TOS Rewatch

Discussion in 'Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series' started by Grendelsbayne, Aug 29, 2016.

  1. Grendelsbayne

    Grendelsbayne Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I've seen this done in several of the other shows forums and since I happen to be starting on a pretty big rewatch now, I though I'd put my thoughts in a thread.

    I grew up watching TOS on vhs, completely out of order, and I'm honestly not even 100 percent sure we had all the episodes. Since moving out I've only seen one or two of them if they happened to be on tv (I considered getting the dvds at one point, but the price was too high, especially considering I rarely have time to watch my DS9 dvds and that's my favorite trek series). So basically it's been at least fifteen years since I last saw TOS, but thanks to CBS's new deal with Netflix, I've got free access to it now and I found some time to get started on it this morning.

    Episode 1 The Man Trap:

    I was honestly really surprised to see this as the first episode. I knew the TOS pilot process wasn't entirely smooth (there was The Cage, which became the Menagerie) but I was under the impression that 'Where no Man has Gone Before' was written as the new pilot. Even without that misunderstanding, it just seems a very strange episode to choose as the introduction to the entire show. Not that it's a bad episode, but the character development is extraordinarily thin. It shows almost nothing of the Kirk/Spock/McCoy dynamic the series actually became famous for. It doesn't even give the audience five seconds to get to know McCoy before dropping a long lost love on him and making him act strangely for the entire episode (except the majority of the third act which he technically isn't even in). It does do a good job of showcasing the kind of weird tales vibe that the show used a lot, and the salt creature is definitely creepy, although somewhat hard to understand - at times, it kills blatantly and seemingly without hesitation, at other times it seems to be fighting its nature, yet that never really pays off. In fact, with the Professor on its side it could possibly have negotiated for a lifetime supply of salt, yet the first thing it does after knocking Spock unconcious is kill the professor.

    In terms of visual appeal, its understandably unconvincing. I expected the alien landscapes to look fake, but I didn't remember the costumes looking that cheap. But, of course, they were cheap and they pretty much had to be, so it's not a big deal.

    Some other interesting things that popped out at me:

    The 'stun' setting on the phaser actually just stuns people at this point, rather than seeming to knock them unconcious.

    Sulu has a singing plant. That thing was weird. I don't remember seeing any alien half as weird on any of the other shows. Makes you wonder what the franchise would look like if certain world-building concepts had been follow up on rather than forgotten.

    DeForest Kelley looked far older than I expected. I'm so used to the idea that all the actors aged extensively by the movie era, but he didn't change as much as I'd thought.


    Ep. 2 Charlie X -

    Unlike The Man Trap, this is an episode I didn't remember really well at all, but it was interesting. Very creepy vibes and an honestly disturbing and tragic story. It unfortunately does suffer from the same thing that plagues lots of trek episodes (from all series): hanging a heavy, demanding story on the shoulders of a guest actor who isn't up to the challenge. Still, seeing Kirk trying to deal with him was a great insight into Kirk as a character. We also got the first appearance of that classic Trek problem solver: just overload the bad guy's ability to do anything.

    My god, those red tights, though. That was horrible.

    Also, I'm not sure how the abilities Charlie was given were supposed to help him survive on a world with no food.


    Ep. 3 Where No Man Has Gone Before -

    The sudden costume change is kind of jarring. But I actually like these uniforms a bit better in style, if not in color. They keep throwing out these weird random belt things, though. I'm glad that wasn't carried forward.

    In any modern show I would give a serious eyebrow raise to doing two completely separate 'imperfect human gains superpowers' stories in a row, but they have some very interesting variations here. Mitchell is actually turned into a villain rather than a proto-trelaine toddler like Charlie. He's a bit over the top, but it works pretty well.

    I love the fact that Starfleet officers are screened for ESP and multiple Enterprise crewmembers ACTUALLY have it. Another tidbit that could've made for interesting stories in the other series but fell by the wayside. Part of me wonders if this story could be a logical explanation for some of the various super beings running around the galaxy - natural esp plus extra galactic radiation equals ascension to godlike power.

    And there's the birth of the Kirk ripped his shirt trope. :D
     
  2. stardream

    stardream Commodore Commodore

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    We're doing this too. We have watched individual episodes from time to time but we have never sat down and watched it in order together. I used to watch it all the time when I was young during the syndication days.

    Apart from the cheesy sets (it was the 60's) we were surprised at how many of these episodes are based on relationships.

    While it was great to see women on board doing important things the sexism is still there although I believe for the most part unintentional. I think they were trying but not sure how to go about it.

    Anyway...will wait until you catch up before commenting on any particular episode. I agree with your views on the ones you have seen so far.
     
  3. Grendelsbayne

    Grendelsbayne Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Ep 4 - The Naked Time

    Little stuff first:

    The costumes look much better suddenly, so the lower quality I saw before must've been just the learning process at the start of the new show.

    That guy has absolutely no reason to take his glove off. But I love that they immediately make fun of it by having Spock walk in and make a declaration about not exposinig themselves to anything.

    The food dispensers seem to work on a personal card system - apparently the crew has some kind of ration or allowance (or currency).

    Crazy Joe stabbed himself with the dullest butterknife I've ever seen, yet he ends up in surgery...

    McCoy uses a space blowtorch to suture people. Also, McCoy's instruments aren't as advanced as I would expect if they couldn't tell the difference between water and 'a highly complex molecule' that physically looks like water.

    McCoy rips Kirk's shirt open without even straining a muscle. I guess that explains how Kirk winds up shirtless so much - Starfleet uniforms have all the toughness of a kleenex.

    Sulu is actually a much larger presence through all these episodes than I remembered. He has a great personality/entertainment value, too.

    Interesting that most of the episodes so far have actually presented the big problem within the first minute or so of the show, with the rest devoted to figuring out what exactly the problem is. Most later trek would give you at least five minutes or so of scene setting before the audience actually gets to see what's going wrong.

    For the story itself, I would say this is easily the best one so far. Sulu and Riley are hilarious. Spock and Kirk got a tad overdramatic, but there was some really interesting character stuff in there. You can really feel the tension of the crew all succumbing one by one to this disease - more so, for instance, than the DS9 episode with the disease that made everyone forget how to talk. And the scene at the end of everyone staring at the viewscreen, painfully aware that they might all explode the second the engines turn on is absolutely incredible. Drama of the highest order, just as good as anything today.

    Also, I really like that they added the time travel aspect to the end. It doesn't even affect the story, really, but it's such an interesting and different way to end a story like this, and appropriate since many world shattering discoveries are made entirely by accident. Discovery would do well to take notes from this episode.
     
  4. Grendelsbayne

    Grendelsbayne Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Ep. 5 - The Enemy WIthin

    Most adorable alien ever.

    I don't know if it's the makeup or the lighting, but evil Kirk looks like he came out of an evil tanning bed and covered himself in wax.

    Why does Kirk's bedroom have a light shining directly at his pillow?

    Those uniform skirts really are ridiculously short. You literally can't bend over.

    I was really hoping that weird captain's uniform with the shoulder braids and the v neck was gone for good. Alas.

    The story here is really thin and unconvincing. Easily the worst so far. Good vs evil is not only heavily cliched, but they didn't even pull it off very well. Having no 'negative side' means you can't make any decision? And you constantly forget what's going on? Really? Not to mention evil kirk seemed suddenly very indecisive at the end, too, so they didn't even stick to their own rules. It also makes absolutely no sense that Spock and McCoy allowed Kirk to remain in command the entire episode, when he clearly wasn't fit for duty. In fact, he shouldn't have been moving around at all - it only made it easier for the evil Kirk to convince people he was the good Kirk. The logical deicion is to relieve him of command and confine him to quarters with a guard duty until the impostor is caught.

    Finally - i give a minor pass to this as something that simply wasn't introduced to the franchise yet at this point - but the story makes absolutely no sense at all if you consider it in the context of the larger franchise. Enterprise should have some kind of shuttle to go get that landing party, no matter how badly the transporters are damaged.
     
  5. Laura Cynthia Chambers

    Laura Cynthia Chambers Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    It's not good and evil really, it's willpower and action. I discussed this somewhere else.

    Perhaps they were fresh out and heading to a starbase to re-up on shuttle. Or their only one needed a crucial part that they didn't have. But then why send an away team down when that's the case?
     
  6. Grendelsbayne

    Grendelsbayne Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Agreed on the shuttle. As for willpower rather than good... why would willpower be diametrically opposed to your ability to understand that no means no? I suppose an argument could be made for 'instinct' vs 'intellect', but then I'm right back to why the instinctual Kirk broke down at the end. And the part where 'positive' kirk started randomly forgetting things just doesn't make sense under any circumstances.
     
  7. Laura Cynthia Chambers

    Laura Cynthia Chambers Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    In a way it does. If you've had your personality split down the middle, you can only maintain pure this or that for so long before you collapse, as the other can't take up the slack.

    EDIT: Here's the post I was talking about:
     
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  8. Grendelsbayne

    Grendelsbayne Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Ep. 6 Mudd's Women

    Why is Uhura suddenly wearing a different color uniform?

    It's pretty striking how often Spock smiles despite the numerous descriptions of him as emotionless over the episodes so far.

    This episode in particular is a pretty big death blow to the idea that there was no money in the 23rd century. Although I suppose you could try to argue that nothing was explicitly specified as being a part of the Federation.

    This is one of those stories that requires Kirk to act pretty strangely in order to keep the tension high. Witholding those Lithium crystals for blatantly petty reasons is more or less tantamount to murder - if that mining colony was Federation, Kirk could've arrested them on the spot. Even if not - with the idiotic hardball they started playing, Kirk was the one in control of a spaceship that could wreck their entire mining operation from orbit, and it's rather strange that he never even considered using that as a bluff.

    Overall, this was underwhelming. Mudd wasn't as funny as I remembered - in large part because so much of the 'humor' here was just painfully juvenile (and overly drawn out, as well). Look at everyone fawning over the pretty girls! Isn't it hilarious? Look at it again!

    I suppose the story had its heart in the right place, but the sexism is still hard to overlook. The drug 'enhances whatever you already have', which of course must mean that women get curvy and men get ripped. The miners are all blatantly sexist jackasses and the idea that the Eve would even want to stay with that guy after the way he acted is kind of sickening. Then there's the 'it was in you all along' twist which... is weird. Eating a piece of gelatin (or a drug, actually) not only made her confident, it gave her makeup and completely changed her hair. Even if you interpret it as a strange visual use of metaphor, it makes the drug seem useless, while making the miner even more repulsive (because he's only ok with the idea of being with her after knowing that she can look hotter sometimes).

    I'm honestly not even sure what the drug is for in the first place. If there are more outposts out there anything like this one, you could be (sadly) pretty much guaranteed a good finders fee for just plain, normal match-making, without ever having to do anything technically illegal.
     
  9. Laura Cynthia Chambers

    Laura Cynthia Chambers Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Now THAT might be an interesting story; interstellar matchmakers with less dubious character than Mudd.
     
  10. johnnybear

    johnnybear Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Anyone ever noticed that Roger Korby wears a WNMHGB costume in the photo on the screen?:eek:
    JB
     
  11. Grendelsbayne

    Grendelsbayne Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    What are little girls made of:

    I'd completely forgotten that Chapel had a fiance. It's an interesting detail for her and the episode does a good job of going through that conflict of interest.

    It's almost sadly funny the she keeps trying to ask if he had sex with Andrea and he keeps going on about how she only follows orders and has no emotions at all (like that wouldn't make the whole thing so much worse).

    Which of course is instantly contradicted by the claim that android Kirk has all of Kirk's personality. Korby is obviouisly lying to himself.

    I like how Kirk screwed with the Android's creation to tip Spock off.

    Watching Korby realize he isn't actually himself is pretty sad. I have no idea why Andrea's realization that she has feelings suddenly means she has feeling for him, though. Must be a terrible thing to watch if you're in Chapel's position, in any case.
     
  12. johnnybear

    johnnybear Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    We all know that in reality the shuttle hadn't been invented for the show yet, but I like to think that the shuttle wouldn't have been able to traverse the terrible storms in the upper atmosphere so that's why they didn't send one!
    JB
     
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  13. johnnybear

    johnnybear Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Perhaps Eve still had enough of the drug in her system to reactivate when she felt it was needed but didn't realise at the time! God help Childress when the drug was completely gone from her body! :rofl:
    JB
     
  14. Grendelsbayne

    Grendelsbayne Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Miri:

    The 'wild kids' are very dated at this point, obviously. Bonk bonk! Scary. It was rather amusing that the kids' lifespans were increased to centuries and they'd lived alone so long they ate all the food, yet every building is still perfectly intact and only the furniture seems to decay at all.

    Rand's breakdown was also quite a bit over the top.

    An interesting episode overall, not bad certainly, but I'm not entirely certain what the core of this story is supposed to be. Naked Time already did space madness a lot better just a few episodes earlier. The whole grumps vs onlies thing doesn't really seem to amount to much in the end. I feel like maybe there should've more a bit more focus on the kids' innocent savagery rather than spending most of the episode watching Spock and McCoy in a lab while Miri moons over Kirk (which was honestly kind of creepy, no matter how many 300 years old jokes you make to cover it up...).
     
  15. Grendelsbayne

    Grendelsbayne Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Dagger of the mind

    A very solid episode. The tension between Kirk and Noel was slightly exaggerated, but she came around in the end. I was glad to see her hold her own in the fight, as well.

    It's an interesting tidbit that not only are there Christmas parties, but there are different ones for different departments.

    Spock is slowly taking on his truly emotionless characterization. His claim about no emotion equaling no violence is obviously rather ridiculous, though.

    It does leave you wondering what Adams' ultimate plan was really going to be. Presumably van Gelder had to go under because he disagreed with the research. And then Kirk was the same. Most if not all of the staff had to have gone under, too, to be ok with hunting down starfleet officers. But he couldn't really just keep going in some endless chain. And what exactly was he accomplishing? Supposedly his methods had already turned the prison system around, and that's without the unusual 'neural neutralizer' equipment that Dr. Noel had never seen before. I feel like he must have gone a bit mad himself, obsessed with the research for its own sake and with the idea that it was a kindness to the prisoners.
     
    Last edited: Sep 26, 2016
  16. Grendelsbayne

    Grendelsbayne Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    The Corbomite Maneuver

    Interesting that the alarms don't sound in Sickbay. Bones' line about talking to himself is absolutely hilarious.

    Uhura is in Gold again for some reason.

    Spock's line about adrenline is fantastic. And I love that Sulu considers debating with Spock to be widely known as a stupid thing to do.

    Bailey is an interesting side character. I like the idea of a guy who reminds Kirk of himself. And I like the struggle he's having with being promoted 'too' fast.

    The special effects are actually still quite effective, considering their age. The beacon looks pretty interesting, the FF ship even better. Balok himself is weak, but a neat idea none-the-less, and I'm not sure there would've been any better way to do him back then, anyway.

    The stand-off and poker sequence is incredibly well done, though the ending makes you wonder what Balok would've done if Kirk hadn't thought of Corbomite.

    The disagreement between Bones and Kirk going too far is also interesting, especially in the way it's almost immediately settled (which makes it even better when Kirk is proven right after all by Bailey's return). And I truly love that after all this, Kirk steps in to rescue the alien that was supposedly trying to kill them.

    What comes afterward is mildly anti-climactic, but it actually does bring a nice symmetry to the story (like how Kirk and Balok think alike) and making Bailey a cultural exchange officer to the FF is possibly the coolest and most interesting ending for any guest character in the franchise.

    Overall, I have to say this is probably the second truly great episode so far. The humor and the drama are both incredible. The story feels very unique and interesting (love seeing them back out on the edge of known space for once). And there were even really great character moments. A+ for this one.
     
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  17. Ssosmcin

    Ssosmcin Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Of course, we know this is because the episodes were aired wildly out of order. This episode and Mudd's Women were the first two episodes shot after the pilots and they decided to make a permanent change starting with her third appearance in The Man Trap.

    It's only a guess, but I would say the red uniform in the background every week added more color variety, and the color was a real selling point for Trek (especially since RCA was a sponsor). Also, red goes better with her skin tone. She honestly looks lovelier than in the gold (or mustard or olive or whatever it is).
     
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  18. johnnybear

    johnnybear Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Maybe story wise Uhura was up for promotion to command staff and so wore one of their uniforms but when she knew she hadn't made the grade she went back to her crimson glory! :lol: Or she knew the reputation that red shirts have and she decided to wear a gold tunic but Kirk eventually noticed and slapped her back into line! :rommie:
    JB
     
  19. kkt

    kkt Commodore Commodore

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    Maybe her red uniform was at the cleaner's.
     
  20. Grendelsbayne

    Grendelsbayne Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I knew they were aired out of order, but I didnt know that was the reason for this. Thanks for the info.