Star Trek TOS Re-Watch

[Commander Troi]

We watched a bunch of TAS yesterday. I'm putting the titles here to remind me to write about them later.

• More Tribbles, More Troubles
• The Survivor
• Once Upon A Planet
• The Time Trap
• The Jihad

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Maybe more in the universities.

No, it has filtered down to grade school, for some time now. It started at the University level going back many decades.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I apologize for veering "Spectre of the Gun" in the direction of what could become politics. It's not right for this forum.

 

[Warped9]

I apologize for veering "Spectre of the Gun" in the direction of what could become politics. It's not right for this forum.

If I’m not mistaken the “gunfight” at the O.K. Corral wasn’t well known until about mid century. Note, though, that in the episode although Kirk and company are the obvious”good guys” they’re still referred to as horse thieves and cattle rustlers: bad guys. The Earps are supposed to be the good guys, but they’re portrayed as bad guys.

Take from that what you will.

 

[Joanna McCoy-Kirk]

I always thought that the double knit uniforms in season 3 were tacky.

 

[fireproof78]

When I was in fifth or sixth grade, the real Wyatt Earp came up in class, and I was quietly stunned to learn he was on the good side, and the Clantons were criminals. (Schools in those days were still teaching that the United States itself was good; now our own public schools smear the hell out of us.)

I learned more about that gunfight traveling through Arizona and watching MASH.

 

[Commander Troi]

I learned more about that gunfight traveling through Arizona and watching MASH.

Have you been to Touristtra... I mean Tombstone?

 

[fireproof78]

Have you been to Touristtra... I mean Tombstone?

No. But, my dad did and would provide books when we went from LA to Tucson.

 

[Commander Troi]

More Tribbles, More Troubles
By David Gerrold

Sherman's Planet is starving again. On the way to bring them quintotriticale, the Enterprise comes upon a Klingon ship firing on a Federation scout ship. Beaming the pilot out before the ship blows up, we find Cyrano Jones, purveyor of Tribbles. He's wanted by the Klingons for ecological sabotage.

Jones is now selling Tribbles that don't breed and has a Tribble predator called a glommer. The Klingons have a weapon that disables the Enterprise. Hijinks ensue, including giant Tribbles (I loved the one taking over the Captain's chair!).

It turns out Jones sold Tribbles to the Klingons (I'm not sure I buy that...) and the Klingons genetically engineered the glommer, which Jones stole. Kirk gives back the glommer, but it can't handle giant Tribbles. McCoy figures out they're actually Tribble colonies and gives them a serum to seperate them and slow their metabolic rate.

The Klingon commander is supposed to be Koloth but it's not William Campbell, so I had trouble with that. Kirk gets Tribbles dumped on him again. Kirk beams Tribbles over to the Klingon ship. Pink giant Tribbles looked pretty funny.

It was fun, but not as awesome as "The Trouble with Tribbles."

 

[Warped9]

“More Tribbles, More Troubles” is one of Classic Trek’s laziest and pointless episodes. I cannot stand this thing. What a waste.

 

[Tallguy]

If I’m not mistaken the “gunfight” at the O.K. Corral wasn’t well known until about mid century. Note, though, that in the episode although Kirk and company are the obvious”good guys” they’re still referred to as horse thieves and cattle rustlers: bad guys. The Earps are supposed to be the good guys, but they’re portrayed as bad guys.

Take from that what you will.

1920's-ish. Basically when Earp got to Hollywood.

“More Tribbles, More Troubles” is one of Classic Trek’s laziest and pointless episodes. I cannot stand this thing. What a waste.

Well...

More Tribbles, More Troubles

AKA The Best Space Battle in Star Trek. (OK, MAYBE Khan is better. But that didn't run for the entire episode / movie!)

I used to lump this in with the notion of "TAS is just a bunch of sequels". (Also not true. They did... Four? Including the third Mudd episode? I'm not counting The Pirate of Orion as a sequel.) But then over the years I gave this a closer look. Rather than just being a beat for beat retread of the original episode the Tribbles are a subplot. Cyrano Jones is kind of the McGuffin. There is a LOT going on in this 22 minute episode!

I did like the original idea that the glommer would have been eating a lot more than tribbles. Anyone seen Ensign Washburn? Maybe a bit much for the rest of the episode.

My only complaint might be that they didn't get William Campbell back. (We should just be amazed and delighted that they got Stanley Adams, Roger C. Carmel, and of course, Mark Lenard.) But then I never liked William Campbell as Koloth. It's just that this was a particular area of Doohan's range that I got tired of. This is pretty much the voice that people think of when they think of Doohan "doing voices". You get rid of this one and he's probably better than people think. OK, don't let him do the Guardian of Forever either.

No idea how they ever planned on doing this live action back in the day. But that was apparently the plan. We would never have gotten those grain ships though.

It turns out Jones sold Tribbles to the Klingons

I'm not sure I ever caught that that was what happened. I always assumed the Klingons were still dealing with the tribbles Scotty "gave" them. (As Gerrold has noted, how humane - whatever the word for "humane" is when applied to Klingons - do we think the Klingons were?)

I always thought that the double knit uniforms in season 3 were tacky.

But how did they look on a 14 inch TV?

 

[Commander Troi]

I did like the original idea that the glommer would have been eating a lot more than tribbles. Anyone seen Ensign Washburn?

 

[Commander Troi]

TAS "The Survivor" by James Schmerer

This is one I have to see I may never have seen. It looked completely unfamiliar to me.

Patrolling near the Neutral Zone, the Enterprise finds a small ship with Carter Winston (Ted Knight!) inside. He's one of those rich adventurer/philanthropist and he's been missing for five years. Winston's fiancee, Lieutenant Anne Nored, is a security officer aboard the Enterprise. She's thrilled to see him, but he breaks off their engagement without explanation.

We soon see it's not Carter Wilson, but an alien shapeshifter who has taken his form. The Vendorian knocks Kirk out, takes his form, and orders the ship into the Neutral Zone. Romulans warbirds are there to meet them. Kirk wakes up, is told where they are and doesn't remember ordering it, so he goes to see McCoy. But the Vendorian takes McCoy's form to fool them. Spock figures out he's a fake when "McCoy" admits to a mistake (which made me laugh a lot). A new exam table shows up in sickbay and Kirk and Spock aren't fooled and force it to take it's true form (a form that would not have working in live action with the budget available). The Vendorian was hired by the Romulans to lure the Enterprise into the NZ.

As Our Heroes are about to be blown up, the Vendorian takes the form of a deflector shield (which it had sabotaged earlier) and saves them. It explains that it had been with Winston when he died and preserved his memories and personality, gradually taking them as its own, thus the change of heart. Lt. Nored volunteers to guard it because it's similar enough to Winston that she cares for it.

Earlier in the episode, Nored had trouble taking action against the Vendorian because it looked like Winston. That's a bit like the salt vampire looking like McCoy's old lover in The Man Trap. However, Nored makes up for it later and I liked seeing a female security officer. It's a tight episode, but the Vendorian's turnaround is a little quick. I consider this an ok episode, mostly because of the time constraints. Ted Knight was, as always, terrific.

 

[Commander Troi]

Sorry for the multi-post, but I wanted to get these down when I had a few minutes and before I forgot them.

TAS "Once Upon A Planet" by Chuck Menville and Len Janson

This is a sequel to the TOS episode "Shore Leave."

The Enterprise stops by the amusement park planet for some R&R. However, McCoy is attacked and Uhura is kidnapped by the planet's computer, which thinks the ship is her "master" (ouch!) and it wants to take the ship to search for other intelligent life. While searching for her, the crew finds the grave of the Caretaker they'd met before. Remembering how the planet took care of McCoy the last time he was hurt, Spock fakes injury and gets taken to the computer's underground complex, where Kirk follows.

Spock and Kirk disabuse the computer of the idea that the crew are "slaves" to the Enterprise. They and Uhura convince it that beings from everywhere will come to this planet for its wonders. Basically, the computer is lonely. Spock agrees to converse with it while the rest of the crew enjoys their shore leave.

This is an ok episode, elevated a bit by Uhura having something to do. It also explains more about the "Shore Leave" planet and leaves it open for it to be used again (which it hasn't been as far as I know).

 

[Poltargyst]

how humane do we think the Klingons were?

I think they slaughtered the tribbles with great relish. Which kind of puts a damper on all the laughter at the end of TTWT for me.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I think they slaughtered the tribbles with great relish.

I'd go with blue cheese dressing.

 

[Commander Troi]

TAS: The Time Trap by Joyce Perry
The Bermuda Triangle in space. Attacked by Klingons, one of the Klingon ships and the Enterprise find themselves in a timeless "Sargasso Sea." Other ships have been stuck there for generations and the descendants of their crews have formed a government. Also, the space will deteriorate the dilithium crystals, so the Enterprise links with the Klingon ship to get out. Of course, the Klingons plan to betray them, but are found out just in time.

An okay episode. An interesting premise, but the execution was lacking and I found my attention wandering.

TAS: The Jihad by Stephen Kandel

It's a D&D campaign! There's a stolen religious artifact which could start a war, a Noble, a Fighter, a Thief, and a Ranger with a Brooklyn accent. The Noble stole the artifact himself and is nuts. I wasn't very impressed with this episode, but it was probably the first time I ever heard the term "jihad."

 

[CorporalCaptain]

"The Time Trap" was visually more interesting when the pocket universe had a red background, as it did originally before the DVD release of TAS.

 

[Commander Troi]

Interesting.

 

[Poltargyst]

Time Trap was my favorite episode of TAS when I was a kid.