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Opinion of The Cloud Minders?

I have read Gerrold's scathing criticisms of this ep. In "The Worlds of Star Trek" perhaps? And his criticisms hold merit, but he seems to want a bit more than action t.v of 68-69 was capable of.

I like this ep. I know the Spock thing is out of character. Y'know what? I have days when I let down my guard or act differently than I usually do. And it addresses class conflict and makes people see "the other" as fellow people. The gas is too "easy" a plot device granted, but this would be in my top third of episodes. It's unique and better than "Kirk and Spock go to the ____ planet, get in danger, then escape" eps.

Be well.
 
Jeri said:
I could see Droxine as being one of the cool-blonde types that Hitchcock favored; she is serene. He would have liked Betty Draper.
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I can't, because Hitchcock's cool blondes don't look like girly airheads and seem to have some depth and maturity to them.
 
It's an episode I disliked at first, but I seem to enjoy it more with repeated viewings. Oh, less Droxine, more Vanna please. :)
 
ToddPence said:
Spock says "The name Droxine is somewhat appropriate for her." I've always been puzzled by what he meant. Droxine is the name of a drug which is supposed to stimulate activity in the thyroid gland.
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You got me curious, so I did a little looking. First the context of the quote to see if it provided any clues:
Here on Stratos, everything is incomparably beautiful and pleasant. The High Advisor's charming daughter Droxine particularly so. The name Droxine seems appropriate for her. I wonder, can she retain such purity and sweetness of mind and be aware of the life of the people on the surface of the planet?
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Next, I wandered through some online Greek dictionaries (assuming that her name is Greek or Greek-derived, which it does seem). The best match I found was "droxima" (δρόξιμα) which means "uncooked fruit."

If that's indeed the source of her name, a somewhat poetic interpretation might be "something pure and sweet, unchanged by human processing." Perhaps a bit of a reach, but it does seem to fit better than a thyroid drug.
 
^^ oh boy, here we go.... :lol:


Yeah, it's one of those episodes that is caught between mediocrity and exciting potential. I wonder if it was a Season 2 episode that perhaps it would have faired better. The idea was certainly interesting.

But yes, once you've developed certain precedents (e.g. Spock's character), you need to stick with them. That quote he said about Droxine seemed way too "un-Vulcan" to me. Some liberties were taken that went too far outside the plausibility perimeter. As someone pointed out, Kirk couldn't take that High Advisor in one fell swoop? C'mon... he's in better shape than that.

The screenplay felt "rough draft" in nature. The acting was generally good. Droxine was supposed to be very intellectual and somewhat unemotional, like a Vulcan. That's why she had such an affinity for Spock. I can see why some would say her portrayal was uninspiring. Vanna was of course the more enticing, edgy character, easier to play.


The original effects were awful... that city in the clouds was so incredibly small, that it just didn't make any sense to be considered any kind of substantial city. The enhanced version was better, but still lacking IMHO. And the sets were so minimal, very little variety... part of the budgetary issues in Season 3. It could have been a great episode, but instead it just floundered in mediocrity. Not one of my favorites.
 
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Gary7 said:
The screenplay felt "rough draft" in nature. The acting was generally good. Droxine was supposed to be very intellectual and somewhat unemotional, like a Vulcan. That's why she had such an affinity for Spock. I can see why some would say her portrayal was uninspiring. Vanna was of course the more enticing, edgy character, easier to play.
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If that's what she was supposed to be in the script, then it was a case of really bad miscasting, because the way that the actress portrayed her, none of these qualities came off on screen.
 
I never got that "out of character" argument. Everybody's out of character when falling in love... That's the definition of the damn thing.

And of course, just as elemental to the phenomenon is the "what does he/she see in her/him?" indignation...

Timo Saloniemi
 
I didn't realize Hulu has the TOS remastered in HD version available now. I took a look at this episode again...

The fight scenes were horribly done. Especially the moments where Vanna attacks Spock. And Spock doesn't even put his nerve pinch to use. You'd think that would be the first thing he'd do, to incapacitate his attackers.

And then... Kirk and Spock get to the Stratos city, only to be given quarters to "rest" moments later. After that brief altercation, they certainly didn't look disheveled enough to need a nap! Why not tour the gallery or visit the library to learn more about the culture? But no, it was a plot device so that Spock could socialize with Droxine and Vanna attack Kirk in his "sleep". Later, after the Captain had his argument with the Advisor, the Advisor tells a sentinel after they leave "If Captain Kirk appears again--kill him." That's just ridiculous. Nobody of that executive station would give such an order, just because of a disagreement on whether torture is an acceptable method of information extraction. Also, when Kirk has Plasus beamed over, why didn't he have Spock beam down a filter mask for himself? Certainly the gas would affect him too. Doh!

It's these kinds of qualities that put a dampener on the episode. It could have been so much better...
 
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This episode always makes me wonder how easy it is to get into the Federation. the society is obviously unfair with its two tier system, something Kirk and Spock both notice almost imediately after arriving on Stratos. The Administrator doesn't seem particularly worried about Kirk telling the Federation about it either. And I'm left wondering how inept the assessors of membership suitablity are. ( on the other hand they seem desperate to let Gideon, a planet they have not been allowed to visit in based purely on it reputation).
 
Gary7 said:
Later, after the Captain had his argument with the Advisor, the Advisor tells a sentinel after they leave "If Captain Kirk appears again--kill him." That's just ridiculous. Nobody of that executive station would give such an order
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Plasus said to his daughter of Kirk "He know nothing except how to destroy our power and our society." Plasus was the head of a aristocratic state, he likely viewed Captain Kirk as little more that a annoying servant.

Also, the man Plasus spoke to might have been the Head of the Sentinel Guard and knew that
Plasus was "kidding."

sariel2005 said:
This episode always makes me wonder how easy it is to get into the Federation. the society is obviously unfair with its two tier system, something...
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The main reason, perhaps the sole reason, is the Zenite ore. Spock said that Zenite is shipped all over the galaxy wherever there is danger of plant bacteria. McCoy was the one who discovered that the raw ore gives off a gas. These two items suggest that Zenite is extremely valuable and it only comes from one world, Ardana. When it came down to admissions to the Federation, Ardana might have been able to play diplomatic hard ball.

And if the numerous Federation members have a wide varity of government types, including other aristocracies, then Ardana's system at the time of admissions might have been no big deal. Oligarchies may be a common in the Federation.

It's also possible that there was a form of democracy, the aristocracts picked all the canidates and the troglyte could vote for anyone they choose too. Ah, the sweat taste of freedom.

:)
 
Really, even those UFP member worlds that are populated by meek and orderly WASP humans are pretty much unknown quantities to the federal government. Deneva hadn't been visited for a year by UFP representatives before "Operation: Annihilate!"... Vulcan's social practices were unknown to our heroes, and it would apparently have been impossible to arrange for timely transportation from the Enterprise to Vulcan even if Spock had been granted personal leave in "Amok Time". UFP members appear to be left pretty much on their own, and allowed to operate contrary to certain moral views the supposed audiences of 1960s United States might have upheld.

It's probably not that the Feds wouldn't have known about the two-tiered society. It's probably that they weren't actively looking that way, as long as the zenite kept flowing (heck, even Kirk himself had once visited Stratos, without visiting the mines or inquiring about them). And for all we know, the society did meet the broad UFP standards - even Kirk doesn't really complain about it, he merely opposes it insofar as it prevents him from getting his zenite. And when that is secured, Kirk's concern is about countering the medical threat of the zenite gas on Ardana. He has no interest in forcing a change on the social structure - at very best, he vaguely refers to the possibility of mediation that UFP specialists might offer.

Timo Saloniemi
 
A predictable plot that uses an overly simplified situation with overly cliched guest stars, to make a "preachy", bombastic, "black and white" social commentary.
 
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