The Great Chronological Run-Through

[Deranged Nasat]

Constellations: "The Landing Party"

I don't have much to say here. It's a perfectly serviceable story that reintroduces Sulu as he moves to his new role at the helm and starts on the long path toward a command of his own. It's all very average, which isn't a complaint - this is a short story in an anthology, it doesn't have to be amazing - but I can't think of much to comment on.

Continuity

McCoy is now the doctor, with Piper having succeeded in retiring. McCoy notes that he's been a little neglected since coming aboard, because the crew are still coping with the loss of Mitchell, Dehner, and Kelso. He had to wait a few days before he was offered the ship's tour.

Sulu has moved from astrophysics to the helm.

Christopher Lindstrom, ship's sociologist, makes his first appearance. He'll go on to have some notable adventures on Beta III and Lorina.

Barry Giotto, Chief of Security, appears for the first time. He'll be hanging around for a while in the spear-carrier ranks.

Kirk reflects that he already has a higher crew mortality rate than Pike. It's not clear what he means by this, whether he's talking in absolute terms (which I find highly unlikely) or referring to comparable points in their careers as commanding officer. Still, it's good to see that he's comparing himself to Pike, that once again the writing demonstrates the understanding that Kirk is not a legend yet, he's just the relatively untested replacement for the current Starfleet legend.

The all important "cerebral" is used in describing Pike. Use of "cerebral" in a Pike-related context = 50 points.

****

"The Corbomite Manoeuver"

I must admit to finding this one a little dull. It drags a bit, although it's not a bad episode. Its greatest strength - the tension, tiredness and awkward waiting around that the crew experience being successfully conveyed to the audience - is also its great weakness. It's a long shift on the bridge, for better and for worse.

Kirk and Spock's friendship is established quite well, and Kirk's reliance on both Spock and McCoy - as well as his willingness to tweak them both for his own amusement - is sketched in nicely. On a character front, then, it largely works. I will also admit to finding Bailey's despairing comment that Sulu has calmly started a countdown to be genuinely very funny.

I do wonder exactly what the First Federation is. Single sentries patrol their borders in vast craft (designed, one imagines, entirely to be intimidating?). They have apparently sophisticated technology and a grandiose name, but how much of that is part of the act? They themselves are both inherently insecure and yet display no obvious sense of fear when greeting others. They judge aliens harshly yet are clearly given to greet those who pass their tests as genuine friends; there's little to no lingering sense of superiority. We have a neotenous race who assume, so they claim, that their biology will make them vulnerable and yet they downplay the attendant benefits, in that their behaviour and indeed their manner is far from child-like. They're powerful, for all that their true capabilities are difficult to determine; tricky and paranoid for all that they're truly hospitable and willing to extend a hand to aliens. Balok's test was more than just obfuscation, it involved some very dangerous and almost sadistic hoops for unknown visitors to jump through, yet he seems both entirely genuine in his friendly greetings and perfectly fearless in inviting the people he's just put through hell over to chat and drink. Reading the ship's memory banks wasn't good enough to overcome his caution - what if they were faked as part of a big deception? - but once he's satisfied this weird and obsessive paranoia he displays, he's completely open and trusting. I'd love to know more about exactly how these cheery little guys work. They're so very nice (or this one is), yet there's something... predatory... about them even when they're sharing drinks and laughing freely. Predatory in the nicest possible way, that is. I'm intrigued by who exactly these people are.

Perhaps surprisingly, we haven't learned much at all about the First Federation in the novels. They do exist into the 24th Century, and trade their tranya to other peoples (it shows up in Quark's at one point), and occasionally the Federation works with them in some capacity (the DTI are mentioned as doing so once), but they don't seem to be major players and are clearly not involved in wider quadrant politics.

Continuity

Enterprise is referred to by Kirk as a United Earth ship. We know that the real reason for this is that the Federation wasn't conceived when these early season one episodes were written, but in terms of the universe that grew around the original Trek, Rise of the Federation has provided an answer. Enterprise is a ship of the United Earth Space Probe Agency, the exploration arm of the Federation Starfleet. Thus the reference to "other Earth ships" presumably here means, "other long-range exploration craft of the Starfleet". A neat retcon.

There are people - well, one person - walking around the ship in a uniform that isn't the familiar primary colour piece. This one crewman, a technician of some kind perhaps, is wearing a thick padded jacket in white. Maybe he's a sanitation engineer. Maybe he's only just been let out of waste extraction after a six month shift. "Where's Captain Pike? Wait, what?"

Spock notes that Balok reminds him of Sarek. We can assume that he means the commanding, authoritative tone and proud confidence, and not that Sarek conducts sensitive diplomacy by strolling in and announcing "I AM SAREK. YOU HAVE TEN OF YOUR MINUTES TO MAKE PEACE WITH YOUR GODS".


****

"Mudd's Women"

This one is a perfect example of how approaching a given Trek work as part of this project can lead to surprising new twists in my enjoyment of it. The real strength of this episode, which is otherwise rather weak (for all that it has its moments, usually either comedy with Mudd or genuinely interesting character drama with Eve), comes not from anything contained within the episode itself but from how I can now contextualise it within the wider universe I've been exploring. In particular, a detail in Rise of the Federation: Tower of Babel casts this one in a new and genuinely fascinating light. There's no mention of them anywhere in the episode, of course (though they were established back in the first pilot), but looking at this episode now, everything about it revolves around Orions.

I do enjoy Mudd to some extent, and more to the point how unimpressed the crew are with him. They're never taken in by his nonsense for a minute. It's interesting, I suppose, to see Starfleet in their role as a deep space police force in Federation territory, one of their mission profiles that's perhaps a little underexplored. I also quite like the insights into the harsher aspects of colonization - particular powerful given the recent exploration of large-scale colonization initiatives in Vanguard, where we've seen our share of struggling outposts. The idea of the frontier as a rough and often lonely place, with economic difficulties and few prospects if you're born in certain locations, is sensible, and the episode does explore how the lure of marginally better lives, companionship, or purpose is enough to take a wild chance on, or to drive people to resort to drugs and dependence on the criminal element. We have the idea of people moving between outposts, selling their labour (be it sexual, physical, whathaveyou) in old-fashioned barter - the particular example explored most prominently here, of course, being three women who feel they have few prospects on their own outposts taking the chance to travel to other colonies in search of companionship or purpose, while trying to augment their sexual allure to improve their chances (and of course people like Mudd who are happy to play Fairy Godmother - er, Hairy Godfather - for them, out of the goodness of their heart's desire for profit).

The real appeal of the episode comes when we consider that this isn't, from our perspective, a "repeat" of the episode "Bound", as it initially appears; instead it soon transpires that this is Humans trying to achieve what Orions (some of them, anyway) get naturally. The Human women aren't usually being manipulative at all - indeed, they're not all that great when they actually try, and Eve just hasn't got the personality traits necessary to do it anyway, considering it unpalatable, and breaks off the sultry act as something she's simply not comfortable with. She doesn't want to go through with this plan of Mudd's, because in so many different ways she's being asked to be something she isn't (Perhaps it is Mudd imposing his own requirements on her that helps her to question those she has placed on herself, or feels that circumstance has placed on her?).

This Venus drug business, then, and the behaviour of Mudd and his passengers, is a very successful (in terms of the actual effect) but simultaneously rather unsuccessful attempt at "playing Orion".

On its own, then, this one has little to recommend it save some occasionally interesting commentary of life on the fringe and the toll it takes. (Eve is a fully realized character, at least, and it's actually great to see that not all Humans live comfortable, easy lives in the heart of the Federation). Taken as part of the wider franchise, though, and with this chronology's former implication that the Venus drug is an effort to harness Orion sex hormones, then it actually becomes a fascinating entry in the saga. Here we see Humans removed from the luxuries of the Federation core worlds attempting to emulate and acquire what they see in certain alien races - even attempting to acquire their biological traits! It's a fascinating example of how Humans have been influenced by their neighbouring civilizations. Humans attempting to appropriate what we know to be the successful model of the Orions (or at least their elite). The episode isn't anything to do with Orions, but for the purposes of this project it manages to expand on an established race that isn't even featured. Put basically, Harry Mudd wants to be an Orion merchant prince, and he's simply not very good at it. And the three women are trying not just to be ultra-sexy to increase their potential at finding new homes and employment, but to be Orions, trying to make their sexual appeal a matter of hard biological fact to an extent it wouldn't be ordinarily. But even if their bodies can achieve this, thanks to drugs and a bit of self-confidence, their personalities - or Eve's at least - can't.

"I can't actually be a movie star, but I can make the best of things here".

That's Eve's basic conclusion when she negotiates her arrangement with Childress.

"I'm not an Orion, I'm a Human. Nor am I actually that young or beautiful any more. I can rage against that, and the unfairness of life here, and you can rage against that and the unfairness of life, or we can deal with it. Look, I just want some companionship and the ability to feel useful. You need some companionship too, and I can help out here. Let's just accept that we can make an economic/social alliance here that will make our dull and difficult lives a little brighter if we both work at it".

In some ways, that's actually a far more poignant arrangement than if they'd gone with some unrealistic love business (unrealistic for the circumstances, I mean. Those on the prosperous, heavily settled Federation worlds can afford to marry and cohabit for love. Things are different when you're struggling).

Again, the episode is... weak... but as an entry in this chronological run-through, it's quite intriguing. It becomes something it would otherwise not be, and is the better for it, in my opinion.

Next Time: "The Enemy Within"

 

[Christopher]

"The Corbomite Manoeuver"

I must admit to finding this one a little dull. It drags a bit, although it's not a bad episode.

It's the first episode I ever saw, and still a favorite. I really like the ensemble quality, the interplay among the crew and the sense of workaday texture. It's in these early episodes that you can see the original intention to portray space travelers, not as superheroes or cartoon characters, but as ordinary folks doing a job that just happened to be in space. I regret that was somewhat lost later on.

I do wonder exactly what the First Federation is.

That's a question I really hope to answer someday.

Perhaps surprisingly, we haven't learned much at all about the First Federation in the novels. They do exist into the 24th Century, and trade their tranya to other peoples (it shows up in Quark's at one point), and occasionally the Federation works with them in some capacity (the DTI are mentioned as doing so once), but they don't seem to be major players and are clearly not involved in wider quadrant politics.

The one novel that's significantly featured them is TNG: Gulliver's Fugitives, but it doesn't reveal that much.

"Mudd's Women"
...
On its own, then, this one has little to recommend it save some occasionally interesting commentary of life on the fringe and the toll it takes. (Eve is a fully realized character, at least, and it's actually great to see that not all Humans live comfortable, easy lives in the heart of the Federation). Taken as part of the wider franchise, though, and with this chronology's former implication that the Venus drug is an effort to harness Orion sex hormones, then it actually becomes a fascinating entry in the saga. Here we see Humans removed from the luxuries of the Federation core worlds attempting to emulate and acquire what they see in certain alien races - even attempting to acquire their biological traits! It's a fascinating example of how Humans have been influenced by their neighbouring civilizations. Humans attempting to appropriate what we know to be the successful model of the Orions (or at least their elite). The episode isn't anything to do with Orions, but for the purposes of this project it manages to expand on an established race that isn't even featured. Put basically, Harry Mudd wants to be an Orion merchant prince, and he's simply not very good at it. And the three women are trying not just to be ultra-sexy to increase their potential at finding new homes and employment, but to be Orions, trying to make their sexual appeal a matter of hard biological fact to an extent it wouldn't be ordinarily.

That's an interesting and unexpected way of looking at it. It's not something I intended to suggest -- indeed, I came up with the "steal Orion hormone supplements as a drug" idea separately and only then realized that such a drug already existed in Trek lore, so I didn't really think much about the episode beyond that. But I'm glad it allows this kind of new contextualization of a weak episode.

Unfortunately, that doesn't help much with the profound sexism of the episode. For all that Roddenberry claimed to be progressive, it's the episodes he wrote or plotted himself that contain the most backward portrayals of women. Here, you have the crewmen reacting to the women as if they haven't seen one in ages, despite Uhura's token presence. You have women who assume their only prospects in life come from marriage rather than careers. You have Harry Mudd talk about "wiving settlers" as if it's a given that all settlers are male. And you have a resolution predicated on the assumption that a woman's ideal fulfillment comes from being a dutiful and competent wife, from being useful to her husband rather than merely pleasant to look at.

Perhaps the reason it was so easy to tie the Venus drug to Orion women is that Roddenberry conceived of them both. (Memory Alpha has a Stephen Kandel quote confirming that the drug was Roddenberry's idea, while Harry Mudd was Kandel's creation.) They both reflect Roddenberry's hyperawareness of female sexual allure, and the recurring theme in his work of women as dangerous temptresses (as in the opening narration of his failed 333 Montgomery Street pilot with DeForest Kelley, which showed up on YouTube not long ago).

 

[Deranged Nasat]

It's in these early episodes that you can see the original intention to portray space travelers, not as superheroes or cartoon characters, but as ordinary folks doing a job that just happened to be in space. I regret that was somewhat lost later on.

That's a really nice point. I'll have to consider that going forward.

I do wonder exactly what the First Federation is.

That's a question I really hope to answer someday.

To be blunt, if anyone could make the most of the opportunity, it would probably be you. I'd like to see your take on Balok's people. Whoever they turn out to be.

[That's an interesting and unexpected way of looking at it. It's not something I intended to suggest -- indeed, I came up with the "steal Orion hormone supplements as a drug" idea separately and only then realized that such a drug already existed in Trek lore, so I didn't really think much about the episode beyond that. But I'm glad it allows this kind of new contextualization of a weak episode.

Well, to be fair, it was either that or just sit through what you point to next, so I can't be blamed for seizing onto the opportunity. But, yes, I think that little detail in your novel allows us to spin something very interesting out of this episode, as a piece in a larger puzzle. Which makes the episode much more interesting that what it is.

Unfortunately, that doesn't help much with the profound sexism of the episode. For all that Roddenberry claimed to be progressive, it's the episodes he wrote or plotted himself that contain the most backward portrayals of women.

Oh, definitely. Then again, I'm used to peoples' varying ideas on what's "progressive" and what isn't (I myself spend a lot of time dismissing as reactionary or conservative that or those who claim to be progressive, after all). So I'm not too surprised that Roddenberry saw himself as progressive where I, for example, don't. The episode is indeed very sexist, but then it's the product of a sexist writer in a sexist time (and I don't say that as some sort of judgement, as such, merely acknowledgment and personal disapproval). That certainly doesn't help it very much, and I can certainly understand if it makes its way onto many peoples' "skip it" list. They're not really missing much anyway...

They both reflect Roddenberry's hyperawareness of female sexual allure, and the recurring theme in his work of women as dangerous temptresses.

Indeed. His preoccupation with female sexuality comes across very strongly. Speaking personally, given my general lack of interest in women as sexual beings, it's annoying in more ways than one, but there you go.

Again, I'm more than used to accepting personal distance from the perceptual systems and cultural narratives of other people. Sometimes I forget to keep my distance and take up attack postures when I shouldn't, unfortunately, but on the whole I'm used to sitting through that which makes me want to roll my eyes. (For someone as emotional as I am, that distance is necessary) And the lit forum of the Trek BBS is, in general, a respectful and tolerant place. I can respect and admire Roddenberry for his general character (what I know of it, anyway) and his works without having to accept those belief structures of his I would find questionable. But then that's something in which I tend to differ from most people, I think. People tend to think of belief systems and cultural or ideological attitudes as part of their identity, whereas I consider them temporary, expendable things, more the equivalent of clothes rather than self. Roddenberry has a rather alarming "fashion sense" at times (and, yes, one of the biggest issues is his generally problematic approach to women), but I don't see disapproving of Sexist Rodenberry as having any bearing on relating to him in general or when he's refracting through other facets.

 

[borgboy]

I don't deny at all the sexist messages of Mudd's Women, but I still enjoy the episode for what it is. It is very much a product of it's time. I like the idea of beauty coming from within, which is still a relevant message even if so much else doesn't hold up in more enlightened times.

 

[Christopher]

I like the idea of beauty coming from within, which is still a relevant message even if so much else doesn't hold up in more enlightened times.

Maybe, except that every story that purports to have that message (like "The Ugly Duckling" or Beauty and the Beast or "Mudd's Women") inevitably demolishes it by having the inwardly-beautiful person turn outwardly beautiful at the end, so it's still presenting surface beauty as the ultimate goal even while claiming not to.

 

[borgboy]

I like the idea of beauty coming from within, which is still a relevant message even if so much else doesn't hold up in more enlightened times.

Maybe, except that every story that purports to have that message (like "The Ugly Duckling" or Beauty and the Beast or "Mudd's Women") inevitably demolishes it by having the inwardly-beautiful person turn outwardly beautiful at the end, so it's still presenting surface beauty as the ultimate goal even while claiming not to.

I always interpreted that to be that she was beautiful on the outside because she felt beautiful. But yes, clearly she was fixed up to be more beautiful. It's still a message I took to heart somewhat, to be confident in myself and my appearance. I don't always succeed by no means, but I'm at least aware of the idea. Gay men may arguably have more issues with their looks than women. After all, a straight woman only has to attract a straight man, while a gay man has to attract another gay man, and it seems to me that gay men are a lot more judgemental and picky when it comes to looks than straight men are - at least that's what I've seen out of life.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

I don't deny at all the sexist messages of Mudd's Women, but I still enjoy the episode for what it is. It is very much a product of it's time.

Well, indeed (okay, apart from the "enjoying it" bit - my enjoyment here came from how the rest of the Trek 'verse winds up serendipitously polishing it). I mean, I have as many disagreements with current society's attitudes and ideologies as I do the culture that produced original Star Trek. I look upon pretty much everything today as "a product of its time", else I'd probably sit grouchy in my cave not enjoying anything, like a particularly self-righteous Grinch.

So, yeah, episodes like "Mudd's Women"...we have to expect to see attitudes that differ from what most of us think of as sensible, reasonable, or indeed ethical. But then again, that's what I see pretty much wherever I look today. Usually I manage to avoid getting worked up. Sometimes, of course, I sadly fail.

(Have I ever mentioned that I am an odd and, in some regards, difficult person? ).

So if anyone finds things like this episode too annoying to watch, I understand, for all that I shrug it off.

 

[Leto_II]

I do wonder exactly what the First Federation is.

That's a question I really hope to answer someday.

Perhaps surprisingly, we haven't learned much at all about the First Federation in the novels. They do exist into the 24th Century, and trade their tranya to other peoples (it shows up in Quark's at one point), and occasionally the Federation works with them in some capacity (the DTI are mentioned as doing so once), but they don't seem to be major players and are clearly not involved in wider quadrant politics.

The one novel that's significantly featured them is TNG: Gulliver's Fugitives, but it doesn't reveal that much.

There was also an early VOY novel (Ragnarok or The Escape, I want to say) where Janeway's crew encounters a derelict First Federation mega-ship way out in the Delta Quadrant (fairly close to where the Caretaker was, going by when in the first season timeline it was set).

About all else I really remember is that they never actually meet any First Fed personnel directly during the course of the story, and how the ship made it that far out is left to the crew's speculation, IIRC.

EDIT: Just checked Memory Beta, and yup -- it was Ragnarok.

 

[Christopher]

^Which is why I didn't count it as "significantly" featuring the FF. (Oh, and it was Ragnarok, I'm pretty sure.)

 

[ryan123450]

I'm very interested to see your take on the First Federation, Christopher. Hopefullt we'll get to see it someday.

 

[Enterprise1701]

And Strange New Worlds I - "Ambassador at Large" featured Voyager meeting David Bailey and Balok.

It also featured a Delta Quadrant species named the Mondasians.

 

[Hando]

On the topic of the First Federation.

Do we know if "First" is a numeral or an adjective?

Spoiler: I do not belive that this is a story idea, but just to make sure

Up to asking this question I have considered it a numeral the First Federation the one before our/Earth Federation.
But could it be a federation of Firsts? That Balok is a First?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

On the topic of the First Federation.

Do we know if "First" is a numeral or an adjective?

Spoiler: I do not belive that this is a story idea, but just to make sure

Up to asking this question I have considered it a numeral the First Federation the one before our/Earth Federation.
But could it be a federation of Firsts? That Balok is a First?

That's something I too have considered. Since Balok's act is about being as big, grandiose and boastful as possible, though, I think it's probably more likely that First Federation means, in essence, "Greatest Federation". Mighty are we, that kind of thing.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

"The Enemy Within"

I'm uncertain at the moment as to whether I am good Nasat or evil Nasat. I appear to show traits of both. Like the former, I have lost almost all will to engage with the episode, while like the latter I desperately crave brandy.

Oh, I don't like this one. It's not like "Mudd's Women", which was problematic in various ways but definitely watchable, and managed to hold my interest. This one is just all over the place, and while it does explore some potentially interesting ideas, this run-through has already seen similar explorations of much better quality. Compared to Tolaris the rogue Vulcan or the Talosians probing Pike's emotional states in an attempt to utilise what they long ago lost, this one can't claim much in the way of subtlety or anything provocative. "Fusion" had a lot to explore regarding repression and the desire to breach boundaries, the difficulties in distinguishing where one should draw the line in regards to asserting their own license, and how rebellious counter-cultures can perhaps attract those with more problematic disregard for rules of social conduct. It was made more complicated by the fact that we were focused on an alien people with an alien psychology, and no-one can definitively say whether Tolaris is representative of the unrepressed Vulcan or is just a bad egg. The episode was therefore intriguing, deliberately uncomfortable, and planted seeds that would remain relevant to the portrayal of Vulcans and their offshoots for a long time. The Cage, meanwhile, was philosophically robust and very subtle in the argument it constructed for the relative values of differing aspects of the psyche and the implications for societies, peoples and individuals. This episode has its moments but often just reduces it to "good" and "evil", "positive" and "negative", and the whole thing doesn't quite fit together. You need negative Kirk within you, yes...but negative Kirk is completely unnatural, because raw aggression, desire and urge to gratification absent the multiple other facets of the psyche doesn't exist. "Evil" Kirk doesn't exist. He didn't exist until this transporter duplication and he doesn't exist after it. He's not the enemy within, he only exists when he's outside of you; when you've isolated those qualities and built a new Kirk out of them and them alone.

The idea that one requires raw aggression and selfish desire incorporated into the self in order to function as a leader or a decisive being is great, as is the idea - perhaps the episode's one true addition to the established Chronological Run-Through "canon" on this topic - that primal fear is integral to that. (Peaceable but insecure passive Kirk VS terrified and amorally aggressive potent Kirk, both lacking the ability to truly reflect upon themselves, has a fair amount to recommend it, so why drag "good" and "evil" into it?). So too, the idea that traits which are destructive or immoral in excess are normal and praiseworthy aspects of the balanced psyche is a good one. But, again, we've seen this sort of thing explored very competently and memorably in The Cage, and that outing didn't have this difficult contradiction that involves the presentation revolving around artificially segregating the various things that exist integrated, to the extent that they no longer reflect a realistic psyche at all.

I just find the whole thing unfortunately incoherent. I mean, the entire point, presumably, is that a person is integrated. What then do you possibly get out of disintegrating them? How can you comment on the whole by reducing it to simplified parts? The Talosians didn't create multiple Pikes when they provoked him to raw, primal aggression (and remember Vina's great line about how humans just can't keep that sort of thing going long-term).

More than that, though, everyone in this episode seems to have taken their stupid this morning. "We need to find out what's going on". Yes, how can it be that an aggressive, vicious Captain Kirk has seemingly attacked Rand and demanded brandy, something Kirk seems truly baffled by, after you've just been told that the transporter which Kirk recently came through made an aggressive, duplicate dog-thing? What do you think's going on? I know you've lost your willpower, Kirk, and might resist coming to the obvious conclusion, but the others haven't got that excuse. And the logic is just bizarre in places, especially coming from Mr. Logic himself. We can't tell the crew the truth lest it destroy their faith in the captain? How is telling everyone most of the truth here a problem? "A dangerous duplicate of me is loose, and must be taken alive. For security purposes the me you need to listen to is remaining on the bridge at all times. I have consulted with Spock and McCoy and our collective response is summarized in my following orders: If "I" am seen off of the bridge, I am to be stunned immediately regardless of what I say or any nonsense about scratches". I mean, is it not more damaging to have rumours floating around that the captain assaulted subordinates? Even if no-one actually knows what happened, I'm betting certain details - captain in Rand's quarters, brandy, etc. - got through. Does it not potentially damage trust in the captain's high status by creating a situation that could, potentially, be read as Kirk and his close buddies - Kirk and McCoy are both new to the ship, at that - trying to cover up the fact that Kirk abused his position in some way? "I heard that the captain got drunk, went to Rand's quarters, the next thing we know she's distressed, everything's all weird and hushed up, you draw the obvious conclusions. That is, he got too forward with her, harassed her in some way, and now he and his command crew are trying to shush it up. I mean, obvious, right? This guy can't be trusted with his position; he shouldn't be in the service at all, let alone in command".

This, to me, is like the "we're actually augment soldiers sent by your enemies rather than aliens" thing in "The Communicator". You'd risk far less damage and long-term consequences by being truthful.

It has to be said somewhere, of course, but where are the shuttlecraft? I know they weren't created yet for budget reasons, but the idea of a ship without shuttles is just so ludicrous that even then it's stupid. As it is, we're stuck with a ship that suddenly hasn't got anything but the transporter. I don't know, maybe Uhura is flying a convoy on an urgent cat litter run to Eeiauo to defeat a plague of diarrhoea or something, and she needed to take them all.

I do like the fact that McCoy keeps the Saurian brandy on a shelf right there in the main sickbay.

Next Time: A much, much better episode. "The Man Trap".

 

[Christopher]

Wow, I've never heard "The Enemy Within" trashed like that. It's usually considered one of the classics. My problems with it tend to the technical side (surprising no one, I bet) -- the transporter splitting a person into morally exclusive halves is pure fantasy. Where does the extra mass come from? (Unless it's a quantum doubling like temporal duplicates, sort of the reverse of beaming Captain Christopher into his own body.) How does the personality get changed? (Certain aspects of brain activity would have to be suppressed/damaged -- but that would be a diagnosable neurological condition, and Spock wouldn't need to resort to metaphysics to explain it.) Matheson was one of the great fantasy writers, but (sorry, Greg) he was a better fit for The Twilight Zone than for a theoretically plausible SF show like Star Trek.

The shuttle thing doesn't bother me much, since it can be explained by assuming the winds are just too strong -- recall the aborted rescue in "Strange New World." Harder to explain is why they only seem to have one transporter, but it can be assumed that the damaged system in engineering was some master circuit that was used by all the transporters.

The biggest problem by modern standards is, again, the sexual politics -- a post-attack Rand all but saying that it would've been okay for Kirk to rape her, and Spock teasing her about her attempted rape at the end, which would be a downright sadistic thing to say to a woman in that position in real life. This is one case where I almost prefer the old syndication edits that made more room for commercials, since Rand's "I am a doormat" scene in sickbay was cut from that version, although I think Spock's inappropriate humor remained.

 

[Idran]

The biggest problem by modern standards is, again, the sexual politics -- a post-attack Rand all but saying that it would've been okay for Kirk to rape her, and Spock teasing her about her attempted rape at the end, which would be a downright sadistic thing to say to a woman in that position in real life. This is one case where I almost prefer the old syndication edits that made more room for commercials, since Rand's "I am a doormat" scene in sickbay was cut from that version, although I think Spock's inappropriate humor remained.

This is honestly my biggest problem with the episode, myself. It's so discomforting and unnerving to me to watch the scenes with Evil Kirk and Rand that if I'm watching it, I pretty much have to skip past them if I want to get through the episode at all. Not the fun sort of unnerving like in a good piece of horror, but just a visceral disgust; I know it was a different time and all, but even so, I just can't watch them. Those scenes alone tank whatever worth it might otherwise have to me, and I usually skip this episode whenever possible as a result.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Wow, I've never heard "The Enemy Within" trashed like that. It's usually considered one of the classics.

Funnily enough, I think I usually tend to align with most people regarding which episodes of TOS are deservedly high-regarded and which are disappointing, but this is evidently one of those cases where I'm in a minority. This one just doesn't work for me.

But then I'm weird.

 

[Idran]

Wow, I've never heard "The Enemy Within" trashed like that. It's usually considered one of the classics.

Funnily enough, I think I usually tend to align with most people regarding which episodes of TOS are deservedly high-regarded and which are disappointing, but this is evidently one of those cases where I'm in a minority. This one just doesn't work for me.

But then I'm weird.

It might not be for exactly the same reasons, but like I said in my post, I agree with you on this one at least if it helps.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

"The Man Trap"

I really like this one. It doesn't add much to the universe in terms of this project, but it's a very watchable episode.

The being's desperation really comes across, and the arguments it and Crater make in its defence are admirable and succeed in crafting the being as the protagonist of its own life rather than just a dangerous adversary. The sense of threat the crew pose to it, and not vice versa, becomes the more gripping plot point, without detracting from the threat it poses. It's a monster story that allows the monster to be a person; a extremely sociopathic person, yes, but implicitly sociopathic through circumstance more than anything, from living as a lone survivor in the ruins of its planet, feral and isolated. There's attempt at self-justification and evident self-awareness, again without detracting from the dangerous amorality of this predatory being. It's a tragic figure, and the manner in which it and Crater built a working relationship out of their shared dilemma is fascinating; poignantly tender and highly disturbing at the same time. An arrangement that's genuinely workable yet clearly also unstable and prone to collapse at any time. In all, I like how the episode plays the idea of an obstructionist character concealing a dark secret and a manipulative, murderous monster in a manner that makes both sympathetic.

The ending is very effective, as the pathetic shot of the dead being and McCoy's grief (in turn provoking Kirk's sympathy) blurs Nancy Crater and the creature even as it finalises the lifting of the latter's disguise, so that the sense of loss encompasses both of them. Nor is this laboured; it's implicit and subtle. Very nice.

It's nice too to have another of Starfleet's routine mission profiles introduced - scheduled check-up on Federation citizens and personnel on isolated or distant outposts. The role of Starfleet within the social infrastructure of this sprawling star-spanning civilization is always worth exploring. TOS gives a very good sense of how multifaceted a starship's role can be - already we've had pure exploration, scientific advancement, frontier diplomacy, police action within Federation space, and now oversight of scattered colonies and outposts.

We won't go back to planet M-113 in this continuity, although Vulcan's Heart will mention offhand that later archaeological expeditions took place. Also, Trelane will have a stuffed native on display, quite possibly just to be shocking?

Next Time: "The Naked Time".

 

[Christopher]

^There's a subtle allusion to "The Man Trap" in DTI: The Collectors.