Well The Cage was before he was cast and story wise before he was even in command of The Enterprise so is a different thing altogether, Commish! 
JB
JB
Production Order Group Viewing 2018
- Thread starter Archivist13
- Start date
In fairness, your original statement was pretty broadWell The Cage was before he was cast and story wise before he was even in command of The Enterprise so is a different thing altogether, Commish!
JB
The Ambergris Element
Interesting aqua-shuttle. But why is it necessary? Standard shuttlecraft are air tight for space travel. Is it that the aqua-shuttle can float on the surface of water but standard shuttles can't? And the Enterprise only has...er...had one of them.
And it has phasers! Have we seen a shuttlecraft with phasers before? It totally makes sense that they should have phasers. They can even be set to stun, but maybe that's not surprising considering the Enterprise stunned a block full of gangsters in A Piece of the Action.
SPOCK: "Its skeleton is similar to that of a Denebian whale, Captain."
Denebian? Where slime devils also live whom Korax claimed Kirk resembled in Trouble With Tribbles?
Can't they just fly the aqua-shuttle into the air to escape the sur-snake?
McCoy's log "...and even their eyes are covered with a transparent film like the second eyelid of a fish..."
Spock already had a second set of eyelids. Is this his third now?
On Sarpeidon, the choice was to go back in time to escape the supernova. On Argo, the choice was to mutate to water-breathers to survive the land-destroying earthquakes.
Kids these days! They sleep all day, they're up all night playing that rock and roll of theirs, and they're liable to mutate any stranger that comes by.
Why did the young'uns mutate Kirk and Spock? It seems an odd choice. I wonder if they knew it would force the old'uns to change their stogy ways.
Isn't it breaking the Prime Directive to tell the Aquans about themselves and take them to the ship?
KIRK: "Right now we have only two choices. Live in an aquarium somewhere for the rest of our lives or stay on Argo. I won't accept either one of them."
Part of Kirk's success is his refusal to accept limited choices. As in Operation Annhiliate!, Kirk demands and does not stop until other options are found. He does not believe in the no-win scenario!
Seems like it'd be more efficient for Kirk and Spock to swim barefoot with their webbed feet rather than wearing boots.
It's really lucky for Kirk and Spock that Rila is so sympathetic to their plight or they would be doomed.
I'm dubious that a sur-snake that can destroy the aqua-shuttle can be held down by a few Aquans, but okay.
I'm curious about the similarities between Aquan culture and Greco-Roman culture down to the use of pillars in architecture and even the Caduceus. Hmmm, the planet is called Argo after Jason's ship in Greek mythology.
Huh. McCoy used the Universal Translator on the written words of the ancient language. I've only thought about the UT used to translate spoken words. Is this the first time it's used to translate written words?
Can they make synthetic sur-snake venom if their supply runs out?
There's Christine helping with the procedure. I'm glad to see her neural neutralizer treatments are complete and she's back to being a productive member of society again.
Our heroes save the Aquans from the earthquake, learn how to handle such earthquakes so that they can save the people of the mysterious unnamed "other Federation planet" that also has earthquake problems, and help the old and young Aquans maintain communication as they follow divergent paths. I love a happy Star Trek ending.
But if all the young'uns go back to being air breathers, won't the water-breathers die out?
This was an entertaining episode. I was interested in the mystery of why Kirk and Spock were mutated. Thumbs up.
Alien Watch! Those devices Domar and Rila wore are called aqualungs. Jethro Tull anyone?
Season One
The Glommer
Arex*
Retlaw Plant
Agmar and his Phylosian posse
Swoopers
Yellow winged bird guy (Aleek)
Spock's teddy bear with fangs (sehlat)
Green cat thing that sounds like Godzilla (le-matya)
300 million year old alien on viewscreen log
Green energy Redjac wannabe
The Vendorian
Lt. M'Ress
Remarkably human-looking Taureans.
The planet-eating, Majel Roddenberry-voiced cloud from another galaxy.
Alien miners of Arcadia
Rigelian hypnoid
Giant rock creatures
Remarkably human-looking (when they want to be except for that rebel Lucien guy) Megans
Assorted heretofore unseen aliens on the Delta Triangle's ruling council
The Kzinti (whom no one will mistake for Mensa candidates)
Aquans, both stogy elders and rebellious kids.
Sur-snake of Argo
*by request
Interesting aqua-shuttle. But why is it necessary? Standard shuttlecraft are air tight for space travel. Is it that the aqua-shuttle can float on the surface of water but standard shuttles can't? And the Enterprise only has...er...had one of them.
And it has phasers! Have we seen a shuttlecraft with phasers before? It totally makes sense that they should have phasers. They can even be set to stun, but maybe that's not surprising considering the Enterprise stunned a block full of gangsters in A Piece of the Action.
SPOCK: "Its skeleton is similar to that of a Denebian whale, Captain."
Denebian? Where slime devils also live whom Korax claimed Kirk resembled in Trouble With Tribbles?
Can't they just fly the aqua-shuttle into the air to escape the sur-snake?
McCoy's log "...and even their eyes are covered with a transparent film like the second eyelid of a fish..."
Spock already had a second set of eyelids. Is this his third now?
On Sarpeidon, the choice was to go back in time to escape the supernova. On Argo, the choice was to mutate to water-breathers to survive the land-destroying earthquakes.
Kids these days! They sleep all day, they're up all night playing that rock and roll of theirs, and they're liable to mutate any stranger that comes by.
Why did the young'uns mutate Kirk and Spock? It seems an odd choice. I wonder if they knew it would force the old'uns to change their stogy ways.
Isn't it breaking the Prime Directive to tell the Aquans about themselves and take them to the ship?
KIRK: "Right now we have only two choices. Live in an aquarium somewhere for the rest of our lives or stay on Argo. I won't accept either one of them."
Part of Kirk's success is his refusal to accept limited choices. As in Operation Annhiliate!, Kirk demands and does not stop until other options are found. He does not believe in the no-win scenario!
Seems like it'd be more efficient for Kirk and Spock to swim barefoot with their webbed feet rather than wearing boots.
It's really lucky for Kirk and Spock that Rila is so sympathetic to their plight or they would be doomed.
I'm dubious that a sur-snake that can destroy the aqua-shuttle can be held down by a few Aquans, but okay.
I'm curious about the similarities between Aquan culture and Greco-Roman culture down to the use of pillars in architecture and even the Caduceus. Hmmm, the planet is called Argo after Jason's ship in Greek mythology.
Huh. McCoy used the Universal Translator on the written words of the ancient language. I've only thought about the UT used to translate spoken words. Is this the first time it's used to translate written words?
Can they make synthetic sur-snake venom if their supply runs out?
There's Christine helping with the procedure. I'm glad to see her neural neutralizer treatments are complete and she's back to being a productive member of society again.
Our heroes save the Aquans from the earthquake, learn how to handle such earthquakes so that they can save the people of the mysterious unnamed "other Federation planet" that also has earthquake problems, and help the old and young Aquans maintain communication as they follow divergent paths. I love a happy Star Trek ending.
But if all the young'uns go back to being air breathers, won't the water-breathers die out?
This was an entertaining episode. I was interested in the mystery of why Kirk and Spock were mutated. Thumbs up.
Alien Watch! Those devices Domar and Rila wore are called aqualungs. Jethro Tull anyone?
Season One
The Glommer
Arex*
Retlaw Plant
Agmar and his Phylosian posse
Swoopers
Yellow winged bird guy (Aleek)
Spock's teddy bear with fangs (sehlat)
Green cat thing that sounds like Godzilla (le-matya)
300 million year old alien on viewscreen log
Green energy Redjac wannabe
The Vendorian
Lt. M'Ress
Remarkably human-looking Taureans.
The planet-eating, Majel Roddenberry-voiced cloud from another galaxy.
Alien miners of Arcadia
Rigelian hypnoid
Giant rock creatures
Remarkably human-looking (when they want to be except for that rebel Lucien guy) Megans
Assorted heretofore unseen aliens on the Delta Triangle's ruling council
The Kzinti (whom no one will mistake for Mensa candidates)
Aquans, both stogy elders and rebellious kids.
Sur-snake of Argo
*by request
THE AMBERGRIS ELEMENT
This episode is wonderfully high concept and (thanks to the animated medium) realised very effectively. We get new Starfleet hardware, huge sea monsters, sprawling undersea vistas, the dramatic reveal of Dolmar of the Aquons...and what would any scifi underwater adventure be without Space Atlantis? Not to mention the body horror aspect of what was done to Kirk and Spock! Then, the story concludes with with Aquons on the Bridge of the Enterprise. The little bit of humour at the end (delivered by both guest aliens for once) was also quite funny!
Coupled with social message of cooperation despite your differences (young people vs old this time), the whole story oozes classic Trek and is a great contribution to the canon.
The weakest aspect to the story is that there's a lot of searching and mini-missions. It feels most "fetchquesty" when, shortly after retrieving the ancient medical cure (in record time BTW!) McCoy announces that they now need to go BACK to the planet for sursnake venom
Or was it supposed to be a different sur-snake? If so, why didn't Kirk just go back to the trapped and wounded sur-snake to harvest venom from THAT creature instead?
And if they are two different sur-snakes, how unlucky is that a building fell on that one too?
That little Starfleet dinghy is pretty nifty too
And how on earth did they swim miles under the ocean without dying of exhaustion?
OTHER THOUGHTS:
I know we don’t normally comment on the animation in TAS, but the rippling water affect which is laid over the underwater scenes is pretty effective.
We also get use of the “wipe” in this episode when cutting from one scene to another, uncommon in Trek. Perhaps it was included as standard in the “optical effect” machine used for the rippling and the editor just decided to make use of it?
This episode is wonderfully high concept and (thanks to the animated medium) realised very effectively. We get new Starfleet hardware, huge sea monsters, sprawling undersea vistas, the dramatic reveal of Dolmar of the Aquons...and what would any scifi underwater adventure be without Space Atlantis? Not to mention the body horror aspect of what was done to Kirk and Spock! Then, the story concludes with with Aquons on the Bridge of the Enterprise. The little bit of humour at the end (delivered by both guest aliens for once) was also quite funny!
Coupled with social message of cooperation despite your differences (young people vs old this time), the whole story oozes classic Trek and is a great contribution to the canon.
The weakest aspect to the story is that there's a lot of searching and mini-missions. It feels most "fetchquesty" when, shortly after retrieving the ancient medical cure (in record time BTW!) McCoy announces that they now need to go BACK to the planet for sursnake venom
It was probably still tired out from when that building fell on it in the previous scene.
Or was it supposed to be a different sur-snake? If so, why didn't Kirk just go back to the trapped and wounded sur-snake to harvest venom from THAT creature instead?
And if they are two different sur-snakes, how unlucky is that a building fell on that one too?
An ordinary shuttle is probably built to withstand one or two atmospheres of pressure at most, far less than the pressure felt at deep sea depths. Yes they might have been able to rig up a "protective shield" to reinforce the hull (like in The Immunity Syndrome) , but do Impulse Engines even work underwater?
That little Starfleet dinghy is pretty nifty too
Better still, give them each a wetsuit and some fins for their feet!
And how on earth did they swim miles under the ocean without dying of exhaustion?
OTHER THOUGHTS:
- We get a new view of the shuttlebay! Turns out those control room looking things are actually…control rooms!
- True to a scientific research mission, the landing party consists of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and a redshirt
- Kirk and Spock are missing for FIVE DAYS? I guess it’s just Starfleet policy to never give up on your main characters
- In Sickbay, Kirk and Spock are confined to a small box – with no toilet! No wonder he wants a third option to their dilemma!
- The ancient records have the science to erase memories too? Even on aliens? This really is space-Atlantis!
- It seems that forcefield belts work underwater too! I would mention the pressure thing again, but Scotty doesn't seem to go that far down.
- As stated in the opening log, the planet is almost completely submerged in water. Normally that would make for some boring backdrops, but fortunately most of the above-water action takes place near a huge cluster of former mountain tops
I know we don’t normally comment on the animation in TAS, but the rippling water affect which is laid over the underwater scenes is pretty effective.
We also get use of the “wipe” in this episode when cutting from one scene to another, uncommon in Trek. Perhaps it was included as standard in the “optical effect” machine used for the rippling and the editor just decided to make use of it?
It's not just the floating thing, it's the submerged performance that makes it unique. It probably also has a specialized sensor suite tuned for underwater environments. The Enterprise must have picked up the aqua-shuttle just for this mission based on preparations laid out in the initial Captain's log:
Prior TAS episodes showed no aqua-shuttle in the hangar bay, unless the far right front edge of a shuttlecraft is it?
Nope, wrong fender shape:
That is a pretty cool assortment of shuttles.It's not just the floating thing, it's the submerged performance that makes it unique. It probably also has a specialized sensor suite tuned for underwater environments. The Enterprise must have picked up the aqua-shuttle just for this mission based on preparations laid out in the initial Captain's log:
Prior TAS episodes showed no aqua-shuttle in the hangar bay, unless the far right front edge of a shuttlecraft is it?
Nope, wrong fender shape:
That's just a standard piece of animation "ripple glass" which is a piece of glass which is flat on one side and has undulations on the opposite. It distorts the image seen through it and if you move it incrementally as you photograph each frame you get a wave effect.
Wipes were done on an optical printer.
WTH...
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I think the Kzinti battles probably took place after man left the vicinity of his own area of space! These wars were probably little more than actual skirmishes or small battles! Do we assume that man met the Kzin before his near wars with the Klingons? Notice I said near, as in this universe the said conflict never happened!
JB
JB
Love the new views of the hangar. The aqua-shuttle takes off fairly close to the clamshell hangar doors probably because the flight deck is so full of other shuttles by this point in the series as compared to only two shuttles way back in The Galileo Seven. I notice that they did away with the rotating elevator in the center of the floor during TAS, and decided to just park all the shuttles end-to-end on both sides of the flight deck. You'd think the hangar deck is large enough to hangar a whole fleet of today's jet liners...We get a new view of the shuttlebay! Turns out those control room looking things are actually…control rooms!
Oh, snap!!!You'd think the hangar deck is large enough to hangar a whole fleet of today's jet liners...
Are the Kzinti in Larry Niven's novels does anyone know?
JB
JB
The Jihad
The Vedala are the oldest spacefaring race. Except for those Slaver guys from billions of years ago.
I like episodes like this where representatives from a number of races meet, like Journey To Babel and Time Trap.
A Skorr. Last time we saw one was Aleek in Yesteryear.
Vedala: "As an expert lockpick and thief, you are welcome. Em3green. Lara (the female) is a hunter. She has a flawless directional sense, a necessary skill where you are going. Kirk and Spock were chosen because we are paying William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy a lot of money. "
I'd like that lizard guy to be a Gorn, but they don't have tails.
Alar is the Surak of the Skorr.
The Skorr can make 200 billion warriors in two years! They are very prodigious baby-makers and very fast growers. But, this only matters if they can also make enough ships to transport all of them around the galaxy.
Is Lara really human or is Tchar remarking on the fact that she is remarkably human looking? But she calls herself human. But she refers to her home planet which is clearly not Earth. Is she a human who was born on a human colony planet somewhere? Or is she humanoid but not really human?
Lara: "But not human like you and me. Maybe you got different customs. My world there's a lot of females, not so many men. Come we find a man attractive, we say so. I'm saying so. How do you find me?"
Well, Lara is very friendly.
Kirk: "Fascinating." Ha ha. Put on the spot, Kirk uses Spock's line.
Spock, OF COURSE Kirk wasn't going to leave you behind. Thinking otherwise is illogical. Because sometimes the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many. Don't worry, you'll learn more about that later on.
Such dramatic music this episode like when they save the Bug Guy from falling into the ravine.
Lara:" We still have to go back, James. I tell you true, I find you an attractive man. If we were together, the trip would be easier. And if anything happened, why, we'd have some green memories."
Kirk: "I already have a lot of green memories."
Lara: "Oh."
Green memories? What the heck are they talking about? I hear it as
Lara: "The trip will be easier if we bang along the way. We'll have memories from having banged each other."
Kirk: "I've already banged a lot of women."
Lara: "Oh."
I honestly had no idea what a green memory was until I just looked it up:
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=green memory
"Of or pertaining to strong carnal desires sexually. Having unprotected sex with a stranger or new person because of overriding desire of lust and arousal."
Holy crap, I was right. That's pretty bold for a Saturday morning kids show.
Having reviewed every episode of TOS, I ended up deciding that Kirk doesn't really deserve his reputation of being such a horn dog ladies man. But here he is admitting it!
I just realized there's no Dr. McCoy/Dee Kelley this episode. How often does that happen? How many TOS episodes was he not in? Any?
Tchar is the traitor! That dirty birdman!
Sord has quite the slang vernacular going there.
I also notice that Sord the lizard blinks.
How did Kirk hook his foot into the Soul sculpture if there's a force field around it?
Oooooh, Tchar's going to get time in the neural neutralizer chair! It worked for Chapel.
So what did the Vedalians have to do with this? Apparently they found out the Soul was stolen, saw it was going to lead to galaxy-wide war, learned where the Soul was, and decided to assemble a team to retrieve it since they couldn't go themselves due to not being able to survive on that planet. Although if the temperature ranges on that planet are 20 Kelvin to 204, then NO ONE can really survive there.
Vedala: "No. You will return and you will see, there will be no questions, no medals, only our thanks. And in time, even the memory will be gone from you."
So Kirk's going to go back, make a log entry, and then forget the whole thing happened. Or did he not document the adventure at all?
Good episode. I liked it. I like stories about teams where everyone on the team has their own unique abilities and backgrounds and they are all necessary and working together toward a common goal. It's a very Trekkian theme.
Alien Watch! Quite the menagerie.
Season One
The Glommer
Arex*
Retlaw Plant
Agmar and his Phylosian posse
Swoopers
Yellow winged bird guy (Aleek)
Spock's teddy bear with fangs (sehlat)
Green cat thing that sounds like Godzilla (le-matya)
300 million year old alien on viewscreen log
Green energy Redjac wannabe
The Vendorian
Lt. M'Ress
Remarkably human-looking Taureans.
The planet-eating, Majel Roddenberry-voiced cloud from another galaxy.
Alien miners of Arcadia
Rigelian hypnoid
Giant rock creatures
Remarkably human-looking (when they want to be except for that rebel Lucien guy) Megans
Assorted heretofore unseen aliens on the Delta Triangle's ruling council
The Kzinti (whom no one will mistake for Mensa candidates)
Aquans, both stogy elders and rebellious kids.
Sur-snake of Argo
The scardy Bug Guy
The Vedalian
The...remarkably human-looking alien (?) Lara
The not-a-Gorn lizard guy.
*by request
The Vedala are the oldest spacefaring race. Except for those Slaver guys from billions of years ago.
I like episodes like this where representatives from a number of races meet, like Journey To Babel and Time Trap.
A Skorr. Last time we saw one was Aleek in Yesteryear.
Vedala: "As an expert lockpick and thief, you are welcome. Em3green. Lara (the female) is a hunter. She has a flawless directional sense, a necessary skill where you are going. Kirk and Spock were chosen because we are paying William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy a lot of money. "
I'd like that lizard guy to be a Gorn, but they don't have tails.
Alar is the Surak of the Skorr.
The Skorr can make 200 billion warriors in two years! They are very prodigious baby-makers and very fast growers. But, this only matters if they can also make enough ships to transport all of them around the galaxy.
Is Lara really human or is Tchar remarking on the fact that she is remarkably human looking? But she calls herself human. But she refers to her home planet which is clearly not Earth. Is she a human who was born on a human colony planet somewhere? Or is she humanoid but not really human?
Lara: "But not human like you and me. Maybe you got different customs. My world there's a lot of females, not so many men. Come we find a man attractive, we say so. I'm saying so. How do you find me?"
Well, Lara is very friendly.
Kirk: "Fascinating." Ha ha. Put on the spot, Kirk uses Spock's line.
Spock, OF COURSE Kirk wasn't going to leave you behind. Thinking otherwise is illogical. Because sometimes the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many. Don't worry, you'll learn more about that later on.
Such dramatic music this episode like when they save the Bug Guy from falling into the ravine.
Lara:" We still have to go back, James. I tell you true, I find you an attractive man. If we were together, the trip would be easier. And if anything happened, why, we'd have some green memories."
Kirk: "I already have a lot of green memories."
Lara: "Oh."
Green memories? What the heck are they talking about? I hear it as
Lara: "The trip will be easier if we bang along the way. We'll have memories from having banged each other."
Kirk: "I've already banged a lot of women."
Lara: "Oh."
I honestly had no idea what a green memory was until I just looked it up:
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=green memory
"Of or pertaining to strong carnal desires sexually. Having unprotected sex with a stranger or new person because of overriding desire of lust and arousal."
Holy crap, I was right. That's pretty bold for a Saturday morning kids show.
Having reviewed every episode of TOS, I ended up deciding that Kirk doesn't really deserve his reputation of being such a horn dog ladies man. But here he is admitting it!
I just realized there's no Dr. McCoy/Dee Kelley this episode. How often does that happen? How many TOS episodes was he not in? Any?
Tchar is the traitor! That dirty birdman!
Sord has quite the slang vernacular going there.
I also notice that Sord the lizard blinks.
How did Kirk hook his foot into the Soul sculpture if there's a force field around it?
Oooooh, Tchar's going to get time in the neural neutralizer chair! It worked for Chapel.
So what did the Vedalians have to do with this? Apparently they found out the Soul was stolen, saw it was going to lead to galaxy-wide war, learned where the Soul was, and decided to assemble a team to retrieve it since they couldn't go themselves due to not being able to survive on that planet. Although if the temperature ranges on that planet are 20 Kelvin to 204, then NO ONE can really survive there.
Vedala: "No. You will return and you will see, there will be no questions, no medals, only our thanks. And in time, even the memory will be gone from you."
So Kirk's going to go back, make a log entry, and then forget the whole thing happened. Or did he not document the adventure at all?
Good episode. I liked it. I like stories about teams where everyone on the team has their own unique abilities and backgrounds and they are all necessary and working together toward a common goal. It's a very Trekkian theme.
Alien Watch! Quite the menagerie.
Season One
The Glommer
Arex*
Retlaw Plant
Agmar and his Phylosian posse
Swoopers
Yellow winged bird guy (Aleek)
Spock's teddy bear with fangs (sehlat)
Green cat thing that sounds like Godzilla (le-matya)
300 million year old alien on viewscreen log
Green energy Redjac wannabe
The Vendorian
Lt. M'Ress
Remarkably human-looking Taureans.
The planet-eating, Majel Roddenberry-voiced cloud from another galaxy.
Alien miners of Arcadia
Rigelian hypnoid
Giant rock creatures
Remarkably human-looking (when they want to be except for that rebel Lucien guy) Megans
Assorted heretofore unseen aliens on the Delta Triangle's ruling council
The Kzinti (whom no one will mistake for Mensa candidates)
Aquans, both stogy elders and rebellious kids.
Sur-snake of Argo
The scardy Bug Guy
The Vedalian
The...remarkably human-looking alien (?) Lara
The not-a-Gorn lizard guy.
*by request
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Must be oldest not extinct, so, the Slavers must be extinct, now.
- WNMHGB
- What Are Little Girls Made Of?
- The Menagerie, Part 2
- Errand of Mercy
I don't understand why Kirk turned Lara down.
Was he a bit shy? Was she too assertive? Was she not fancy enough?
Was there any where private for them to be 'together' anyway?
I like it that Kirk and Spock weren't their first choices.
That in the universe there are one or two people/Vulcans better than Kirk or Spock.
Oh wait no they died (can't have been that good) - looks like Kirk and Spock are top along with the pickpocket guy.
Was he a bit shy? Was she too assertive? Was she not fancy enough?
Was there any where private for them to be 'together' anyway?
I like it that Kirk and Spock weren't their first choices.
That in the universe there are one or two people/Vulcans better than Kirk or Spock.
Oh wait no they died (can't have been that good) - looks like Kirk and Spock are top along with the pickpocket guy.
They are definitely Mary Shauns.
The Jihad shows five ships in orbit, with six representatives (Kirk and Spock count as one group). Whose ship is whose, considering we saw similar ships in The Time Trap?
- Humanoid Federation (Kirk, human and proven leader and Spock, half-vulcan and smart guy) = #1 Enterprise.
- Reptilian-like Aliens (Sord, good hearing/senses and muscle of the group)
- Insect-like Aliens (EM3Green, coward expert lock-pick and thief)
- Vedala, cat-like Aliens (no name given), possibly no ship needed based on their vanishing, brain control and time manipulation technology.
- Skorr, bird-like Aliens (T'Char, "Hereditary prince of the Skorr, master of the eerie." - he loves his titles...)
- Unknown Humanoid Colony (Lara, human female flirting hunter), probably a hitchhiker and looking for a ride home.
THE JIHAD
Trek writer Stephen Kandel returns and this time there is no Harry Mudd! Instead there are multiple original characters, all feel well written and have clearly established traits. The addition of not one but TWO guest voice actors also help to distinguish them from earlier TAS characters (Filmation regular Jane Webb filled in for a very pregnant Majel Barrett and David Gerrold voiced Em3 because apparently he just wanted to be involved!)
The exchange between Lara and Kirk is great, as female autonomy steps back into play! If there's any rhyme or reason why TAS swings wildly between gender equality and “damsels in distress” though, it eludes me.
Finally, extra kudos to Stephen for the term “green memories”
As such, it's just as possible that Lara simply meant they could create some new memories together since “green” is often synonymous with “new” such as the “green cheese” of the moon
While the story is not the farce that the last 2 Mudd episodes were, but nonetheless does feel somewhat familiar…
Anyway, let’s check off the D&D classes present:
There are some really good alien designs in this episode, thanks in large to the animated format:
As a “quest” episode this is a pretty good yarn, although no satisfactory reason is given why the Vedala couldn’t survive the planet – as later revealed these guys have the power to remove the “evil” from Tchar’s personality (while keeping the rest of his personality intact) and even mess with the very fabric of time itself!!!
This is an unfortunate return to the Trek trope of super-powerful aliens with a vaguely defined power set.
NEW TECH
While the ships orbiting the planet are reuses, the vehicle the party uses is a completely new design, albeit an incomplete one - where’s the roof? I’m not asking that it should be magma proof, but at the very least could keep out the rain!
RANDOM ENCOUNTERS
OTHER THOUGHTS
Like many super villains, Tchar’s plan doesn’t really stand up to scrutiny – why reveal the actual location of the temple? The party are entirely reliant on his aerial reconnaissance for directions, why not just send them off on a wild goose chase through the planet’s terrifying terrain? Why the elaborate plan with the mechanical birds?
Trek writer Stephen Kandel returns and this time there is no Harry Mudd! Instead there are multiple original characters, all feel well written and have clearly established traits. The addition of not one but TWO guest voice actors also help to distinguish them from earlier TAS characters (Filmation regular Jane Webb filled in for a very pregnant Majel Barrett and David Gerrold voiced Em3 because apparently he just wanted to be involved!)
The exchange between Lara and Kirk is great, as female autonomy steps back into play!
If there's any rhyme or reason why TAS swings wildly between gender equality and “damsels in distress” though, it eludes me.Finally, extra kudos to Stephen for the term “green memories”
Unfortunately there's no etymology given on that website and the entry itself was only posted in 2016.
As such, it's just as possible that Lara simply meant they could create some new memories together since “green” is often synonymous with “new” such as the “green cheese” of the moon
While the story is not the farce that the last 2 Mudd episodes were, but nonetheless does feel somewhat familiar…
Kirk and Spock join a party of other specialists to fetch a powerful artefact
Along the way, various incidents and wandering monsters harass the party, testing their varied range of skills. Ultimately they retrieve the treasure and return home, gaining little but experience from their adventures.
Honestly, it’s hard to believe that this episode pre-dated the release of Dungeons and Dragons by a full year! Of course, the rules for its predecessor “Chainmail” had been around since 1971 and tales of high fantasy adventure (such as Conan) existed for even longer. Maybe Stephen Kandel was a fan of Robert E Howard’s work?Along the way, various incidents and wandering monsters harass the party, testing their varied range of skills. Ultimately they retrieve the treasure and return home, gaining little but experience from their adventures.
Anyway, let’s check off the D&D classes present:
- Sord – Fighter (the tank)
- Lara the huntress - Ranger
- Spock the scientist - Wizard
- Em3, expert lockpick - Thief
- Kirk – another Fighter probably, but one with higher INT and DEX scores than Sord.
- Tchar – if I was feeling mean I might suggest Bard as he doesn’t actually do much! However, as his motives later reveal, he’s more like the NPC who hires the party in the tavern. In which case that makes…
- Vedala lady – Tavern Keeper
There are some really good alien designs in this episode, thanks in large to the animated format:
- The Vedala lady is a little more cat-like than Lieutenant M’Ress in appearance, but has a softer voice, less rrrrolling vocals. She has a ferocious roar though!
- We last saw a member of the Skorr race in Yesteryear but here Tchar shows off the full griffin-style awesomeness of his winged species
- Sord has a hefty tail and digitigrade legs. His face is reminiscent of the Gorn but with a fully articulated face and head.
- Em3 makes extensive use of his 6 arms in several scenes. He is also a deliciously bug-like
As a “quest” episode this is a pretty good yarn, although no satisfactory reason is given why the Vedala couldn’t survive the planet – as later revealed these guys have the power to remove the “evil” from Tchar’s personality (while keeping the rest of his personality intact) and even mess with the very fabric of time itself!!!
This is an unfortunate return to the Trek trope of super-powerful aliens with a vaguely defined power set.
NEW TECH
While the ships orbiting the planet are reuses, the vehicle the party uses is a completely new design, albeit an incomplete one - where’s the roof? I’m not asking that it should be magma proof, but at the very least could keep out the rain!
RANDOM ENCOUNTERS
- This so called “mad world” is just chock full of plot convenient weather - challenging to the party without being too deadly
I mean its geologically unstable…yeah, that’s it.
- The threat posed by the magma is…unclear. Spock and Em3 spend a very long time rewiring the vehicle, yet it doesn’t seem to be going much faster. Surely the time could have been better spent just driving away from the lava?
I guess they needed something for Spock and Em3 to do (filler?) - Kirk, Lara and Sord also make themselves useful by hefting some boulders (filler?)
- And then Spock falls overboard. D’oh! Told you they should have had a roof
- Then Em3 falls down a hole! (Hey Stephen – you already played this Event Card!)
- In a final bout of lazy exposition, Spock has to remind Kirk that they did zero-G training TOGETHER, ONLY LAST WEEK!!!
OTHER THOUGHTS
- The Vedala are the most ancient (extant) race in the galaxy! Good lore addition
- 3 expeditions have been lost – so why not send another! Wave after wave of brave, disposable volunteers…
- Volcanoes are getting to be a TAS staple
- After an advert break we get a shot of the Enterprise for some reason. The editor of the Slaver Weapon felt no such need to remind the audience that this is “that show about the Star Truck Enterprise”
- Later there’s another advert break, another shot of the Enterprise (and the other ships waiting above the Vedala’s planet). Did the editor forget that that’s NOT where the landing party is???
- The visualisation of the soul of Elar as being (THOUSAND FEET) off the floor doesn’t really work; it seems to be just off the floor! Am I looking at the right object?
Like many super villains, Tchar’s plan doesn’t really stand up to scrutiny – why reveal the actual location of the temple? The party are entirely reliant on his aerial reconnaissance for directions, why not just send them off on a wild goose chase through the planet’s terrifying terrain? Why the elaborate plan with the mechanical birds?
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