This Side Of Paradise

[Zakk]

Yet again other TOS Review, The episode this time is "This Side Of Paradise" which is an episode i always tend to mix up with Shore Leave for some reason, anyway this episode is one i really enjoy Due to the fact it shows Spock's inner emotions come to play and the idea of the plants spiting spores and making everyone Happy and relax is an funny type of idea I ever heard, I give this episode 4 stars What your take?

 

[scotpens]

"This Side of Paradise" is one of the top ten TOS episodes, IMHO. We get to see Spock let his hair down, so to speak, and experience human love and happiness, if only briefly. And the story has a strong but not heavy-handed message about idleness and the value of the Puritan work ethic. Interestingly, some viewers seem to dislike the episode for that very reason.

The scene where Kirk repeatedly insults Spock, trying to goad him into becoming angry enough to shake off the influence of the spores, is a classic. And the bittersweet parting exchange between Spock and Leila is beautifully written:

Leila: I love you. I said that six years ago, and I can't seem to stop repeating myself. On Earth, you couldn't give anything of yourself. You couldn't even put your arms around me. We couldn't have anything together there. We couldn't have anything together anyplace else. We're happy here. I can't lose you now, Mr. Spock. I can't.

Spock: I have a responsibility. . . to this ship . . . to that man on the bridge. I am what I am, Leila. And if there are self-made purgatories, then we all have to live in them. Mine can be no worse than someone else's.

Still brings a tear to the eye, doesn't it?

 

[Green Shirt]

I'm not trying to be smart ass or anything (yeah, right ), but hasn't there been an abundance of newcomers lately who join the board and launch right into episode reviews as though they think the eps haven't thoroughly examined at the sub atomic level already?

Just wondering.

 

[Sky]

Leila: ...I can't lose you now, Mr. Spock. I can't.

Spock: I have a responsibility. . . to this ship . . . to that man on the bridge. I am what I am, Leila. And if there are self-made purgatories, then we all have to live in them. Mine can be no worse than someone else's.

Spock's lines here are wonderful, but I must laugh when Leila goes on about her feelings and still calls him Mr. Spock.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I like this episode pretty well, though the premise itself is foolishness - all black-and-white, no sense of either practicality or disciplined imagination. Don't Do Drugs. Drink Milk. Stay in School.

 

[Kegg]

Leila calls him 'Mr. Spock' because she never did get his first name (pronunciation was an issue there, as stated in the episode.) It's being polite, if a trifle archaic now.

The show itself is one of my favourite hours of Star Trek, probably because I could relate very strongly to Spock in this episode as a teenager; but the Kirk/Spock dynamic is really what sells this story about extraterrestrial drugs that are a gateway to a mental Eden. It's the same story Star Trek told a thousand times: Better our world than paradise; but in my view it's the best example of such.

I'm not trying to be smart ass or anything (yeah, right ), but hasn't there been an abundance of newcomers lately who join the board and launch right into episode reviews as though they think the eps haven't thoroughly examined at the sub atomic level already?

Everything about Star Trek has already been said probably at this point, and then it's going to be said again. Not always by the same people, though. Such is the way of things. If we're going to proscribe conversation on the basis or whether or not it's been previously discussed this is going to be an awfully empty forum.

 

[Michael]

I'm not trying to be smart ass or anything (yeah, right ), but hasn't there been an abundance of newcomers lately who join the board and launch right into episode reviews as though they think the eps haven't thoroughly examined at the sub atomic level already?

Everything about Star Trek has already been said probably at this point, and then it's going to be said again. Not always by the same people, though. Such is the way of things. If we're going to proscribe conversation on the basis or whether or not it's been previously discussed this is going to be an awfully empty forum.

Agreed. I do, however, have a hard time finding much actual reviewing in all these "reviews". Also, is it necessary to start a whole thread for every episode, only to give a line or two of plot synopsis pretending to be a review?

 

[Forbin]

The scene where Kirk repeatedly insults Spock, trying to goad him into becoming angry enough to shake off the influence of the spores, is a classic.

My friends and I mad-Libbed that scene once, back in the dark ages. The line I remember most is, "You father was a hamster, and your mother smelled of elderberries!"

 

[Sky]

Leila calls him 'Mr. Spock' because she never did get his first name (pronunciation was an issue there, as stated in the episode.) It's being polite, if a trifle archaic now.

Yeah, yeah, she can't use his first name, but can't she at least drop the Mr? Politeness is of course commendable but my impression was that by that point in the episode they'd done much more than shake hands and exchange pleasantries...

 

[scotpens]

I suppose she could have called him "Spocky."

 

[T'Bonz]

I can't stand this episode. The music alone is enough to make me grit my teeth.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Hey, Leslie had his best part evah in this show!

 

[T'Bonz]

And Spock his worst. Hanging from that tree.

 

[DevilEyes]

I like this episode pretty well, though the premise itself is foolishness - all black-and-white, no sense of either practicality or disciplined imagination. Don't Do Drugs. Drink Milk. Stay in School.

Spock's last line throws a spanner in the works... Or, continuing with your interpretation:

Kirk: We were not meant to be lazy and do drugs all day long... It's in our nature to work, explore, improve ourselves... Spock? Don't you agree?
Spock (pause)... Yes, but... I really had fun when I was doing those drugs. I was happy for the first time in my life.
Kirk:...

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

That's an interesting point - but Kirk's attitude is nonsense from the beginning and any real person in a similar situation would see it immediately. The problem is, for the episode to happen at all everyone has to be either ridiculously narrowminded or stupid, and in this case the writer went with narrowminded.

We have here a medication, easily derived from a plant common on this planet, which can heal any illness and repair any injury almost instantly.

Side effect: loss of motivation, mild to serious paranoia.

Does an effective treatment exist for the side effect? Yes, an apparently 100% effective treatment.

Does the reversal of the side effect in any way affect the efficacy of the medication? No, no it does not.

Well, it's certainly a good thing that never in the history of medicine have we been willing to accept a miracle cure when it came with any troublesome side effects at all, right?

Right?

 

[scotpens]

I can't stand this episode. The music alone is enough to make me grit my teeth.

You can't be serious. The love theme for Leila (re-used for Kirk's old flame Ruth in “Shore Leave”) is one of the show's best music cues.

 

[Neopeius]

I can't stand this episode. The music alone is enough to make me grit my teeth.

You're right about that. And every time they reused it later.

Still, on my list, this is the least of the excellent episodes. It's got a lot of good bits and good ensemble exposure. I like the pre-Big-3 days.

I like the, "No! I... can't... leave!" accompanied by one of my favorite Trek scores snipped from 'The Naked Time.'

 

[Myko]

Hey, Leslie had his best part evah in this show!

"Yes sir, he had."

 

[Ssosmcin]

I can't stand this episode. The music alone is enough to make me grit my teeth.

You can't be serious. The love theme for Leila (re-used for Kirk's old flame Ruth in “Shore Leave”) is one of the show's best music cues.

I think the cue works great in Shore Leave. The type of episode it is, plus the fact that it was written specifically for that episode, helps a lot. This Side of Paradise takes the same cue and uses it over and over, with very little provocation. That's a problem with tracked cues; they are not put into a scene beased on the composer's judgment, but by the music editor. He might also be under instructions to "give us lots of romantic music."

Whatever, I always hated the music as used in this episode; it's syrupy, and smashes us over the head with "Spock's IN LOVE!"

And Jill Ireland: God, she annoys me no end. I could deal with the music but for her grating performance. They should have gone with the Hawaiian chick for Sulu idea.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Music affects people differently. I like the score for this episode, but there are certainly moments where they lay the strings on thick as mayonnaise - and the endless recycling of the "love theme" here through later Trek episodes is probably only second to the reuse of the pon farr fight music.