The Omega Glory

[Armored Saint]

When I saw the American flag, I started to laugh because it was definetely too much. The Constitution is not that bad, but of course, it would have been more serious to have a SIMILAR text, not an exact copy. The "Kohm for Communist" is another big flaw cause its absolutely meaningless, except to make a connection with the Vietnam war. The abandoned idea the Omega people could have been immigrants from Earth doesn't help at all.

This episode has good things, but it suffers a gross lack of subtlety. So I really prefer A Private Little War.

 

[Marsden]

Whatever happened to the Exeter? Did (could) they somehow decontaminate it and reissue it for service or is it still a ghost ship in orbit over Omega IV?

In TNG:Starship Mine, Enterprise-D is subjected to a Baryon Sweep, which has a side effect of destroying all organic life on the ship that is being "swept". If that procedure, or something similar, existed in the TOS era, I don't see why it couldn't have been used to decontaminate the Exeter. A group of "cleanup" bots could have been beamed aboard to safely remove the remains of the crew.

If not, then I could see Starfleet ordering the Exeter to be destroyed so it couldn't fall into enemy hands, if for no other reason.

I would think opening all of the hatches to outer space for a few days would get everything out of there, also. But that's a low tech solution. The ship itself was certainly salvagable.

 

[BillJ]

Whatever happened to the Exeter? Did (could) they somehow decontaminate it and reissue it for service or is it still a ghost ship in orbit over Omega IV?

In TNG:Starship Mine, Enterprise-D is subjected to a Baryon Sweep, which has a side effect of destroying all organic life on the ship that is being "swept". If that procedure, or something similar, existed in the TOS era, I don't see why it couldn't have been used to decontaminate the Exeter. A group of "cleanup" bots could have been beamed aboard to safely remove the remains of the crew.

If not, then I could see Starfleet ordering the Exeter to be destroyed so it couldn't fall into enemy hands, if for no other reason.

I would think opening all of the hatches to outer space for a few days would get everything out of there, also. But that's a low tech solution. The ship itself was certainly salvagable.

Dump it in the nearest sun. Like they did with the USS Surak during DC Comics "The Doomsday Bug".

 

[T'Girl]

Women in the United States weren't guaranteed the right to vote until 1920.

Since I didn't mention individual states, it should have been clear that I was referring to the country as a whole.

Ahh, it must have been your non-use of "some women in the United State," or "a fraction of the women in the United States" that made me want to correct.

I would hate for anyone to get the wrong idea about the real history of the country.

 

[Green Shirt]

I would hate for anyone to get the wrong idea about the real history of the country.

For real.

 

[UssGlenn]

When I saw the American flag, I started to laugh because it was definetely too much. The Constitution is not that bad, but of course, it would have been more serious to have a SIMILAR text, not an exact copy. The "Kohm for Communist" is another big flaw cause its absolutely meaningless, except to make a connection with the Vietnam war. The abandoned idea the Omega people could have been immigrants from Earth doesn't help at all.

My personal rationalization is that it was a Joint American-Chinese colonization effort that ran into some sort of temporal anomaly, throwing them backwards in time.

 

[Warp Zero]

I thought that Kirk should've beaten him the first time...

 

[Marsden]

Well, Kirk was Kirk, but Tracey had the RAGE on his side, so that caught Kirk off guard.

 

[cgervasi]

Can someone explain what motivated Captain Tracey? Why did he think he'd found a fountain of youth? He wanted to bargain for a fleet of ships to come and do whatever they say b/c they controlled the fountain of youth. Why? I'm sure his principles said that was wrong. Why didn't he act like he was doing it out of selfless motivations to bring this youth treatment to humankind, knowing that he would get a lot of credit and respect? His overt claims to bargain with it make him look like he wants to be a bad guy. Why does he want to be a bad guy?

 

[Marsden]

I'm not sure, but I'm guessing Tracey had a terrible psychotic breakdown knowing his entire crew had died, then discovering there might be "fountain of youth" on this planet became an obsession of his to make his crew's loss "worth it", to make up for his failure that killed them.

That's my guess.

 

[EnriqueH]

"Spock! We'll have you out in a minute!"

::POW!::

I can't think of The Omega Glory without instantly thinking of Kirk getting sucker punched inside that jail cell.

 

[T'Girl]

He wanted to bargain for a fleet of ships to come and do whatever they say b/c they controlled the fountain of youth.

But was that Tracy's personal motivation, or was that just something that Tracy was throwing at Kirk?

 

[Mr. Hengist]

I can't imagine what international Star Trek fans think when they see Kirk practically worshiping the US flag and the preamble to the Constitution

I can. I hate this episode. I absolutely hate it. Agree with a lot of the comments that it starts well. But I will never, ever watch it again. It's beyond risible.

Yes obviously the episode would have been greatly superior had Kirk, instead of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, or Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, sang "Waltzing Matilda" whilst eating a Vegemite sandwich.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I can't imagine what international Star Trek fans think when they see Kirk practically worshiping the US flag and the preamble to the Constitution

Star Trek--when this episode was produced--was aimed at an American audience, so the flag stressed a point to those who would understand it. Furthermore, the point Kirk takes from the Constitution--as instruction to both parties cannot be denied, whether one has a distaste for alleged U.S. patriotism or not.

and it's all the more wince-worthy given that Mr. Shatner is Canadian.

How is Shatner's nationality relevant at all? He's an actor--stress actor, so his own background should not influence the viewers' perception of any scene--even one where he's discussing the merits of another country's laws or philosophy.

 

[Push The Button]

Yeah, this thread is starting to turn a little ugly...

 

[johnnybear]

My personal rationalization is that it was a Joint American-Chinese colonization effort that ran into some sort of temporal anomaly, throwing them backwards in time.[/QUOTE]

My thinking exactly! If the kohm leader's father was well over a thousand years old and the Yangs and Kohms did come from earth then time travel must have occurred!
JB

 

[johnnybear]

I'm not sure, but I'm guessing Tracey had a terrible psychotic breakdown knowing his entire crew had died, then discovering there might be "fountain of youth" on this planet became an obsession of his to make his crew's loss "worth it", to make up for his failure that killed them.

Tracey was one of the most respected and experienced captains in the star fleet as Kirk explained at the beginning.
Obviously Tracey had a breakdown over the loss of his crew and deduced it was all the fault of the Yangs that took his attention whilst the virus raged aboard The Exeter!
JB

 

[johnnybear]

I loved this episode and can't understand the hatred it engenders! The constitution of the US doesn't have the force to people in europe or elsewhere that's true but the story I think is very good with another lost starship showing up and Shatner himself had something to do with the fate of the Exeter crew idea! Plus who could resist Irene Kelley? She didn't do much else after this but i think she was in an episode of Starsky and Hutch's first season but not under her name, can anybody verify this?
JB

 

[T'Bonz]

^ Please don't triple post. Try to get everything in one post.

 

[Marsden]

I don't think it's hatred. It's taking my suspension of disbelief and stretching it so far it breaks, and the illusion is destroyed.

There's a fundamental suspension of belief that must be mantained with any show, we chose to believe we are watching actual characters and not actors repeating lines, we accept that this is a real place and not a set, maybe even on some level that we are viewing events and not staring at a screen.

Actually, people like Bill J and some others make me want to like this one, there's so much good in it, it's kind of like raining on my own parade to not like it because I can't quite accept the Absolutely Identical flag and Constitution that breaks it for me. It's just a matter of acceptance. Warp drive, transporters, artifical gravity are all things we just accept, but I have a hard time with identical documents. Sounds silly.