Star Trek TOS Re-Watch
- Thread starter Commander Troi
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Are you saying he's not that green?
Stellar episode, top class. This is a masterclass in how to make an exciting action adventure SF show with great characters and an emotional storyline. One of the series' very best episodes.
Journey to Babel demonstrates perfectly that political stories without A-list villains can be fantastic. Amanda is awesome- a woman who understands that Vulcans have a sense of humour and how to work with it. It's amusing how TOS often implies and sometimes dares to state outright that women are illogical, magnified to the nth degree by the dynamic with a Vulcan. Amanda demonstrates effortlessly that a she can be both illogical and right at the same time.
Janet Wallace is an interesting character in that she's smart, competent, and professional unlike many other female scientists on the show, whose qualifications are stated and never factor into anything they do. Being an old flame of Kirk's is a bit meh, but he does seem to have a type.
Janet Wallace is an interesting character in that she's smart, competent, and professional unlike many other female scientists on the show, whose qualifications are stated and never factor into anything they do. Being an old flame of Kirk's is a bit meh, but he does seem to have a type.
Just now, in fact, before we went to the store. I went into our pitch-dark bedroom to get my wallet, not knowing my wife was in there getting her purse. She just sort of materialized out of the darkness right in front of me. GAH!!
Ever been trying to fall asleep and then heard the uncrinkling crunch of a water bottle?
Just now, in fact, before we went to the store. I went into our pitch-dark bedroom to get my wallet, not knowing my wife was in there getting her purse. She just sort of materialized out of the darkness right in front of me. GAH!!
My wife has done that to me on purpose a couple times. Then she'll say in a creepy voice, "Good EVEning." Always fun when that happens.
(I have tried to replicate how she does her creepy 'good EVEning', but I seem to always sound like Dracula.)
When hinges creek in doorless chambers and strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls...
Back to The Deadly Years, it is pointed out that the mental decline is faster than the physical aging:
SPOCK: (looking about the same as usual) Based on what Doctor McCoy gave me, I estimate that physically we each have less than a week to live. Also, since our mental faculties are aging faster than our bodies, we will be little better than mental vegetables in considerably lesser time.
KIRK: Total senility?
SPOCK: Yes, Captain. In a very short time.
Poor Kirk got the advanced senility card. KIRK: Total senility?
SPOCK: Yes, Captain. In a very short time.
I think we can assume they were not only aging at an accelerated rate, but also not in how they would actually age eventually. We know Shatner, for example, has aged rather well despite the inevitable aches and pains he must have.
Also, in context of the story, they don’t have sufficient time to adapt or compensate for their rapidly diminishing faculties.
Also, in context of the story, they don’t have sufficient time to adapt or compensate for their rapidly diminishing faculties.
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And without sufficient time to have their cognitive decline be diagnosed early enough for medical (preventative/mitigatative of further damage) intervention.
Temporarily as backstory.
"Obsession" by Art Wallace
Vampire cloud monster! I know I haven't seen this one very often. Kirk goes Ahab on a creature he encountered 11 years earlier that killed half the crew of his ship, the Farragut, including his captain.
It starts with a familiar scent. Redshirts die, drained of hemoglobin. Kirk takes more redshirts, including Ensign Garrovick, who happens to be the son of the Farragut's captain. Garrovick hesitates in firing on the creature, just as Kirk did back when he was a young officer. Kirk's guilt drives him to chase the creature when it leaves the planet, pushing the Enterprise until it nearly explodes. McCoy and Spock are worried about him and confront him over his obsession. The chase is delaying a rendezvous with the Yorktown to deliver medicine.
The creature shows signs of intelligence, even turning on the Enterprise and getting into the ventilation. It gets into Garrovick's quarters while Spock is there. Spock throws the ensign out of the room and then tries to shut the vent, which Garrovick accidentally broke (he also tries to stop a cloud with his hands, which is just stupid). Scotty reverses the ventilation and Spock comes out unharmed, as his hemoglobin is based on copper, not iron. Since none of their weapons have effected the creature, Kirk lets Garrovick know he has no reason to feel guilty - and realizes *he* has no reason to either.
Kirk has some kind of link to the creature and when it moves off, he realizes it's going home, to where it met up with the Farragut 11 years earlier. Spock thinks it's going there to spawn. Kirk and Garrovick beam down with hemoplasm to attract the creature and an anti-matter bomb to take it out. The creature gets the bait before they can set up, so Kirk decides to use himself. Garrovick fights him, trying to take his place, but Kirk says he doesn't intend to sacrifice himself. They lure the cloud to the bomb and... "Energise and detonate!"
Spock has to pull some rabbits out of his hat, but manages to beam the two aboard. I think McCoy's issues with transporters start here ("Crazy way to travel, spreading a man's molecules all over the universe.").
A tight, suspenseful episode. Shatner does a terrific job showing Kirk obsessed, guilt-ridden, and also questioning whether he's doing the right thing. Stephen Brooks does a good job as the young Garrovick. Chapel has a great scene where she's trying to get Garrovick to eat.
Amusing bit: "'Lieutenant Lesley' played by regular Star Trek background actor Eddie Paskey is killed in this episode, however his character re-appears (and is referred to by name) in many subsequent episodes."
Vampire cloud monster! I know I haven't seen this one very often. Kirk goes Ahab on a creature he encountered 11 years earlier that killed half the crew of his ship, the Farragut, including his captain.
It starts with a familiar scent. Redshirts die, drained of hemoglobin. Kirk takes more redshirts, including Ensign Garrovick, who happens to be the son of the Farragut's captain. Garrovick hesitates in firing on the creature, just as Kirk did back when he was a young officer. Kirk's guilt drives him to chase the creature when it leaves the planet, pushing the Enterprise until it nearly explodes. McCoy and Spock are worried about him and confront him over his obsession. The chase is delaying a rendezvous with the Yorktown to deliver medicine.
The creature shows signs of intelligence, even turning on the Enterprise and getting into the ventilation. It gets into Garrovick's quarters while Spock is there. Spock throws the ensign out of the room and then tries to shut the vent, which Garrovick accidentally broke (he also tries to stop a cloud with his hands, which is just stupid). Scotty reverses the ventilation and Spock comes out unharmed, as his hemoglobin is based on copper, not iron. Since none of their weapons have effected the creature, Kirk lets Garrovick know he has no reason to feel guilty - and realizes *he* has no reason to either.
Kirk has some kind of link to the creature and when it moves off, he realizes it's going home, to where it met up with the Farragut 11 years earlier. Spock thinks it's going there to spawn. Kirk and Garrovick beam down with hemoplasm to attract the creature and an anti-matter bomb to take it out. The creature gets the bait before they can set up, so Kirk decides to use himself. Garrovick fights him, trying to take his place, but Kirk says he doesn't intend to sacrifice himself. They lure the cloud to the bomb and... "Energise and detonate!"
Spock has to pull some rabbits out of his hat, but manages to beam the two aboard. I think McCoy's issues with transporters start here ("Crazy way to travel, spreading a man's molecules all over the universe.").
A tight, suspenseful episode. Shatner does a terrific job showing Kirk obsessed, guilt-ridden, and also questioning whether he's doing the right thing. Stephen Brooks does a good job as the young Garrovick. Chapel has a great scene where she's trying to get Garrovick to eat.
Amusing bit: "'Lieutenant Lesley' played by regular Star Trek background actor Eddie Paskey is killed in this episode, however his character re-appears (and is referred to by name) in many subsequent episodes."
"OBSESSION" is a great episode for Kirk. One of the best showcases of what makes him tick. Really humanizes him by showing us his flaws.
I stand corrected. 
"Wolf in the Fold" by Robert Bloch
We open with Kirk, McCoy, and Scotty enjoying a belly dancer's performance. Scotty leaves with the dancer. When Kirk and McCoy leave, they hear screams and find the dancer dead, with Scotty nearby with a knife in his hand. He claims to remember nothing. Kirk and McCoy discuss an accident he had earlier that gave him a blow to the head (apparently leading to resentment towards all women since a woman caused it) as a possible explanation of his amnesia.
Scotty is interrogated by Mr. Hengist, head of Argelius's police operations. Jaris, the Prefect of the planet, appears with his wife, Sybo, who can use Argelian empathic contact to determine the truth. While she prepares, Lt. Tracy beams down with a "psycho-tricorder" to check Scotty's memories (where was this thing during all the other mystery episodes?) and she too is found murdered, with only Scotty nearby.
Sybo does the ritual, with everyone holding hands like a séance. Sybo says, "Yes, there is something here. Something terrible. I feel its presence. Fear, anger, hatred. Anger feeds the flame. Oh! Oh! There is evil here. Monstrous, terrible evil. Consuming hunger. Hatred of all that lives. Hatred of women. A hunger that never dies. It is strong, overpowering. An ancient terror. It has a name. Beratis, Kesla, Redjac! Devouring all life, all light. A hunger that will never die! Redjac! Redjac!" The lights go out, Sybo screams, and she's dead in Scotty's arms with the knife in her back.
Everyone left (including the dancer's father and fiance) goes to the Enterprise, where Kirk uses the computer's lie detector function. Then they plan to try the psycho-tricorder again. Kirk and Spock go back to what Sybo said and start searching the computer. "Redjac" pulls up "Red Jack", a name given to Jack the Ripper. They speculate that Jack was actually a non-human being that feeds on terror. Hengist gets more and more agitated. Eventually, they start tracing murders of women that are unsolved and find the most recent case was on Rigel IV, where Hengist is from. Hengist tries to flee but falls to the ground dead. Jack is now in the ship's computer.
(Sidenote: Can we just ignore this line? SPOCK: "And I suspect preys on women because women are more easily and more deeply terrified, generating more sheer horror than the male of the species." Oy.)
Jack starts threatening the crew to generate fear, but McCoy gives everyone a sedative. Spock drives Jack out of the computers by having the system compute the value of pi. Jack takes over Jaris, but Spock knocks him out with a neck pinch. Then Hengist gets up and gets the knife. He's subdued and tranquilized and Kirk and Spock take his body to the transporter room where they disperse him into deep space.
I remember being DEEPLY creeped out as a kid by the Jack voice coming out of the computer, and it's still pretty unsettling. I jumped when Hengist's dead body gets up. If one ignores the sexism and the overly jocular ending, it's a decent episode with some truly horrific moments. I'm amused by the idea of the entire Enterprise crew, except for Kirk and Spock, being basically stoned out of their minds for 5-6 hours.
We open with Kirk, McCoy, and Scotty enjoying a belly dancer's performance. Scotty leaves with the dancer. When Kirk and McCoy leave, they hear screams and find the dancer dead, with Scotty nearby with a knife in his hand. He claims to remember nothing. Kirk and McCoy discuss an accident he had earlier that gave him a blow to the head (apparently leading to resentment towards all women since a woman caused it) as a possible explanation of his amnesia.
Scotty is interrogated by Mr. Hengist, head of Argelius's police operations. Jaris, the Prefect of the planet, appears with his wife, Sybo, who can use Argelian empathic contact to determine the truth. While she prepares, Lt. Tracy beams down with a "psycho-tricorder" to check Scotty's memories (where was this thing during all the other mystery episodes?) and she too is found murdered, with only Scotty nearby.
Sybo does the ritual, with everyone holding hands like a séance. Sybo says, "Yes, there is something here. Something terrible. I feel its presence. Fear, anger, hatred. Anger feeds the flame. Oh! Oh! There is evil here. Monstrous, terrible evil. Consuming hunger. Hatred of all that lives. Hatred of women. A hunger that never dies. It is strong, overpowering. An ancient terror. It has a name. Beratis, Kesla, Redjac! Devouring all life, all light. A hunger that will never die! Redjac! Redjac!" The lights go out, Sybo screams, and she's dead in Scotty's arms with the knife in her back.
Everyone left (including the dancer's father and fiance) goes to the Enterprise, where Kirk uses the computer's lie detector function. Then they plan to try the psycho-tricorder again. Kirk and Spock go back to what Sybo said and start searching the computer. "Redjac" pulls up "Red Jack", a name given to Jack the Ripper. They speculate that Jack was actually a non-human being that feeds on terror. Hengist gets more and more agitated. Eventually, they start tracing murders of women that are unsolved and find the most recent case was on Rigel IV, where Hengist is from. Hengist tries to flee but falls to the ground dead. Jack is now in the ship's computer.
(Sidenote: Can we just ignore this line? SPOCK: "And I suspect preys on women because women are more easily and more deeply terrified, generating more sheer horror than the male of the species." Oy.)
Jack starts threatening the crew to generate fear, but McCoy gives everyone a sedative. Spock drives Jack out of the computers by having the system compute the value of pi. Jack takes over Jaris, but Spock knocks him out with a neck pinch. Then Hengist gets up and gets the knife. He's subdued and tranquilized and Kirk and Spock take his body to the transporter room where they disperse him into deep space.
I remember being DEEPLY creeped out as a kid by the Jack voice coming out of the computer, and it's still pretty unsettling. I jumped when Hengist's dead body gets up. If one ignores the sexism and the overly jocular ending, it's a decent episode with some truly horrific moments. I'm amused by the idea of the entire Enterprise crew, except for Kirk and Spock, being basically stoned out of their minds for 5-6 hours.
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