Neither did Spock or McCoy.
“Wolf In The Fold” ***
Chief Engineer Scott is accused of murdering several women.
One thing about ClassicTrek, even when it's run-of-the-mill overall it's never boring.
Redjac: "Die, die, die, everybody die!"
This is a fun episode overall, but it suffers from something inescapable: the passage of time. By that I mean that over the years we've been inundated with police procedural shows detailing how crime investigation methods have evolved. And there's every reason to believe that investigation techniques will continue to improve. And yet here we have a number of murders set in the far future and we have nothing as simple as DNA analysis, blood spatter patterns, scene reconstruction and all many of detailed tests. Part of me kept hoping L&A: Criminal Intent's Detective Goren would walk onto the scene and beginning telling everyone what they'd missed.
From the episode we can deduce that Scotty was either temporarily possessed by the entity to commit the murders or he was hypnotized and paralyzed in some fashion to prevent him from interfering. That certainly seems the case with the first two murders. The killing of Sybo is in question because Scotty claimed to not having blacked out during that killing. Or perhaps part of his consciousness was still aware even though his body was possessed. It's sufficiently murky that we never really understand what happened. Also, the idea that Scotty supposedly harboured a recent resentment towards women because of some accident also sounds like some male chauvinist bullshit. Then again the idea of Argelius as some hedonistic society sounds like something Gene Roddenberry would have loved. Although Scotty finds himself in quite a predicament here Doohan's portrayal here has shifted---Scotty seems to be losing his own distinct composure that he had in Season 1 and even within recent Season 2 episodes.
One question I do have: Hengist was apparently dead and the murder knife was not in the briefing room...yet how did Hengist's body get hold of the knife? Or was it another one he had had in his possession? Again no answers.
It's an okay episode with entertaining moments---certainly not boring---but it certainly isn't among the best TOS has done.
“The Doomsday Machine” *****
A Starfleet Commodore driven by guilt tries to destroy a planet killing robot.
And another 5 rated episode. Really, though, this is one of Star Trek's finest hours and space adventure done well. William Windom does a wonderful job of portraying a ship's captain obsessed with guilt over the loss of his crew. And they can reimagine it all they want, but I still love the original rough hewn alien look of the planet killer (and, yes, I know that's not how Norman Spinrad initially envisioned it).
One of the things that gets me about this story is its epic feel. For me this has more drama and high adventure to it then all manner of sci-fi flicks with ever bigger explosions, loud f/x and lens flares aplenty, probably because it's well written, well edited and sports some damn good performances. This is the kind of SF adventure story I'd like to see on the big screen. The closest thing I've seen feature film wise (in terms of overall feel) are Master And Commander and perhaps The Wrath Of Khan.
It doesn't get much better than this.
Now in fairness it's easy to see where a little more time and thought could have gone into the original f/x sequences. The Constellation model, while nicely damaged, really looks like it was hastily thrown together---at least a better paint job was called for. And there are even some shots of the 11ft. miniature that don't work very well. And the shuttlecraft miniature is waay out of scale with the planet killer. There is another logic hole: a planet is a very big object and even one planet would be able to supply a lot of matter for a device of the planet killer's size. Yes, it was big in relation to a starship, but in relation to a planet it would be awfully small.
There are also some other questions. Spock's conclusion/assumption that the robot originated from outside the galaxy only works if the course they project enters the galaxy from above or below the galactic plane. Otherwise it could have come from anywhere. And it doesn't follow that this thing could necessarily have been all that old---it could have been built within decades to centuries and not necessarily thousands of years or so.
But somehow the rest of the story and execution overcomes what are really minor shortcomings.
We also get our first look at Kirk's new alternate green command tunic. Nice, but I kinda like the first season version a bit better.
) as both of yours and I think it was a triumph.
