I watched this just this morning, it's one of my most rarely rewatched TOS episodes. Nimoy and Linville's work together is just...
I've always liked it. One of my favorites."Is There in Truth No Beauty?" by Jean Lisette Aroeste
I always liked this episode, probably because of Diana Muldaur's performance. Miranda is smart, snarky, stubborn, and knows what she does and doesn't want.
The Enterprise is assigned to escort Medusan ambassador Kollos and psychologist Dr. Miranda Jones. "While the thoughts of the Medusans are the most sublime in the galaxy, their physical appearance is exactly the opposite. They have evolved into a race of beings who are formless, so utterly hideous that the sight of a Medusan brings total madness to any human who sees one." Kollos travels in a carrier to hide him from view, and First Officer Spock assists as necessary using a special visor which allows his Vulcan psychology to withstand the sight of Kollos. Jones is also able to observe Kollos with the help of the visor. She is a telepath who plans to link with Kollos when they meet up with the Medusan ship. Also joining the ship for the trip is Larry Marvick, "one of the designers of the Enterprise," who will design instruments for Medusan navigators on starships.
Miranda looks on Kollos! How is that possible? She's also jealous of Spock.
The dinner scene is delightful. Kirk is flirty, but Miranda gives as good as she gets. McCoy is far more gallant. Miranda points out that what she learned on Vulcan was how *not* to read minds all the time. Spock wears the IDIC symbol. It may have come about because Gene wanted merch, but I've always loved it and what it stands for.
It turns out Marvick is in love with Miranda, but she doesn't love him. He tried to kill Kollos, but the Medusan opens his carrier and Marvick goes mad. Bursting into engineering and overcoming Scotty and 2 engineers, Marvick takes the ship to warp 8.5 and through the galactic barrier, where they have no idea how to get back. Marvick, after trying to strangle Miranda, is captured and dies.
Because the Medusans are terrific navigators, Spock offers to meld with Kollos to get them home. At first, Kirk tries to distract Miranda, leading to a terrific exchange about love and ugliness and beauty. I was reminded of how in mythology, humans cannot bear the full splendor of the Gods and die from seeing it. Miranda rushes back to Kollos' quarters, deeply unhappy about the deception. McCoy ends up spilling the beans - Miranda is blind and therefore cannot be effected by seeing Kollos. Kollos gets her to comply with the idea of the meld.
The Spock/Kollos meld gives Nimoy some great bits, including quoting Byron to Uhura and The Tempest to Miranda (a joke I didn't get until I read the play). Kollos talking about loneliness is just a gorgeous scene. They get the ship home, but Spock forgets to put the visor back on! He goes mad and tosses around bridge crew like dolls until Kirk stuns him. Spock is taken to sickbay where Miranda tries to help him out of his madness and save his life. However, Kirk doesn't think she really wants to help Spock and he berates her. She "dives in" to save Spock and does so.
Miranda and Kollos have bonded and are leaving. Spock is again wearing the IDIC symbol.
MIRANDA: I understand, Mister Spock. The glory of creation is in its infinite diversity.
SPOCK: And the ways our differences combine to create meaning and beauty.
This is a terrific episode. The writing is tight and, in places, quite beautiful. I want Miranda's outfits.
I’ve long been struck by how “early Trek-fanzine story” this episode feels: the guest star everybody’s attracted to who has a Troubling Secret; the unusual-for-TOS continuity callback (returning to the Barrier); the fairly extraneous new element of Vulcan culture."Is There in Truth No Beauty?" by Jean Lisette Aroeste
I always liked this episode, probably because of Diana Muldaur's performance. Miranda is smart, snarky, stubborn, and knows what she does and doesn't want.
The Enterprise is assigned to escort Medusan ambassador Kollos and psychologist Dr. Miranda Jones. "While the thoughts of the Medusans are the most sublime in the galaxy, their physical appearance is exactly the opposite. They have evolved into a race of beings who are formless, so utterly hideous that the sight of a Medusan brings total madness to any human who sees one." Kollos travels in a carrier to hide him from view, and First Officer Spock assists as necessary using a special visor which allows his Vulcan psychology to withstand the sight of Kollos. Jones is also able to observe Kollos with the help of the visor. She is a telepath who plans to link with Kollos when they meet up with the Medusan ship. Also joining the ship for the trip is Larry Marvick, "one of the designers of the Enterprise," who will design instruments for Medusan navigators on starships.
Miranda looks on Kollos! How is that possible? She's also jealous of Spock.
The dinner scene is delightful. Kirk is flirty, but Miranda gives as good as she gets. McCoy is far more gallant. Miranda points out that what she learned on Vulcan was how *not* to read minds all the time. Spock wears the IDIC symbol. It may have come about because Gene wanted merch, but I've always loved it and what it stands for.
It turns out Marvick is in love with Miranda, but she doesn't love him. He tried to kill Kollos, but the Medusan opens his carrier and Marvick goes mad. Bursting into engineering and overcoming Scotty and 2 engineers, Marvick takes the ship to warp 8.5 and through the galactic barrier, where they have no idea how to get back. Marvick, after trying to strangle Miranda, is captured and dies.
Because the Medusans are terrific navigators, Spock offers to meld with Kollos to get them home. At first, Kirk tries to distract Miranda, leading to a terrific exchange about love and ugliness and beauty. I was reminded of how in mythology, humans cannot bear the full splendor of the Gods and die from seeing it. Miranda rushes back to Kollos' quarters, deeply unhappy about the deception. McCoy ends up spilling the beans - Miranda is blind and therefore cannot be effected by seeing Kollos. Kollos gets her to comply with the idea of the meld.
The Spock/Kollos meld gives Nimoy some great bits, including quoting Byron to Uhura and The Tempest to Miranda (a joke I didn't get until I read the play). Kollos talking about loneliness is just a gorgeous scene. They get the ship home, but Spock forgets to put the visor back on! He goes mad and tosses around bridge crew like dolls until Kirk stuns him. Spock is taken to sickbay where Miranda tries to help him out of his madness and save his life. However, Kirk doesn't think she really wants to help Spock and he berates her. She "dives in" to save Spock and does so.
Miranda and Kollos have bonded and are leaving. Spock is again wearing the IDIC symbol.
MIRANDA: I understand, Mister Spock. The glory of creation is in its infinite diversity.
SPOCK: And the ways our differences combine to create meaning and beauty.
This is a terrific episode. The writing is tight and, in places, quite beautiful. I want Miranda's outfits.
"My compliments to you, and to your dressmaker."I want Miranda's outfits.
That was taken with a fisheye lens. Beauty is largely about facial proportions, and that lens blows out all proportions by design.
This was my takeaway the last time I saw the episode (having not seen it in many years before that). There are moments in the episode that approximate a female gaze on our main (male) characters, and a fairly critical one at that. I have come to love the episode overall-- I think it's a dark horse top 15
...I hope everyone here knows me well enough to know that no pun was intended with "gaze"
I mean she's not Helen Noel, but she's okay.
Haaaa. Can't disagree with any of that. The one-line 'ok, so for purposes of this episode Scotty might hate women now' table-setting at the beginning is bonkers
Aren’t the Earps usually the heroes? There was a popular TV about Wyatt in the Fifties. Early movies tended to make him a hero, IIRC. He hung out with some early Western stars and directors like John Ford and Tom Mix back in the Nineteen Twenties.
