PLATO'S STEPCHILDREN: Underrated great episode
- Thread starter david g
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the only episode that i find painfull towatch everytime is "The Alternate Factor" who knows what could have been with it, but as is its a stinking mess, some episodes you grow into as you get older, "the Alt Factor" just stays a mess. "Plato's Stepchildren" has its moments, but it's easily watchable
See, I think the exact opposite is true. I can watch "The Alternative Factor" and somehow hope against all hope that it'll make sense this time (but it never does, keeping you befuddled until after the fade-out). I find "Plato's Stepchildren" to be nauseating from stem to stern, and has one of Star Trek's gaping-est plot holes ever; namely, why did Kirk and company forget all about the wonderful effects of Kironide? Gee, all those god-like powers sure would have come in handy in their later adventures.
Hambone said:
See, I think the exact opposite is true. I can watch "The Alternative Factor" and somehow hope against all hope that it'll make sense this time (but it never does, keeping you befuddled until after the fade-out). I find "Plato's Stepchildren" to be nauseating from stem to stern, and has one of Star Trek's gaping-est plot holes ever; namely, why did Kirk and company forget all about the wonderful effects of Kironide? Gee, all those god-like powers sure would have come in handy in their later adventures.
It was only viable in the atmosphere on that planet.
See what I did there? Problem solved.
Hambone said:
does, keeping you befuddled until after the fade-out). I find "Plato's Stepchildren" to be nauseating from stem to stern, and has one of Star Trek's gaping-est plot holes ever; namely, why did Kirk and company forget all about the wonderful effects of Kironide? Gee, all those god-like powers sure would have come in handy in their later adventures.
Well, they did say in the episode that kironide was a rare substance. Also, I'd say just on general principles that injecting a heavy metal into one's bloodstream on a regular basis is not a good thing. Maybe Platonians have a freak immunity, or maybe it built up gradually enough that their bodies could acclimate, but I'd think it'd be pretty dangerous to do what Kirk and Spock did there on a regular basis.
What I have to wonder, though, is where McCoy got the kironide he injected into Kirk and Spock. He said it would take a while to extract and prepare the serum, but all he did was mess around for thirty seconds with the stuff he already had in his kit, and then he gave K&S the injections!
So either the director goofed up big time... or else the whole thing was just a placebo effect, and Kirk and Spock were able to wield telekinesis because they really really believed they could.
Amen... bad episodes. Although i liked the LEt this be your last battlefield one. Frank Gorshwin was pretty cool dressed up in the costume. It was actually an episode that concerned horrible racism and what was going on at that point in history. The civil rights movement.
i would say the Gamestersof Treskellon... kinda boring...
i would say the Gamestersof Treskellon... kinda boring...
Well, David, accept your prize for good taste in the face of overwhelming opposition. I was very glad to see your thread, after the trashing of this episode in a couple threads above it. Michael Dunn (Alexander) was great. I recently came across a movie he starred in... nice surprise. He died young from complications that had to do with his size, I think.
It all comes down to that scene where Kirk and Spock are being publicly humiliated. That has always been very uncomfortable to me as a child, as well as now. Maybe dignity isn't very highly prized these days, so the instant reaction now to that scene is, they're just being pointlessly "wacky". Spock in particular... how can one not feel for him? "How can you let this go on?"--- that's a horrible moment. Good dramatically, but hard to watch.
Great moment, when they're about to beam Alexander off of that hell-hole....! That's one of the most satisfying happy endings.
Michael Dunn also played Dr Loveless in The Wild Wild West.
While I wouldn't say that this is TOS at its best I will say that over the years I've developed an appreciation of this episode. I suspect many people's reservations to it are partly rooted in seeing our heroes brutalized which can understandably be rather unsettling. Nonetheless I applaud the writers' courage in going in that direction and exploring the relevent themes.
Ironically if we saw a contemporary story go in this direction fewer people might object. Indeed we saw this very thing in Babylon 5 when Sheridan was being interrogated. It was also done in TNG with Picard at the hands of the Cardassians. But it does jar with some people's general view of TOS.
But this treatment of characters isn't really new in TOS. I still find the attempted rape of Janice Rand in "The Enemy Within" to be one of the most powerful visualizations of such a scene ever shown on tv.
Yeah, watching Kirk act like a pony and Spock sing are the height of science fiction. And by the way, I have this used bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell off REAL cheap...
Probably my least favourite TOS episode. Adventures on the toga party planet. Making John Belushi in Animal House look tame.
The message of the episode is a good one, if you can stomache sitting through some downright bizarre performances. Nothing compared to the depths of Reality TV though...
The message of the episode is a good one, if you can stomache sitting through some downright bizarre performances. Nothing compared to the depths of Reality TV though...
I really liked this episode. The acting was good, and the "silliness" was creepy - just as it was intended to be. We are often taught to glorify Greek philosophy, Greek Democracy, etc... But this episodes shows just how sardonic and sadistic they can be. This was also one of the few stories of all of fiction to portray prejudice against dwarfs rather than simply exploiting their size for comedy.
I like the idea that you too can get awesome psychic powers with a quick shot, but some of the episode makes me groan. Kirk acting like a horse and Spock dancing and other hijinks. Why the hell wouldn't Spock and Kirk breakout the godjuice everytime things got tough? Kirk could have made Kahn act like a horse or do a flamingo dance. LOL
I defended this episode in the last thread about it, which was why I didn't post this time. But I'm glad a few other people thought it was good, at least in part.
I know a lot of people will find this impossible to believe, but I think "Plato's Stepchildren" conveys the ideals of Star Trek better than almost any other episode; the only one I can think of to put above it in that regard is "The Devil in the Dark."
I know a lot of people will find this impossible to believe, but I think "Plato's Stepchildren" conveys the ideals of Star Trek better than almost any other episode; the only one I can think of to put above it in that regard is "The Devil in the Dark."
I thought that psychic powers potion only worked on that planet. In any case, those "hijinks" make the show very disturbing. In most cases of involuntary control - including cases of this episode - the actors try to resist and the oppressors show some dignity. Here after a short period of resistance, Spock and Kirk lost all control and were puppets to the other Greeks. Not only that, but Spock and Kirk were forced to perform such degrading actions against their nature (except for Kirk kissing Uhura - he gets all the girsl) that it was that much more disturbing.
You lads aren't crazy, I recently read a long article wondering about the humiliation culture we live in. from torturing people in Gulags to movies with torture porn to people humiliating themselves just to be on TV. What ever happened to human dignity? Apparently, that's not a value the television is selling?
