Star Trek TOS Re-Watch

[Tallguy]

O-A!

I haven't seen this in a long time. I remember liking it. Most of the things I remember about it now are because it influenced later Star Trek. Vulcan's have an inner eyelid. Kirk's brother dies. "I had a brother once. Awwww, just kidding, it's SPOCK!"

Apparently everyone else DOES call him Sam. And we don't know what happens to the other two kids.

One of the greatest moments of delight I ever got from Strange New Worlds was seeing Sam's mustache. (Are we ever going to see or even hear about Sam's kids?)

And of course Peter Kirk (Craig Huxley / Hundley) went on to play (and invent!) the Blaster Beam on Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Wrath of Khan, and The Search for Spock. (And a bunch of other non-Star Trek movies.) He also wrote the music / sound effects for the Genesis simulation.

An earlier draft (and the Blish novel) had the Enteprise defeating the hive mind by traveling back to the homeworld and eradicating them. I don't believe I have ever heard a peep about "genocide" from this episode. Those lousy flying piles of vomit had it coming!

 

[fireproof78]

One of the greatest moments of delight I ever got from Strange New Worlds was seeing Sam's mustache. (Are we ever going to see or even hear about Sam's kids?)

Pike asks about them.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

An earlier draft (and the Blish novel) had the Enteprise defeating the hive mind by traveling back to the homeworld and eradicating them. I don't believe I have ever heard a peep about "genocide" from this episode.

Probably because Chris Claremont never elected to write a sequel to it. His fondness for the rights of evil sentient beings is beyond compare. That's probably why 99.999967 percent of his X-MEN villains always escaped. Those outcomes were never in doubt.

 

[Commander Troi]

This is the most horrifying death in the series. She literally dies screaming in pain. It's really unsettling and I'm surprised the network let it go.

Yeah, it really horrified me. I wasn't expecting it and didn't remember it. I wonder if it had been cut in the truncated versions I saw back in the 70s.

And we don't know what happens to the other two kids.

What other kids? I didn't notice anything in the episode that referred to anyone more than Peter.

And of course Peter Kirk (Craig Huxley / Hundley) went on to play (and invent!) the Blaster Beam on Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Wrath of Khan, and The Search for Spock. (And a bunch of other non-Star Trek movies.) He also wrote the music / sound effects for the Genesis simulation.

An earlier draft (and the Blish novel) had the Enterprise defeating the hive mind by traveling back to the homeworld and eradicating them. I don't believe I have ever heard a peep about "genocide" from this episode. Those lousy flying piles of vomit had it coming!

I did not know that!

As far as genocide, one could argue the pancakes had already committed genocide several times. However, they didn't appear to be sentient, either individually or as a group.

 

[Tallguy]

Probably because Chris Claremont never elected to write a sequel to it. His fondness for the rights of evil sentient beings is beyond compare. That's probably why 99.999967 percent of his X-MEN villains always escaped. Those outcomes were never in doubt.

That's a pretty specific grudge. And one that Claremont is not alone in being guilty of.

What other kids? I didn't notice anything in the episode that referred to anyone more than Peter.

What Are Little Girls Made Of? said Sam had a wife and three sons. It also said only Jim ever calls George "Sam". We should be happy, of course, that they were even this consistent.

 

[mb22]

What other kids? I didn't notice anything in the episode that referred to anyone more than Peter.

From the earlier episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"

KIRK: What about memory? Tell me about Sam.
KIRK2 [android]: George Samuel Kirk, your brother. Only you call him Sam.
KIRK: He saw me off on this mission.
KIRK2: Yes, with his wife and three sons.

 

[Commander Troi]

D'oh!

 

[Henoch]

What Are Little Girls Made Of? said Sam had a wife and three sons. It also said only Jim ever calls George "Sam". We should be happy, of course, that they were even this consistent.

Apparently, it is a catchy trend since everyone now calls him Sam, too:

MCCOY: Jim, your brother Sam and his family, aren't they stationed on this planet?
...
KIRK: Yes. You were right a while back. My brother Sam lives on Deneva. He's a research biologist. That woman sounded like his wife Aurelan.
...
KIRK: Sam. It is my brother. Was my brother.
...
AURELAN: Jim? Sam, he's
​

You'd think someone would refer to his real name, George?

 

[Tallguy]

La'an: Be discreet.
Jim: Basically my middle name.
La'an: Whoa, whoa, whoa. No, actually, I've read your personnel file. You have some insane...
Jim: No, Tiberius is not insane.
La'an: The least discreet middle name.
Jim: It was my grandfather's.
La'an: What's your brother's? Sam Aurelius Augustus Benedictus Kirk?
Jim: Sam is his middle name. Most people call him George.
La'an: Absolutely no one calls him George.

I cannot stop laughing at that exchange.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

KIRK: What about memory? Tell me about Sam.
KIRK2 [android]: George Samuel Kirk, your brother. Only you call him Sam.
KIRK: He saw me off on this mission.
KIRK2: Yes, with his wife and three sons.

Actually, you could read that as not being "only" in the sense of "you're the only one who does", but rather, "except/but".

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

That's a pretty specific grudge. And one that Claremont is not alone in being guilty of.

Granted. It's only that he stresses the sentience without factoring in their evil misbehavior. When I read Leia's pity for the unseen Empire flunkies who blew up in a 1982 STAR WARS issue, I could almost smell Claremont's dried tearstains on page 31. It's a late lecture and uncharacteristic of Leia, who all but laughed her butt off in '77 two minutes after the Death Star blew up.

 

[fireproof78]

It's a late lecture and uncharacteristic of Leia, who all but laughed her butt off in '77 two minutes after the Death Star blew up.

Because trauma is a linear process?

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

Because trauma is a linear process?

No. Because Leia is a hypocrite. And CC is just whacked.

 

[fireproof78]

No. Because Leia is a hypocrite. And CC is just whacked.

I don't follow or see the hypocrisy.

 

[Ssosmcin]

No. Because Leia is a hypocrite. And CC is just whacked.

That doesn't prove either. It, at most, makes Leia's response inconsistent to what we've seen in the the films where she never really thinks about the enemy deaths because they're literally fighting a war. And in all of the films she's fighting for survival.

Also, the Death Star destroyed her home and her family. So, yeah, she's not gonna shed any tears for the janitor wiping down Tarkin's personal toilet.

And it doesn't make Claremont "whacked" he just has a reverence for life. This, by the way, is not a failing.

 

[Mytran]

Actually, you could read that as not being "only" in the sense of "you're the only one who does", but rather, "except/but".

Works on paper but Androidkirk put the emphasis on "you" when saying the line.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Works on paper but Androidkirk put the emphasis on "you" when saying the line.

It turns out "Only you call him Sam" means "Only you members of the Kirk family." You is plural here. The writer and Shatner didn't know it, but that's what it would turn out to mean.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

That wouldn't change the "except" meaning - just mean that he's addressing Jim Kirk, here and now, who he's sure of, not absent living friends who might also call him that. Perhaps as far as Jim (and therefore, the android Kirk) knew, he was the only one who called GSK that. (Or perhaps the one who started it)

 

[Denise]

None of this seems so strange to me (one member of the family addressing another by a personal nickname). My sister's name is Anita, and my mother calls her "Skeetsie" or "Skeets." None of the rest of us do. We call her Nita.

 

[Tallguy]

None of this seems so strange to me (one member of the family addressing another by a personal nickname). My sister's name is Anita, and my mother calls her "Skeetsie" or "Skeets." None of the rest of us do. We call her Nita.

No, it's not strange at all. But it turns out that NOBODY calls the older Kirk brother "George". Everyone calls him Sam.