Thoughts on "For the World is Hollow..."

[Gotham Central]

On the one hand this is a fairly interesting episode. It seems to be based on an old short story called "Universe" where the inhabitants of a multigenerational ship forget that they are merely travelling on a spaceship and see it as their world.

Thus the A plot of the the episode was a really cool sci-fi concept. Unfortunately it is marred by a silly B plot. The episode would have been just fine without McCoy's sudden terminal illness. The plot with Natira was equally contrived. She meets McCoy for lass than 10 minutes and she is madly in love with him. I mean come on.

Star Trek is notorious for its rapid love stories...but the one in the episode was silliest given its speed.

 

[Michael]

On the one hand this is a fairly interesting episode. It seems to be based on an old short story called "Universe" where the inhabitants of a multigenerational ship forget that they are merely travelling on a spaceship and see it as their world.

Thus the A plot of the the episode was a really cool sci-fi concept. Unfortunately it is marred by a silly B plot. The episode would have been just fine without McCoy's sudden terminal illness. The plot with Natira was equally contrived. She meets McCoy for lass than 10 minutes and she is madly in love with him. I mean come on.

Star Trek is notorious for its rapid love stories...but the one in the episode was silliest given its speed.

Wow, I look at it the other way around: While I really like the generational-ship-in-an-asteroid aspect of the episode, I would rather have an episode without it than the McCoy story, because, let's face it, a story centering around our Good Ol' Country Doctor was long overdue in the third season. Granted, it's a rather by-the-numbers love story, but it had some really nice character moments. Personally, I really enjoyed this brief moment there between McCoy and Spock:

 

[scotpens]

On the one hand this is a fairly interesting episode. It seems to be based on an old short story called "Universe" where the inhabitants of a multigenerational ship forget that they are merely travelling on a spaceship and see it as their world.

Thus the A plot of the the episode was a really cool sci-fi concept. Unfortunately it is marred by a silly B plot. The episode would have been just fine without McCoy's sudden terminal illness. The plot with Natira was equally contrived. She meets McCoy for less than 10 minutes and she is madly in love with him. I mean come on.

The story Universe, in case anyone doesn't know, was written by Robert Heinlein and first published in 1941.

"For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched The Sky" is a typically mediocre 3rd-season episode, IMHO. Dr. McCoy has a terminal disease AND falls in love with the High Priestess of Yo' Mama? Either of those plot devices by itself would seem contrived. Together in the same story, they turn Trek into a soap opera.

BTW, "FTWIHAIHTTS" gets the award for longest TOS episode title. As a general rule for the third season, the longer and more pretentious the title, the worse the episode -- "Spock's Brain" being the exception, of course.

 

[Timewalker]

 

[I am not Spock]

I actually liked FTWIHAIHTTS. It was a good showcase for McCoy, and an interesting story.

 

[Orcus]

I actually liked FTWIHAIHTTS. It was a good showcase for McCoy, and an interesting story.

Yeah, summed up in a sentence or three like that it sounds all cheese but it does do rather better in it's full, 'real time' format. Not a lot but it does...

 

[startrekrcks]

I haven't watched all of the episode is it interesting the TOS episode

 

[Michael]

I haven't watched all of the episode is it interesting the TOS episode

What? Please tell me you are not a native speaker.

 

[Hambone]

Star Trek is notorious for its rapid love stories...but the one in the episode was silliest given its speed.

Well, it is a one-hour TV show. How much time can they give us? When you think about it, most events on Star Trek were resolved in a relatively short time!

She meets McCoy for lass than 10 minutes and she is madly in love with him. I mean come on.

Have you ever experienced love at first sight? I have, and ten minutes is like nothing!

 

[Green Shirt]

Well, it is a one-hour TV show. How much time can they give us? When you think about it, most events on Star Trek were resolved in a relatively short time!

How many episodes were full of danger, imminent destruction, and chaos until there was ten seconds of story time left and the antagonist simply changed his mind, or got distracted, or had his parents show up and spoil all the fun?

Personal note: I hope no one reading this post is offended in any way by my seemingly flippant attitude. I've had my chops busted recently by some humorless sourpusses who object to any humor injected into doomsday-like serious discussions of life changing subjects such as the size of McCoy's pinkie ring, or why Kirk always seemed to be in need of a shape-up on his neck.

 

[Forbin]

Just don't kid about Scotty's finger!

 

[maneth]

BTW, "FTWIHAIHTTS" gets the award for longest TOS episode title. As a general rule for the third season, the longer and more pretentious the title, the worse the episode -- "Spock's Brain" being the exception, of course.

Yes, SB is grim. But I must say that IMO Turnabout Intruder is the worst of the lot. The misogynism is unacceptable even by late 60s standards, and to have that piece of crap as the finale of a season is bad enough, but as a series finale it's completely inexcusable. All IMO of course.

Hollow was okay. I must say that I would have preferred it if Bones had found love some other way, though.

 

[JustKate]

You know, much as I like the idea of McCoy getting the girl for a change (of anybody besides Kirk getting the girl ), I just never have warmed to this episode. The A-plot is OK, but even by the standards of 1960s TV, the romance is just...silly - particularly when combined with the pseudo-drama of McCoy's fatal illness. Even when I first saw it at age 10 or whatever, even before I'd ever heard of the prefix "pseudo," I knew it was pseudo. If you can't fool a 10-year-old Trekkie, who can you fool? Nobody, that's who.

I know this is fiction, but did they have to make it soooooo phony and contrived? Bleah.

 

[Cafcow]

I know season three gets put down a lot, but I like a lot of the season three episodes, including this one.
McCoy is my favorite Trek character, and it's great to see an episode that focuses on him, and where he auctually gets the girl. And I really liked Natira's character; how she was portrayed.

I agree that the romance happened too fast, but like Hambone said it's a one hour show; even more it's a one hour show from the 60's. I was able to look past the speed and cheesiness and thought it was sweet.

 

[T'Girl]

Once more we find a super computer run society, which Kirk and Spock put an ends too. In a interesting switch, instead of Kirk talking a computer to death (Landru, M-5) or using phaser fire (Vaal), Spock simply walks into the next room and turns it off.

 

[Green Shirt]

instead of Kirk talking a computer to death (Nomad, M-5) or using phaser fire (Vaal, Landru), Spock simply walks into the next room and turns it off.

With a few notable exceptions, that pretty much sums up the entire third season.

 

[think]

wait McCoy never gets the girl "EVER" this is the only the one and only one ., thinking yep that seems to be the case...

still I can see myself reaching up to the sky and touching it ., or thinking that this planet is just our spaceship we follow the sun with ., right?

the B plots make the shows and then there are the third and forth levels of meaning here. like...

the God projected onto something not understood.

or the brainwashing chambers woot really .,

there is that theme going through our minds again...

 

[Vonstadt]

Once more we find a super computer run society, which Kirk and Spock put an ends too. In a interesting switch, instead of Kirk talking a computer to death (Landru, M-5) or using phaser fire (Vaal), Spock simply walks into the next room and turns it off.

I know that hit me even as a kid, a nice change of pace yet again it was another whacky computer that had to be taught a lesson

Overall i do like the episode since I first saw it. I tend to watch it if I catch it on or its the next on the DvD, however it isn't one of my favorites.

I never really fully bought the Bones subplot but it was nice to see him get the pretty lady.

I still like the old man struggling regardless of his fate to tell the 'strangers' the truth of what he discovered. It made an impression on me as a kid and stayed with me. every time I hear the title of this one that scene and not the bones plot is the first thing I remember.

Vons

 

[Timewalker]

wait McCoy never gets the girl "EVER" this is the only the one and only one ., thinking yep that seems to be the case...

He also got the girl in "Shore Leave" (Tonia Barrows) - in fact, he got her AND the cabaret girls! So that's three women for McCoy in one single episode and all Kirk got was the shit beaten out of him by Finnegan and an implied nice time with Ruth.

 

[Hambone]

wait McCoy never gets the girl "EVER" this is the only the one and only one ., thinking yep that seems to be the case...

He also got the girl in "Shore Leave" (Tonia Barrows) - in fact, he got her AND the cabaret girls!

McCoy almost got the "girl" in The Man Trap. But then he walked in on her sucking face with Kirk.