Nothing could really be left "as-is"... there's always room for improvement, even without pushing the budget. The question is, would there be anything compelling to be different.
I also find the "Yangs" and "Coms" reference too blatant. What would have appealed to me is that these people wouldn't be from Earth, but from some other more advanced civilization who escaped impending social collapse, tried to rebuild, but then chaos got the better of them. It would show that socialist and democratic type forms of government are universally conceived, not just on planet Earth.
I like the idea of Kirk expounding on the Constitution, but it would be unique to Earth while being comparative to their situation. He would start reading their document, find the parallels, then recite some of the US Constitution as a parallel example of what brought the Federation to what it is today.
In all other respects, I like it. Woodward's performance is great--a nice contrast to his crazed Dr. Van Gelder. His passion for finding the fountain of youth is understandable, but he just can't keep his head straight... Frankly, his pursuit to destroy Kirk was meaningless, as eventually the Enterprise crew would beam down and find out what happened. I would have liked to see more personal anguish on his part, struggling between the folly of his erroneous belief that he found the fountain of youth and how he might recover without losing his rank.
I also find the "Yangs" and "Coms" reference too blatant. What would have appealed to me is that these people wouldn't be from Earth, but from some other more advanced civilization who escaped impending social collapse, tried to rebuild, but then chaos got the better of them. It would show that socialist and democratic type forms of government are universally conceived, not just on planet Earth.
I like the idea of Kirk expounding on the Constitution, but it would be unique to Earth while being comparative to their situation. He would start reading their document, find the parallels, then recite some of the US Constitution as a parallel example of what brought the Federation to what it is today.
In all other respects, I like it. Woodward's performance is great--a nice contrast to his crazed Dr. Van Gelder. His passion for finding the fountain of youth is understandable, but he just can't keep his head straight... Frankly, his pursuit to destroy Kirk was meaningless, as eventually the Enterprise crew would beam down and find out what happened. I would have liked to see more personal anguish on his part, struggling between the folly of his erroneous belief that he found the fountain of youth and how he might recover without losing his rank.