The Omega Glory's Good Points

[ZapBrannigan]

1. The Exeter scenes in the teaser are pretty cool, much like "The Tholian Web." I especially like the bit where the play-back log ends with the doctor falling out of the chair, and then you see his remains on the floor.

2. Morgan Woodward was so good at becoming someone else, I went through childhood not putting him together with Simon Van Gelder.

3. Captain Tracy is tough as nails and amoral despite being "one of our guys." It was a dose of gritty naturalism in a series usually more prone to romanticism. Getting outdoors and shooting in sunlight added to the real feel.

4. Kirk doesn't win his first two fistfights, which must have surprised the character and astonished Shatner.

5. Kirk and Spock are not thrown into the typical, highly-escapable prison that TV heroes of the period were used to-- they have real trouble getting out.

6. Kirk doesn't use a cheesy romance ploy on Cloud William's girlfriend.

7. Good use of "that fight music" by Gerald Fried.

8. Spectacular close-up on a communicator at the climax of Act IV. You can see everything.

9. Shatner's dramatic reading of the Preamble. Some fans are appalled, and as I recall David Gerrold trashed it in his book The World of Star Trek, but from a purely theatrical standpoint, it was a high-intensity spoken-word showpiece. In other words, quintessential Shatner.

 

[HIjol]

The woman, Sirah, had a couple of good points of her own, if I remember correctly...

 

[Melakon]

Zap, I agree with every one of those.

1) Recurring bit player Ed McCready as the doomed Dr. Carter makes the most of his big death scene ("If you've come aboard this ship, you're dead men!"), topped off with a gurgled cry as he collapses out of frame. Backed by moody music, it's the type of over the top theatricality I often loved in TOS.

2,3. Morgan Woodward's Captain Tracey is believable as a ship's captain. But like all those other officers Kirk knew and admired, he went batshit crazy after losing his crew. Woodward gives us two sides of Tracey that are distinctly different from his two sides of Simon Van Gelder.

9. Yeah, it's a really bad climax, but it's the kind of stuff Shatner can sink his teeth into and show us all why he's paid the big bucks. He knows it's corny, but he puts everything he can into it.

 

[Michael]

The Omega Glory's good points? I can think of one: It ends.







Sorry, couldn't resist. Frankly, though, I never liked this episode and rank it amoung the series' worst. It's also true, however, that I haven't seen it in probably a decade. So maybe I should give it a go one of these days and see if my views have changed.

 

[C.E. Evans]

1. The Exeter scenes in the teaser are pretty cool, much like "The Tholian Web." I especially like the bit where the play-back log ends with the doctor falling out of the chair, and then you see his remains on the floor.

2. Morgan Woodward was so good at becoming someone else, I went through childhood not putting him together with Simon Van Gelder.

3. Captain Tracy is tough as nails and amoral despite being "one of our guys." It was a dose of gritty naturalism in a series usually more prone to romanticism. Getting outdoors and shooting in sunlight added to the real feel.

4. Kirk doesn't win his first two fistfights, which must have surprised the character and astonished Shatner.

5. Kirk and Spock are not thrown into the typical, highly-escapable prison that TV heroes of the period were used to-- they have real trouble getting out.

6. Kirk doesn't use a cheesy romance ploy on Cloud William's girlfriend.

7. Good use of "that fight music" by Gerald Fried.

8. Spectacular close-up on a communicator at the climax of Act IV. You can see everything.

9. Shatner's dramatic reading of the Preamble. Some fans are appalled, and as I recall David Gerrold trashed it in his book The World of Star Trek, but from a purely theatrical standpoint, it was a high-intensity spoken-word showpiece. In other words, quintessential Shatner.

I agree with all of the above. "The Omega Glory" is one of my favorite TOS episodes, easily in my top five.

 

[Robert Comsol]

I agree with these good points and would like to add

10. It's visually established that starships like the Enterprise have two engine rooms at least (Kirk makes the shipwide call from a darkened engine room and in the following shots we see another, bright engine room - recycled footage from "The Ultimate Computer"). Now, Scotty already mentioned more than one engine room in "The Naked Time", but my recent experience here shows that oral statements from the protagonists aren't necessarily accepted at face value.

However, the episode also features a terrible plothole, IMHO.

Lt. Galloway (a series regular like Lt. Leslie) lies critically wounded at the floor when Tracey enters the room.

Tracey needs every phaser he can get to and what is he doing at the first sign of Galloway reaching to his phaser?

He kills and dematerializes Galloway along with the phaser he needed so desperately.
(Looks as if Captain Tracey never learned that phasers have a "stun" setting ).

Bob

 

[Maurice]

The Omega Glory's good points? I can think of one: It ends.

Where's your avatar from?

 

[BillJ]

"The Omega Glory" is one of my favorite episodes of Star Trek.

 

[Michael]

The Omega Glory's good points? I can think of one: It ends.

Where's your avatar from?

Ah, I wondered if you'd notice. I did a little something here.

 

[Ssosmcin]

The fights are really great stuff. Not only does Kirk get his ass handed to him twice, Tracy is a dynamic fighter. I love the smile Woodward wears when jabbing Kirk and then chopping him during the first altercation (the Alexander Courage "Fight on Captain's Theme" is well integrated here). Then, outside, Kirk throws a punch to Tracy's jaw and Tracy shrugs it off. You get the impression that this guy, in his right mind, was one of the toughest and best captain's in the fleet. It really sets up the final fight, which is not an easy one for Kirk to win.

 

[Timo]

Thumbs and big toes up for all the points above. The location shooting, the barbarian clothing, the literal grit of it all works to the advantage of the story. Even the confining setting of the village can be taken to suggest the utter isolation of the last Kohms on a planet of genocidal Yangs.

He kills and dematerializes Galloway along with the phaser he needed so desperately.

One could argue that the ability/gall to kill Galloway ties directly to the ability/gall to get new phasers. At this point, Tracey isn't even fully certain he cannot wrap Kirk around his little finger; certainly he has high hopes of getting Kirk to aid in fighting the Yangs, either willingly or against his will.

Or then it's just Tracey not bothering to be particularly rational any more. But Woodward's overall delivery suggests a ruthless veteran with a clarity of mind and just a twisted set of priorities. God, how I love this episode, for all its obvious shortcomings! (Whilst thanking said deity that all of TOS wasn't written in the image of this early attempt.)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Robert Comsol]

A big HELLO and welcome back, Timo. You got me and a few other guys concerned for having been absent so long.

Good to have you back.

Bob

 

[Timo]

Nice to be back, thanks for the re-welcome!

As for explanations, let's pretend we have all already gone through the quotes from STIV about how McCoy wouldn't have a common frame of reference and whatnot.

Suffice to say that during my absence, I have done very little Trek beyond finally obtaining an Into Darkness DVD but not yet getting Nemecek's cartography package. But this thread tickled my urge to dig out some TOS tapes again...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Vandervecken]

This is one of those episodes that I remember thinking very little of when I was a kid/teenager. As I've gotten older, it's moved into my top 10 TOS eps. Subtract the absurd denouement, and this is a GREAT episode. And even that--hell, I have to admit I just love it for Shatner doing a (not really so common) super-hambone bit.

Funny though that the OP listed being hard to break our of this jail as a good point for the ep. I always thought it was ridiculously easy to twist those bars out. What do the Coms mortar with, sand?

And then other episodes I loved as a kid seem just dull to me today, eg, "Devil in the Dark." Way too predictable, and IMO poorly staged.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

In different circumstances, a wrong guy can be the right guy. If the Federation were at war, I wouldn't mind seeing Tracey in command of a task force. Give him some ships and he would get things done.

 

[CrazyMatt]

I love that we see another starship. I love that the other crew wears a cool assignment patch. The fight scenes are good. Morgan Woodward gives a nice performance.

Other than that, there are way too many flaws in this episode--flaws of logic, flaws of omission, flaws of coincidence, flaws of convenience--to make it a worthwhile endeavor.

Bob Justman said it best when discussing the original treatment when the story was rejected for the second pilot. In his and Herb Solow's book he states (paraphrasing): 'It was a bad story that later became a bad episode.'

 

[BillJ]

Funny though that the OP listed being hard to break our of this jail as a good point for the ep. I always thought it was ridiculously easy to twist those bars out. What do the Coms mortar with, sand?

Being exposed to the elements for hundreds or thousands of years would likely weaken the mortar.

 

[Galileo7]

My only question about the "Omega Glory" is what happens to the U.S.S. Exeter ?
Why is the Enterprise departing without the Exeter in tow ?

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

1. The Exeter scenes in the teaser are pretty cool, much like "The Tholian Web." I especially like the bit where the play-back log ends with the doctor falling out of the chair, and then you see his remains on the floor.

It was a great tease and 1st act--utterly grim, and once again, we see how vulnerable Starfleet ships are (in a season which saw the demise of the Constellation and Intrepid up to that point). The landing party's mood sold the horror of that dangerous with the best of any ST series dealing with crew deaths.

2. Morgan Woodward was so good at becoming someone else, I went through childhood not putting him together with Simon Van Gelder.

So true: the measure of a great actor is to be able to create memorable characters completely dissimilar to his other roles. It is a rare talent, and was seen few and far between in the annals of TV or movie history. Woodward's Tracey does not evoke any Van Gelder, and is just as strong a captain (in presence) as Kirk.

4. Kirk doesn't win his first two fistfights, which must have surprised the character and astonished Shatner.

A realistic touch; the hero cannot win every fight, or there's no conflict (beyond the moral conflict between the two). Tracey's early victory shows that Starfleet just did not invest in Kirk-Fu, but turned more than a few badasses (think of Matt Decker taking out a security guard trained for battle).

5. Kirk and Spock are not thrown into the typical, highly-escapable prison that TV heroes of the period were used to-- they have real trouble getting out.

...and they suffered throughout: Kirk knocked out by Tracey and Cloud William, while Tracey's Phasering the communications device right next to Spock let us know he did not care how much pain he inflicted on our heroes.

7. Good use of "that fight music" by Gerald Fried.

"Arrows" or the Amok Time music?

8. Spectacular close-up on a communicator at the climax of Act IV. You can see everything.

Yes! TOS tech--always lovely to see close-ups on the hero props.

9. Shatner's dramatic reading of the Preamble. Some fans are appalled, and as I recall David Gerrold trashed it in his book The World of Star Trek, but from a purely theatrical standpoint, it was a high-intensity spoken-word showpiece. In other words, quintessential Shatner.

Only Shatner could pull that off---and you feel--really feel he believes every word he's saying.

Parallel earth complaints or not, The Omega Glory was a tense chapter in TOS--a well-produced 52 minutes of science/horror (the Exeter's crew), personal threats (Tracey matching fellow Starfleet officers), and a clonflict not easily resolved--even after Cloud William's promise.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

My only question about the "Omega Glory" is what happens to the U.S.S. Exeter ?
Why is the Enterprise departing without the Exeter in tow ?

The disease was in the air of the ship, and we have to assume the transporter's decontamination program failed to treat the Omega disease, so what can you with the ship?