I remember loving Obsession when I was younger, but when I re-watched it recently I just thought it was good. I guess I have no obsession with it anymore?
*tumbleweed*
*tumbleweed*
TheGodBen Revisits Star Trek
- Thread starter TheGodBen
- Start date
The space bikini worked for me.
Sigh. Really nice message. Not original but nice. The execution was really poor.
RAMA
RAMA
The were very against men in rubber suits, and in that time on a TV budget, I tend to agree with them.
True, but Redjack displayed clear malevolence towards other sentient beings, whereas the smoke monster didn't display any awareness that it was feeding on intelligent creatures. The reason why it strikes me as a little odd is that the episode devotes so much time to the question of whether the creature is intelligent, and when they determine that it is they decide to blow it up anyway.
I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand, the forehead aliens were kind of lame. On the other hand, we avoided more creatures like the fish aliens.
The Immunity Syndrome (****)
While on course for some recreation on a lovely pair of round planets, Spock feels a great disturbance in the logic, as though 400 voices suddenly cried out in mild fascination and were silenced. Forced to investigate, the Enterprise discovers a strange hole in space. Following his instincts, Kirk decides to penetrate it, although judging by my counters it seems to be the first time he was successful. Trapped in a realm where energy is being drained, even life energy, the Enterprise discovers that the source of problem is a... giant space amoeba.
When I was young, most of my exposure to TOS came from the Star Trek Fact Files. I remember seeing the picture of the Enterprise against giant space amoeba and thinking how stupid that idea was, and that was actually a big part of the reason why I wrote off TOS and didn’t bother watching it. And, yeah, the idea of a planet-sized amoeba is kind of silly, but Spock does claim that it comes from outside the galaxy, so maybe it’s from that funky region of the universe where the Traveller took the Enterprise-D that one time, where thought and reality intersect.
In many ways, this episode is derivative of earlier stories. What elevates the episode for me is the focus on the Spock/McCoy relationship. It’s my favourite dynamic on the show, and this episode has some of the best examples of their unusual friendship. First, the two compete with one another for the honour of conducting a suicide mission. When Spock is chosen to undertake it, McCoy refuses to wish him luck until after Spock left the room. And when Kirk decides to risk the Enterprise in order to save Spock’s shuttle, Spock and McCoy have a delightfully acerbic exchange.
KIRK: I wish to record my recommendations for the following personnel, that they receive special citation. Lieutenant Commander Leonard McCoy, Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott, officers Chekov, Kyle, Uhura, and my highest commendation for Commander Spock, Science Officer, who gave his life in the performance of his duty.
See Sulu, this is why you shouldn’t have taken such a long honeymoon, you missed out on a commendation. Everyone else is going to rub it in your face once you get back.
Nah, I'll take the fish aliens. They may look corny and silly but at least they actually look alien.
"The Immunity Syndrome" - 5/10. It's your average TOS episode for me. Nothing particularly good or bad about it - just right there in the middle of the pack.
I quite like The Immunity Syndrome. There is a lot of good Spock/McCoy material it, which I always loved throughout TOS.
On the nosey about McCoy/Spock this ep. My absolute favorite lines between those two are here:
[Shuttlecraft]
SPOCK: Do not risk the ship further on my behalf.
[Bridge]
MCCOY: Shut up, Spock! We're rescuing you.
[Shuttlecraft]
SPOCK: Why, thank you, Captain McCoy.
Trek gold, just gold. And an exchange the like of which you will never see in NuTrek (to be fair, you'd never hear anything quite like it it any of the later series, either).
I always liked "The Immunity Syndrome" as it's one of few episodes with all regulars and no guest stars. My idea was that I tuned in to STAR TREK each week to see Kirk, McCoy, Spock, Scotty, etc., and having a guest star hamming it up took time away from those regulars. I felt the same about many favored series.
Harry
Harry
Oddball fannish conjecture about "Immunity Syndrome"... Ever wonder if the amoeba was not a naturally developing life-form, per say, but rather the subject of an experiment? Maybe evolved beings of another quantum reality were "projecting" a "test subject" into a parallel dimension? The "hole in space" as it was quaintly described might have been an "interface" between the dimensions generated by scientists on the "other side". Poor schmucks probably retrieved their test subject; found it dead; and wrongly assumed the cause of death, attributing it to an "environment hostile to organic life".
Smooth move, Enterprise! You just f***ed up someone's science project!
Sincerely,
Bill
Smooth move, Enterprise! You just f***ed up someone's science project!
Sincerely,
Bill
Oddball fannish conjecture about "Immunity Syndrome"... Ever wonder if the amoeba was not a naturally developing life-form, per say, but rather the subject of an experiment? Maybe evolved beings of another quantum reality were "projecting" a "test subject" into a parallel dimension? The "hole in space" as it was quaintly described might have been an "interface" between the dimensions generated by scientists on the "other side". Poor schmucks probably retrieved their test subject; found it dead; and wrongly assumed the cause of death, attributing it to an "environment hostile to organic life".
Smooth move, Enterprise! You just f***ed up someone's science project!
Sincerely,
Bill
Lisa Simpson isn't going to like that.
Hello.... hello.... hello.... hello. Echo.... echo.... echo.... echo.... Pinch hitting for Pedro Borbon, Manny Mota.... Mota.... Mota.... Mota.
If I recall correctly (and I may not since it's been decades), one of the storylines in Peter David's 1980s Trek comic book for DC had one of the Vaal-ians (Akuta?) trying to take vengeance on Kirk for just those reasons.
Damn, I might have to look that comic up. 
I think that's a real misunderstanding of the original background setting, because it was never strictly spelled out. The Federation had claimed, collectively, a zone of the galaxy that would be their territory. This area contained many systems not explored by any Federation member and all of those systems were covered under the Prime Directive so that even though they were in Federation territory the native people weren't automatically Federations citizens and had rights to their own culture.
What that never showed on the show was when Enterprise or any other starship did a survey like in The Apple, that the next wave would be already leaving as soon as the report was logged.
Depending on what was found, geologists and miners with colonists and possibly sociologists and diplomats to deal with a native population were coming to use the planet the starship reported on, or if it was to be a prime directive protected planet, then that would have been declared off limits to interference.
I didn't read Peter David's follow up, but it sounds like the Enterprise left and no Federation contact ever came again, but that's not why explorers explore. They find out what is there so the next wave can come after.
There would have been a whole business of finding and safely collecting those rocks for a power source, studying the flowers for possible compounds to cure diseases and other drugs, the fruit on that planet could be cultivated more efficiently to enable it to help other worlds in need of food, and Akuta would probably be on the Federation Council as the representative of his world before long.
But, none of this is canon and so will be completely disregarded by a significant percentage of posters for that reason. Also, I like optimistic futures and outcomes, and that's not everyone's preference, either. It's one of the things I've always loved about Star Trek.
Sorry about the delay, I've had to prioritise other stuff recently. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to TOS some time this week.
A Piece of the Action (****)
They set-up for this episode is fairly clever. They managed to find a way to do a gangster story without the parallel Earth silliness, and the cultural contamination angle not only gives Kirk licence to interfere (not that he wouldn’t have done anyway), it also demonstrates why the Prime Directive exists in the first place. Sure, it’s a little absurd that one book about Chicago gangsters caused an entire society to adopt that culture, but it’s way better than saying “20th century Rome exists in space, just accept it”.
One thing that struck me while watching this episode is that Shatner is more recognisable as his modern persona than in any other episode yet. Having grown up with an older Shatner, I’ve always had some difficulty reconciling Shatner as I know him and as he appeared in the original series. When I was a kid, I actually thought that they were different actors, I was even upset when I heard that there were going to be TNG movies as I thought they were going to replace the cast like they did with the original crew. I don’t know what it is about this episode, but there are certain scenes where I can see “my” Shatner rather than the youthful imposter Shatner. It was quite strange.
Maybe it’s because it’s a comedy episode, one where Shatner was encouraged to play to his comedic strengths. For much of the episode he’s not playing Captain Kirk, he’s gangster Kirk, and he has some fun with the role. Then there’s Spock. While Kirk draws some laughs with his over the top gangster performance, Spock draws laughs by remaining in character. He’s a Vulcan experiencing a world gone mad, and he struggles to keep up with what’s happening.
Not a fan of that freeze-frame ending though. That was a bit jarring.
They set-up for this episode is fairly clever. They managed to find a way to do a gangster story without the parallel Earth silliness, and the cultural contamination angle not only gives Kirk licence to interfere (not that he wouldn’t have done anyway), it also demonstrates why the Prime Directive exists in the first place. Sure, it’s a little absurd that one book about Chicago gangsters caused an entire society to adopt that culture, but it’s way better than saying “20th century Rome exists in space, just accept it”.
One thing that struck me while watching this episode is that Shatner is more recognisable as his modern persona than in any other episode yet. Having grown up with an older Shatner, I’ve always had some difficulty reconciling Shatner as I know him and as he appeared in the original series. When I was a kid, I actually thought that they were different actors, I was even upset when I heard that there were going to be TNG movies as I thought they were going to replace the cast like they did with the original crew. I don’t know what it is about this episode, but there are certain scenes where I can see “my” Shatner rather than the youthful imposter Shatner. It was quite strange.
Maybe it’s because it’s a comedy episode, one where Shatner was encouraged to play to his comedic strengths. For much of the episode he’s not playing Captain Kirk, he’s gangster Kirk, and he has some fun with the role. Then there’s Spock. While Kirk draws some laughs with his over the top gangster performance, Spock draws laughs by remaining in character. He’s a Vulcan experiencing a world gone mad, and he struggles to keep up with what’s happening.
Not a fan of that freeze-frame ending though. That was a bit jarring.
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