The Enemy Within: new observations

[Ssosmcin]

I thought that was more of a TNG rule. There always had to be a "ship in jeopardy" B story. I think there were plenty of times when the Enterprise was put in crisis to give Kirk added pressure and/or to keep him from being beamed up out of danger, but I don't recall seeing that as some kind of rule in the original series. But I could always be wrong....

 

[Lance]

One of my favorite episodes of the first season because it's more of a personal story for Kirk, who has to see his own ugliness in his double while facing the loss of willpower in himself.

One thing I really love is how, it isn't written as just any cheesy goofy 'Good Kirk vs Evil Kirk' thing with the good naturally trumping over the evil, but that instead the script intelligently shows us that both are simply distillations of Kirk's whole. Manifestations of his darker thoughts are made real in the the 'evil' Kirk's actions, untempered by the side of him that contains his conscience and ethics he simply does and takes whatever he wants with impunity, while the so-called 'good' Kirk is actually crippled by indecision and other negative traits because his assertiveness and determination are attached to his darker side. His compassionate self can only look on meekly, unsure what to do about anything. I love that. Kirk needs both of him, in order to be the leader he is. You could say that one Kirk is Alpha and the other Beta, and when combined they make the James T. Kirk we know: a balanced, rounded individual, failiable but noble, a hero, a Captain.

 

[Ssosmcin]

One thing I really love is how, it isn't written as just any cheesy goofy 'Good Kirk vs Evil Kirk' thing with the good naturally trumping over the evil,

Exactly! This isn't Superman III....

 

[johnnybear]

I still maintain that Spock during Enemy is still working through his suppression of his emotions at this point and he hasn't got it licked just yet!
JB

 

[Maurice]

One of my favourite episodes
But Spock's comments to Rand at the end can't be glossed over
Fuck knows how the writers sat in a room and read through the final draft and thought that was "Ok"

As scripted it's slightly different than the finished episode.

Still awful, but there's the intent.

 

[Ssosmcin]

So it wasn't just Spock who was insensitive, it was Rand who supposedly "liked it?" Is this a Roddenberry draft?

 

[Forbin]

I thought that was more of a TNG rule. There always had to be a "ship in jeopardy" B story. I think there were plenty of times when the Enterprise was put in crisis to give Kirk added pressure and/or to keep him from being beamed up out of danger, but I don't recall seeing that as some kind of rule in the original series. But I could always be wrong....

Well, I definitely remember reading that before TNG came out, maybe in The Making of Star Trek.

 

[johnnybear]

Obviously Spock was unaware that his comments would upset Yeoman Rand and us the viewers back in the day! The differences between humans from earth and the people of the planet Vulcan!
JB

 

[Ssosmcin]

I loved Early Spock. He was really so much more interesting than "Bored Third Season Dicky Spock."

 

[Delta Vega]

As scripted it's slightly different than the finished episode.

Still awful, but there's the intent.

Yep, as I said
No glossing over the scene or the dialogue

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Sexual harassment surely wasn't Spock's motivation for saying what he did to Rand. So expounding from there, what point was he trying to make? Was he trying to point out that Kirk secretly harbors desire for Rand (something that Rand clearly reciprocates), but just did so in a very clumsy and awkward way?

The early episodes of Trek experimented with giving Spock a very odd, alien sense of humor. This was an example of that. It didn't work, so they dropped it.

And yeah, Spock was needling Rand that Kirk really did have feelings for her, the same as she did for him. Not great, but I try to look at it within the context of its time. After all, some things that we think are perfectly fine today will be horrifying to people 50 years from now.

IIRC, one of Gene's rules-of-thumb was that there be a second crisis (ship in danger; crew in danger...) that depends on the primary plot line being resolved in order for that to also be resolved.

Yes. Harlan Ellison talks about that in the published version of his original script for "The City on the Edge of Forever." The subplot where the Enterprise becomes a pirate ship in the altered history was written by Ellison at Roddenberry's insistence. Ellison maintained that it wasn't necessary, as the Enterprise being entirely removed from history was threat enough.

 

[Timo]

Every era is entitled to reading different things into this scene or others. What is perhaps less trivial is the in-universe nature of the altercation.

Rand is clearly having a difficult time putting into words something. Now, she is entitled to being shocked, but OTOH she's a somewhat seasoned space soldier who fares well in many a shocking and stressful situation elsewhere. If she does remain shocked, though, what is the likelier scenario? That she is having difficulty telling her superior officer that his clumsy advances amounting to a rape attempt were scary, even after he has provided a good and official excuse everybody else seems to be fine with - or that she's having difficulty spitting out the fact that, since she secretly loves or lusts Kirk, the rape attempt has given her new hope?

The latter sentiments may well exist in the character. And there may be a time and a place for them, too - "Miri" as much as amounts to such. But "Miri" also shows us Rand is not afraid of speaking her piece, and specifically not in a stressful situation. Being tongue-tied in "Enemy Within" would be less likely than her clamshelling and then bringing the matter up in some completely different context, rather than waiting here for Spock to put into words what she could not. There's no good reason for her to bring up that issue there and then - while there certainly is a requirement for her to somehow officially make amends.

OTOH, if Rand here is trying to politely express that the Doppelgänger thing makes the scary experience all right and water past the bridge and all, no matter how insincerely, then her forthright attitude would actually explain her being tongue-tied: she cannot speak her piece here. This interpretation would probably be dominant even were the scene shot with the nuances from that older script version.

As for Spock's part, in these early episodes with the more timid McCoy, Spock in-universe is the person who should see through people and comprehend psychological nuances mere humans are blind to. Is he "needling" when delivering this particular truth with a smile on his face? Or is the smile a sadly backfiring attempt at him delivering the blunt truth with a human-style blow-softener? Again in-universe, the latter might be the more consistent interpretation.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Ssosmcin]

While we're all harping on Spock's comments, I feel an ignored aspect is Rand's attitude toward it just after the attack. At first, she's so scared for her life, she screams to have Fisher call Spock. Afterward, Rand seems perfectly willing to let the whole thing go unmentioned if not for Fisher having the living sh't kicked out of him because he was a witness. Why the change of heart? Because she's probably terrified. As far as she was concerned, her commanding officer was lying in wait in her private quarters, drunk, and violently pushed himself on her. She could ruin him with this, but spins it probably as an act of self preservation. She probably feels so vulnerable and overpowered she meekly tries to keep herself in as good a light with Kirk as possible. "I can understand. I wouldn't have even mentioned it...!" She could simply be keeping herself as safe as possible until she can transfer the hell off the ship, but changes her mind when the truth is revealed.

By the end of the episode, she knows it wasn't him. She's relieved for herself, relieved for Kirk and very likely still feeling very violated. She can't articulate all of those feelings, but Kirk understands. She needs more recovery, but their rift is healing.

Spock, in an alien and ill-placed joke, doesn't help.

There is a LOT in her scenes but it's never really mentioned in favor of Kirk's issue and the guys on the planet needing rescue.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Everybody probably knows this, but according to Grace, when they were shooting the scene where Rand has to tell Kirk, Spock, and McCoy about the attack, and she's supposed to be very traumatized, she was having trouble getting there emotionally. Shatner leaned forward and slapped her face, and had her keep going without cutting the camera. And she got out this genuine performance of shock and trauma. And she thought that was a great move by Shatner, obviously because it worked and she wasn't harmed at all.

Shatner must have perfectly calibrated the slap to jolt her without going over the line, and also he timed it perfectly for surprise and effect. They were daring artists who could dish it out, walk tightropes, and roll with the punches, so to speak.

Apparently Dustin Hoffman did the same thing only worse, an unneeded and uncalibrated surprise face slap, to Meryl Streep when they were shooting a tense scene for Kramer vs. Kramer, and she was outraged by it. It insulted her preparation and craft, which were just fine as it was. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kramer_vs._Kramer#Controversy

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Here's another reason to dislike Shatner. Hoffman too. Streep had enough to deal with while making KRAMER. Her lover John Cazale was dying at the time.

Even William Friedkin pulled similar stuff while directing THE EXORCIST. He slapped Father O'Malley in order to get a more emotional reaction from his fictional best friend's death. It's well-acted as filmed. And it's still inexcusable. He even fired a gun to shock Jason Miller at one point. Miller was less charitable than O'Malley afterwards.

At least Otto Preminger and Coppola screamed instead of hit.

I never said anyone should dislike Shatner. That's your reading of the event.

''Had her keep going without cutting the camera?'' They cut for bloopers, don't they?

The idea was to capture her performance right when she was in the moment. As I said, Shatner calibrated the slap just right to give her something to work with, and she used it. She said it helped her. And of course this was an extremely rare thing on the set of TOS. As far as I know, it was a one-time thing and it worked out very well.

 

[Ssosmcin]

When I was doing a stage performance of The Great Gatsby, the actress decided to give me a genune slap instead of a stage slap. She frigging roundhoused me. The script dictated my character slap her back. So I did. Nice and hard. My character was to immediately regret it and being the person I am, that was easy to convey.

The result was the most electrifying scene in the play (we're tallking community theater here). I was in about 7 minutes of that production and everyone was talking about it after every performance. We didn't discuss it first, she took a step and I went with it. We were great friends throughout the production, and one of the reasons was because we gelled like that. The director was thrilled.

Everyone takes these things differently. Streep was a seasoned pro and didn't need it. GLW was a relative newcomer and wasn't getting what Shatner needed (and really it's hard to act opposite someone who can't give you the right emotion). Was it the right thing to do? For GLW, it was. For Streep it wasn't. That's all that matters. GLW's perfomance is excellent in that scene.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Everybody probably knows this, but according to Grace, when they were shooting the scene where Rand has to tell Kirk, Spock, and McCoy about the attack, and she's supposed to be very traumatized, she was having trouble getting there emotionally. Shatner leaned forward and slapped her face, and had her keep going without cutting the camera. And she got out this genuine performance of shock and trauma. And she thought that was a great move by Shatner, obviously because it worked and she wasn't harmed at all.

I hadn't heard that story before. I assume it's in GLW's book. That is... something else.

That and the Meryl Streep story really serve as an illustration for how much American society in general changed between 1966 and 1979. In Whitney's day, you were expected to shut up and take that kind of behavior. In Streep's day, you didn't.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Newcomers or professionals or priests don't deserve such treatment whether it helps their performance or not.

Well...maybe priests...

 

[Ssosmcin]

And what happened to you sounds a bit like Bette Davis whaling on Errol Flynn in ELIZABETH AND ESSEX.....but you reacted less angrily than he did.

I was stunned more than anything else, but I appreciated the reality it gave to the scene. I'm also an amateur actor who just wants to make the audience buy my BS.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

That and the Meryl Streep story really serve as an illustration for how much American society in general changed between 1966 and 1979. In Whitney's day, you were expected to shut up and take that kind of behavior. In Streep's day, you didn't.

Just to be clear, Shatner did NOT abuse Whitney. He gave her a sudden but light, careful slap on the check because he knew the surprise, the little dose of adrenaline, was something she would be able to use in her performance. In other words, Shatner read the situation perfectly and helped a less-skilled actor.

The thing with Hoffman was that he blindly or arrogantly misread what his co-star needed, and he acted like a jerk. It's a whole different thing. It's the difference between a great teacher and a bully.