"Private Little War": Star Trek at its Best

[plynch]

Not the single best episode, mind you.

But it has a serious theme. It aired, remarkably, just days after the beginning of the Tet Offensive, so it was written and produced before US public opinion had substantially soured on the war. So on that count, it seems brave, to call proxy war into question on network t.v. What do you think -- I think it succeeds, but does it hit you too hard over the head like "Last Battlefield"? I could see somebody thinking that.

Plus it's on location, has the Mugato (which iirc DeKelley mispronounces), the wild woman in furs doing that orgasmic thing with the healing root of mud/jello . . .

And it ends on a rueful note, not with everybody chuckling as they go on to their next stop.

It seems to me to have it all.

 

[Cap'n Claus]

has the Mugato (which iirc DeKelley mispronounces),

Yup, it was originally the Gumato, but he kept twisting it around. You know, that thing never looked good, but I love the horrible sound it makes.

 

[Jeri]

Just saw this this week and enjoyed it, while checking our blu-rays. I always liked Nona's line, "...we have a custom when a woman saves a man's life: he is grateful..." and also Tyree's "...it was the night of madness..." Kind of fun and different to see Kirk incapacitated for once, especially in the herb scene.

 

[plynch]

It's the combination of serious/sad/issue with crazed-out Trek cheesiness. Janos Prohaska jumping about in a Gumato suit: great stuff.

 

[startrekrcks]

Nona was a bit annoying I didn't get her at all

 

[Jeri]

Plus it's on location...

All those location episodes -- I can never help wondering if subdivisions are sitting in some of those valleys now.

We were living over in the Inland Empire by M'Sharak at the time (1967-70); not too far away. Similar topography, flora and fauna. Have to put on my trek beanie real tight when I recognize the plants.

 

[Surfin' Santa]

Plus it's on location...

All those location episodes -- I can never help wondering if subdivisions are sitting in some of those valleys now.

The park known as Africa USA, where "Shore Leave" was filmed, went out of business ages ago. Don't know what happened to the land. Other episodes with outdoor locations were mostly shot in public parklands, like Vasquez Rocks and Bronson Canyon.

 

[A beaker full of death]

Nona was a bit annoying I didn't get her at all

I'd have gotten her...

Sorry.

What was to get? She was a typical Roddenberryesque woman -- an ambitious, seductive harpy who sank her talons into the most influential man she could find.
Ah, what a Captain's Woman she would have made.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

This episode in a nutshell--soapbox polemic with a sledgehammer point. At least "A Taste of Armageddon" was a bit more subtle. Not by much, but at least that episode didn't use the "Asian brush wars of the 20th Century" to beat us into a bloody pulp with the allegory.

 

[GSchnitzer]

Plus it's on location...

All those location episodes -- I can never help wondering if subdivisions are sitting in some of those valleys now.

The park known as Africa USA, where "Shore Leave" was filmed, went out of business ages ago. Don't know what happened to the land. Other episodes with outdoor locations were mostly shot in public parklands, like Vasquez Rocks and Bronson Canyon.

The Shambala Preserve in Acton on the land that was AfricaUSA is a wild animal preserve maintained by the Roar Foundation, founded by actress Tippi Hedren in 1983 as a 501(c)3) nonprofit organization. Shambala cares for endangered exotic big cats such as African lions, Siberian tigers and Bengal tigers, leopards, servals, mountain lions, bobcats, plus a lynx, a Florida panther, and a liger.

http://www.shambala.org/

 

[plynch]

This episode in a nutshell--soapbox polemic with a sledgehammer point. At least "A Taste of Armageddon" was a bit more subtle. Not by much, but at least that episode didn't use the "Asian brush wars of the 20th Century" to beat us into a bloody pulp with the allegory.

There - I was hoping someone who thinks it too sledgehammery would weigh in. I actually like it for addressing an issue AND dealing with it sort of ambivalently: we have to arm our side, but it's a horrible thing to do.

In Armageddon, it might be more sledgehammer, since Kirk shows us the Eminians are WRONG. Which is certainly debatable (to me, anyway). I like that ep. a lot too btw.

 

[Jeri]

The Shambala Preserve in Acton on the land that was AfricaUSA is a wild animal preserve maintained by the Roar Foundation, founded by actress Tippi Hedren in 1983 as a 501(c)3) nonprofit organization. Shambala cares for endangered exotic big cats such as African lions, Siberian tigers and Bengal tigers, leopards, servals, mountain lions, bobcats, plus a lynx, a Florida panther, and a liger...

Well, that's interesting; thanks. I've heard of that big-cat sanctuary, but I had no idea is was in the location of the former AfricaUSA. I won't forget it now.

I'm wondering if AfricaUSA was also used for a Wild Wild West episode with a tiger and Antoinette Bauer (Catspaw).

 

[Jonas Grumby]

I'm wondering if AfricaUSA was also used for a Wild Wild West episode with a tiger and Antoinette Bauer (Catspaw).

Based on a very old and very fuzzily-remembered TV Guide article, I think it was. But I couldn't swear to it.

 

[RAMA]

Not the single best episode, mind you.

But it has a serious theme. It aired, remarkably, just days after the beginning of the Tet Offensive, so it was written and produced before US public opinion had substantially soured on the war. So on that count, it seems brave, to call proxy war into question on network t.v. What do you think -- I think it succeeds, but does it hit you too hard over the head like "Last Battlefield"? I could see somebody thinking that.

Plus it's on location, has the Mugato (which iirc DeKelley mispronounces), the wild woman in furs doing that orgasmic thing with the healing root of mud/jello . . .

And it ends on a rueful note, not with everybody chuckling as they go on to their next stop.

It seems to me to have it all.

Ironically for a "liberal" show, the message was that arming everybody was a good idea. I think there were at least 2-3 solutions that would have been preferable. I think its probably Kirk's second worst offense against the prime directive, and probably should have resulted in his court martial. Its not too surprising this was a 3rd season episode and ran counter to what the general thought and tone of the show was. Several fan stories theorizing on the outcome have been written, often with everyone dying off. I think Shane Johnson's aliens book also had an unhappy outcome for the conflict. Thank goodness all TOS episodes weren't written like this.

RAMA

 

[Jeri]

It's a second-season episode, broadcast February 2, 1968.

Oh, and I misspelled Antoinette Bower.

 

[plynch]

I don't think they ever say or imply arming "their side" is a good idea. They (Feds) regret having to arm them, and leave iirc with an attitude of "What have we done?" It certainly doesn't end happily, though my memory fails me as to the exact lines at the end.

 

[Jeri]

I don't know about court-martial, but it seems like the kind of real-world, grim compromise that people are often relegated to, where no one is happy.

It's not one of those occasions where Kirk more characteristically insists, "...I want that third alternative!"

 

[RAMA]

I don't know about court-martial, but it seems like the kind of real-world, grim compromise that people are often relegated to, where no one is happy.

It's not one of those occasions where Kirk more characteristically insists, "...I want that third alternative!"

At the very least, a blockade of the status quo breaking Klingons would be in order. That would fulfill the edicts of the Organians.

It's a second-season episode, broadcast February 2, 1968.

Oh, and I misspelled Antoinette Bower.

Well I'm old, I forget more details than I remember these days. lol However, I haven't watched this episode in a long time since I find it hard to digest.

I don't think they ever say or imply arming "their side" is a good idea. They (Feds) regret having to arm them, and leave iirc with an attitude of "What have we done?" It certainly doesn't end happily, though my memory fails me as to the exact lines at the end.

No, no one is happy, but does Kirk take the easy way out? Supplying weapons has always been EASY (look at Somalia), disarming, that's hard.

RAMA

 

[plynch]

No, no one is happy, but does Kirk take the easy way out? Supplying weapons has always been EASY (look at Somalia), disarming, that's hard.
RAMA

Maybe Kirk is too quick to arm his side, even though he does it ruefully. The writers needed to create a proxy war that would be regretted, to comment on the yet-popular Vietnam War (at the time of its writing).

 

[Jeri]

Well I'm old, I forget more details than I remember these days. lol However, I haven't watched this episode in a long time since I find it hard to digest.

I just watched it a couple days ago, since we're checking our blu-ray sets; else I probably would not have remembered that with any accuracy.

The writers needed to create a proxy war that would be regretted, to comment on the yet-popular Vietnam War (at the time of its writing).

They kind of shoe-horned the current-events editorial into Kirk's character, and it's not a great fit, IMO. That's what's really wrong with it; viewers think, wha? That's not the Kirk we know; he'd be looking for the third alternative. His trademark is determination.

Btw, I was in high school in SoCal at the time, and I don't remember the war being popular. We lived between Norton and March AFB's, and friends were trying to enlist in the Air Force in self defense. Nobody wanted to get drafted into the Army. I guess the war's popularity was gauged differently by different age groups.