omega IV & Independence Day
- Thread starter Maurice
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Not to quibble, but "Miri" was about a "Life Prolongation" plan gone wrong, not bio-warfare.
I always thought TOS should have done a parallel planet episode with Disco music devotees versus Heavy Metal fanatics.
Ah yes. Quite right. I misremembered.
Strangely, my memory is nudging me about a Star Trek Parody on a planet of Heavy Metal fanatics... can't place it though...
(Edit: Ah! "Galaxina"... Terrible film.
I mean really Really Terrible.
The Spock parody had his pointed ears on upside down.)
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Planet of the Apes premiered on February 8, 1968...a month before "The Omega Glory" aired.
Ssuuuree, you darn Kohm!
About the episode: one thing I really loved about the episode was starting with a horrific discovery aboard the Exeter, and remained grim, often brutal almost until the end. Woodward's Tracey was an amazing villain, every bit as cunning and physically capable as Kirk. Woodward and Shatner really played off of each other perfectly, just as effective a hero / villain dynamic as Kirk vs Kor, Khan or Kang. TOS painted a distinct picture very different than the perfect future/people Roddenberry would sell as his "original intent" for TOS on the 1970s convention circuit. Not only is TOS' universe incredibly dangerous (particularly for Starfleet officers), but Starfleet is not populated by flawless, looking-down-on-others-from-a-refined-perch types that would find its way other versions of the franchise.
Oh, and Shatner gave a more passionate, believable reason for / interpretation of the "holy words" than most politicians I've heard attempt the same.
Yes, it was Shatner's Glory, a rousing rendition of "We the People ...". And it was served with a side of ham and cheese.
Shatner's dramatic recitation was awesome, especially since it was coming from a Canadian-born actor, a Quebecois no less.
Bluntly, it seems that it was only made because at the end of season two, with no guarantee of a third season, and no money to commission new scripts, editing existing scripts that were in the 'no good' cupboard was the only option.Omega IV, July 4... coincidence?
Anyway, looking at the scripts the Constitution as mangled by the Yangs doesn't start "E Plebnista," as fans often say/write, but is written out sans L as "Ee’d pebnista nordor formor pur fektunun…”
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I still think this episode feels like the Bird trying to slap a Serling on the end of an otherwise unremarkable episode. And I still maintain that this left turn sort of undermines the entire script (which is not great to begin with) as it makes you forget the whole Prime Directive story because all you remember is the jingoism.
I have my own thoughts on how the episode could/should have gone. Does anyone like it as is, warts and all? Or have a opinion on what would have made it better fo them?
...I mean, besides junking it for a wholly better script.
Omega IV, July 4... coincidence?
Anyway, looking at the scripts the Constitution as mangled by the Yangs doesn't start "E Plebnista," as fans often say/write, but is written out sans L as "Ee’d pebnista nordor formor pur fektunun…”
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I still think this episode feels like the Bird trying to slap a Serling on the end of an otherwise unremarkable episode. And I still maintain that this left turn sort of undermines the entire script (which is not great to begin with) as it makes you forget the whole Prime Directive story because all you remember is the jingoism.
I have my own thoughts on how the episode could/should have gone. Does anyone like it as is, warts and all? Or have a opinion on what would have made it better fo them?
...I mean, besides junking it for a wholly better script.
I never saw any such indication that was the case. I think it's more likely Gene wanted the bucks for getting his script on the air in the event the show wasn't picked up for a 3rd season, same as he rammed his unsold Assignment: Earth pilot into the show.
According to TMOST, "The Omega Glory" was one of three scripts submitted to NBC in June of 1965 for the second Star Trek pilot. The others were "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and "Mudd's Women."
Yep. I've read the pilot version(s), featuring Captain
Oh, and when the Enterprise enters orbit of the planet the Exeter nearly collides with it. "Standard" orbits indeed.
I rewatched the episode tonight as a part of the #AllStarTrek hashtag for the H&I network, and I was enjoying it for most of the first three acts. When the episode is about a Starship Captain breaking the Prime Directive and interfering with the internal affairs of a planet, it's an interesting episode. But as soon as that American flag comes in towards the end, the train to Crazy Town has left the station.
So it's an episode that I think would be a lot better regarded if it had a decent ending. It's actually very nicely shot.
So it's an episode that I think would be a lot better regarded if it had a decent ending. It's actually very nicely shot.
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Ugh. I despise this kind of retconning.I used to complain about how massively unlikely it was that an alien society would evolve exact word-for-word copies of the Constitution, and the U.S. flag, but I buy the novelverse's explanation for it. Specifically, the explanation propounded by @Christopher in his "Department of Temporal Investigations" novels (can't remember which one, specifically):
The copies of the Constitution and the flag were actually left behind by a passing Earth freighter, the ECS Philadelphia.
Besides, it seems clear that those copies of the flag and the Constitution couldn't literally be as old as the Yangs say they are, anyway. The documents would have crumbled into dust long ago.
We have copies of the Constitution made centuries after the original on acid-free paper, etc. The one they had needn't have been the original.
Or punk, which was a reaction to disco (and a backlash-related one...
)It feels like something written in the 1950s and hasn't dated well because it's hard to suspend disbelief despite TOS's own claim of parallel development worlds (combined with the usual response of astonishment every time they come to a planet that is similar to Earth's past... again.)
Up to that point, the story is rather first rate. The mystery illness that kills people in that horrific fashion, Cap'n Tracy (with Morgan Woodward stealing the show), and so on.
I think the heart is near the right place, especially for 1960s standards, but people complain about "NuTrek" being heavyhanded -- TOS was being heavyhanded first and arguably not realizing it; one day I'll check out the nonfiction books on the show's making of and see what the scoop was on that story's production...
So without any prior contact with Earth, how would YOU explain those documents turning up, independently, on an alien world? It's statistically impossible.
I mean, it'd be like "All Along The Watchtower" being written thousands of centuries ago, then being written AGAIN (by Bob Dylan) on present day Earth. Oh, wait...
Star Trek already had an explanation built into the show: Hodgekin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development.
Yeah, I'm not buying that one.
Just as impossible as humans being perfectly duplicated on various worlds ("Preservers" aside), everyone speaking the same language on different planets, etc.
Well, it was at least an attempt to rationalize it...even if improbable AF.