Season 3 (The Goatee Version)

[EnriqueH]

Alright, so I started a "Season 3" thread a few weeks back and it ended up being a love fest to what I felt was a mostly unappreciated and unfairly maligned season.

Though I certainly found a lot of flaws from a production budget standpoint, I thought the season had its share of winners. With the exception of Spock's Brain, That Which Survives, and And The Children Shall Lead, I enjoyed Season 3.

But here, I want to hear the voices of those that think Season 3 was horrible.

From those people, I want to hear their intelligent thoughts on why Season 3 sucks.

Now, mind you, I'm hoping for intelligent reasons because I want to understand the viewpoint. I'm not just looking for, "Season 3 was a piece of shit, and it blows." I want to know WHY you feel that way.

 

[PCz911]

I wouldnt put "That which survives " in the same category as spocks brain.
Did you really think it was That bad?

 

[EnriqueH]

I wouldnt put "That which survives " in the same category as spocks brain.
Did you really think it was That bad?

It's not as bad as Spock's Brain, (or Alternative Factor).

Well, as I had explained, it was a good action/adventure story and I really liked Lt. D'Amato and some of the supporting players in this episode.

What made That Which Survives "bad" was the characterization of Spock. It was probably the one time in the entire series that I thought the writers totally got the character wrong. I get into "why" in the other Season 3 thread.

Alternative Factor and Spock's Brain, in my opinion, are the only two really, really bad episodes.

 

[Harvey]

"And The Children Shall Lead" is pretty awful, too.

As Bob Justman once put it, in the third season, they weren't making television anymore, they were making radio shows. Rather than show with action, the third season spends a lot of time telling with talk, talk, talk.

The budget cuts are apparent everywhere. There are fewer extras onboard the Enterprise and fewer location shoots than in either prior season. Outside of the regulars, there were a lot fewer familiar faces onboard the Enterprise than before, too.

The life seems to be gone from the show at times. When Finnerman left and was replaced by Al Francis, the photography was less vivid, more flat. Without Gene Coon polishing scripts, there wasn't nearly as much humor or joy.

There are episodes that work. "Spectre of the Gun" is essentially a re-tread of "Arena," but it's an imaginative and atmospheric re-tread. "The Tholian Web" is a genuinely good episode.

The best episodes are in season two.

The best season is season one.

The worst episodes and the worst season is season three.

 

[Albertese]

Please elaborate how "Specter of the Gun" is a retread of "Arena"? I don't see it...

--Alex

 

[Harvey]

Please elaborate how "Specter of the Gun" is a retread of "Arena"? I don't see it...

--Alex

Let me crib from this review.

Since the overall storyline is rather reminiscent of "Arena" - powerful aliens make the Enterprise crew fight to the death, then offer a reprieve when they show themselves to be peaceful - it's just not very engaging.

Here's another review that makes a similar same point.

It's a mash-up of Arena (powerful aliens force Kirk into a fight to the death to punish him for trespassing on their territory, at the end Kirk's refusal to kill convinces them to give him a second chance) and A Taste Of Armageddon.

I should clarify that "Spectre of the Gun" is one of my all-time favorite episodes of the original series, but it's hard for me to ignore the similiarities ("The Savage Curtain" is, in many ways, cut from much of the same cloth, although it is quite inferior compared to "Arena" or "Spectre of the Gun").

 

[Maurice]

The third season is a target-rich environment to be sure, but I'm going to focus on a few of the better episodes which I still find sub-par.

"The Tholian Web" is chock full of illogic. Spock just seems to magically "know" stuff like new interphase intervals after Loskene shows up without even consulting scanners.

"The Enterprise Incident" teeters on a wobbly premise and is wholly dependent on the Romulans being durned fools at every turn and their commander being a lovestruck Bobby Spockser.

"That Which Survives" is just another "we gotta stay alive" episode where no one makes any dramatic decisions. It also suffers from the 3rd year super-asshole-Spock.

 

[telerites]

My Season 3 worst episodes were:

Spock's Brain
Turnabout Intruder
Is There No Truth in Beauty

I liked many of the Season 3 episodes.

 

[Marsden]

"That Which Survives" ... It also suffers from the 3rd year super-asshole-Spock.

That's mine and EnriqueH's main complaint, I don't think it's bad otherwise, but Spock is terrible in it.

He was more like Spock when his brain was out in Spock's Brain.


I like Enterpise Incident, but nobody remembers ships have shields.

I think Savage Curtain is more like Arena than Spectre of the Gun. The begining of Spectre of the Gun reminds me of Corbomite Maneuver more than anything.

I don't think I'm going to have to much more to add to this thread.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

"The Tholian Web" is chock full of illogic. Spock just seems to magically "know" stuff like new interphase intervals after Loskene shows up without even consulting scanners.

Did it require the audience seeing the process? Can audiences assume scanners were consulted off-screen, since that was not central to drama?

"That Which Survives" is just another "we gotta stay alive" episode where no one makes any dramatic decisions. It also suffers from the 3rd year super-asshole-Spock.

He was not the only one; McCoy was often hostile, and the performance of Kirk often had him interrupting other characters before they finished whatever they were saying.

 

[Maurice]

Did it require the audience seeing the process? Can audiences assume scanners were consulted off-screen, since that was not central to drama?

I'd have to watch it again to see exactly what struck me as baffling. I suppose its possible I'm remembering syndication edit with chunks missing.

 

[urbandefault]

Even though "Spock's Brain" is silly, I've always liked it.

 

[EnriqueH]

"That Which Survives" ... It also suffers from the 3rd year super-asshole-Spock.

That's mine and EnriqueH's main complaint, I don't think it's bad otherwise, but Spock is terrible in it.

Exactly right.

It's actually an ok, even good, episode when you take the writing of Spock out of the equation. There were even some good supporting characters. Again, I loved D'Amato.

But when you juxtapose the writing of Spock with the rest of the episode, Spock's writing is a fatal flaw. It just kills it IMO.

 

[Commishsleer]

"That Which Survives" is just another "we gotta stay alive" episode where no one makes any dramatic decisions. It also suffers from the 3rd year super-asshole-Spock.

He was not the only one; McCoy was often hostile, and the performance of Kirk often had him interrupting other characters before they finished whatever they were saying.

Yes I can't stand Spock in this, Kirk was being an idiot too. I guess I'm used to McCoy being hostile.

I still can't understand why Scotty told them to jettison him when he was their only hope.

I can't remember another episode where Spock was so particular about his subordinates with decimal points in calculations except where he was showing off for Kirk.