Maybe they couldn't afford to pay a real cat union scale.
TOS Rewatch
- Thread starter Grendelsbayne
- Start date
Cats do very little on command. You really have to work with a cat to encourage them to do anything they don't want to do.
I don't like what you're implying. Why, my last efficiency rating was quite high and indicated an exceptional ability to understand commands and follow orders.
oooo wanna cat fight mress? MEOW! HISSI don't like what you're implying. Why, my last efficiency rating was quite high and indicated an exceptional ability to understand commands and follow orders.
When aliens are speaking "English" it is apparently usually just assumed they are using the UT or universal translator. They just don't show its use or explain it much since that would be fairly tedious and take twice as long to communicate with nearly everyone. But there is a reason Spock needs to mention it here, and it's part of my review below.
It would seem the Prime Directive does extend to more than just Starfleet, as in the Merchant Marines or merchant service or whatever Merik went into, but I don't think it applies to ordinary Federation citizens (not that ordinary citizens have access to deep space ships that often). And it's still what they can show the general population - not select leaders, philosophers, or scientists.
I haven't crunched the numbers, but I strongly suspect the number of gladiators that die and the number of slaves executed even over two thousand years would still pale in comparison to the millions who died during the world wars, which, I think, was Spock's point. But it would only hold true if somehow they had eliminated most other war on this planet, which, apparently, they had. As distasteful as it may be, Spock logically pointed out it was not inherently worse - just different - and applying earth human's current moral standards to everything probably isn't the best practice. Besides, maybe you can kill fewer gladiators if you can play reruns, and you don't need have games in every city of the Empire since you can broadcast the best games to every city in the empire (which cuts down on the number of deaths, too).
Bread And Circuses
Read Full Review
I liked this episode for the humor it poked at the television industry and the importance of a show's ratings (Star Trek itself having to contend with its own questionable ratings). The "canned" audience sound effects were a hoot. And besides, it asks a very important question:
Do You Like Stories About Space Gladiators?
And what a great line, "If you bring this network's ratings down, Flavius, and we'll do a special on you." Fantastic. The episode's title is perhaps also a comment on us, a T.V. audience, if all we need these days is food and entertainment (or Bread and Circuses). It was probably a great joke filming their own cameras as props just by slapping an "Empire TV" sticker on them. Also, there is some excellent dialogue exchanged between Spock and McCoy that shows Bones doesn't just take Spock's insults lying down but can fight back, but rather than press the conflict, they further bond when they realize they both share something greater, a deep concern for their mutual friend, James T. Kirk. The fact their lives are in serious danger and Kirk is getting laid at that moment is neither here nor there.
There's a nice but brief rundown of some of the rules of the Prime Directive, so that's good. But they are talking about people in general or the population at large, and not individual societal leaders.
One of the flaws of the story, I thought, is the way they felt the need to point out how closely the planet matched the Earth in numerous ways, and to hammer on the parallel development between them, calling it Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development. Mostly it's an excuse to reuse props and situations you'd find on Earth or in Earth's history. They even go out of their way in this episode (the only TOS episode to say this) to point out the natives are actually speaking English (a practical impossibility unless it's a transplant, which, in this case, it apparently isn't). I thought this was completely idiotic and unnecessary, but I gather they did that to justify the easy confusion between the homophones, Sun and Son - something that would not hold true in most other languages, or would have been readily revealed by the unseen but ubiquitous universal translators - so no surprise reveal at the end that it's not Sun worshipers, but worshipers of the Son of God. If they aren't speaking English, it doesn't quite work, but I think they over thought it, though at least they realized it was a small problem. Unfortunately, the small coincidence of a similar homophone is nothing compared to the astronomically unrealistic parallel development of colloquial English. Having a Caesar and a Christ figure is actually not all that unrealistic in comparison.
In fact, a true believer might assume the one True God runs that "show" for every world he creates, but I don't really wish to offend anyone's religious point of view here. The message of universal love and brotherhood is a good one, and I think it holds some innate universal truth at its core, so the parallel development does not surprise or bother me. At least those historical figures are not actually named Caesar and Christ, which would have been a bridge too far.
We should also be mindful of WWI, and WWII, and, ahem, WWIII, so watch out, lest the 6 million who died in WWI, or the 11 million who died in WWII, is eclipsed by the 37 million who could soon die in the upcoming WWIII, though we have gone beyond those estimated dates already.
Not to mention the problems of pollution and smog, of course. It's always good to point out some of our society's problems or potential pitfalls as somebody else's, so it might invite open and honest discussion of those matters without the often more immediate defensive reaction, as if you were talking about yourself or ourselves and not somebody else. Anyway . . .
RANDOM COMMENTS:
Once again they had phasers with them but seem to have lost them, and the Roman-types who captured them didn't use them or mention them, and the landing party never tried to retrieve them (or the communicators). Given the Prime Directive, it's almost a wonder they even carry phasers in such situations since they almost certainly won't use them. It's too bad those subcutaneous transponders were overly handy - it'd be a shame for many story lines if every landing party member had one of those in them as standard equipment. One might assume their equipment would also give off signals that could be traced from orbit, and that equipment (and maybe even anyone who has it) could be beamed up later. They might retrieve lost communicators and phasers a lot this way, just before they break orbit - they just don't mention it during the show since it's boring, routine stuff.
I've always felt the Proconsul's fear of his society's potential contamination was odd - if he let those guys leave and told them not to come back, why wouldn't they grant his request? Merik would have told him that's exactly what they would have to do, by law. Losing a starship, however, would instead practically guarantee more visits and ensure contamination. It seemed stupid. And why Merik was convinced Marcus' way was right or better is beyond me. I wonder what Kirk did when they left. I probably would have deployed a satellite warning Federation types (if and/or when they approached) to avoid the planet for at least a century, or until they developed warp drive.
I did appreciate that Merik made the clear distinction between a spaceship and a starship (something Kirk (or Shatner) himself didn't seem to appreciate). One or two of the best lines of the episode are personal insults directed at Merik's manhood, or lack thereof. If anything, it probably inspired him to "man up" and risk his life and save the landing party, even though it cost him his own life in the end, but maybe he felt he could get away with it and explain it later. Nope! While he did violate the prime directive, he did, in the end, step up and take one for the team. RIP Captain R.M. Merik, and most of the crew of the S.S. Beagle. Most? Yeah, I think it's implied some of them (who willingly melded into that society) weren't classified as "barbarians," and therefore did not become slaves and were not sent to the games, and thus probably survived - like, maybe, as a chartered accountant or something interesting like that. Kirk did not, however, seem interested in tracking them down.
Another weakness of the story is the crazy idea that Kirk (or anyone) would willingly order or even allow 427 crewmen to walk to their deaths just to temporarily save two others, who will almost certainly be killed later anyway. Of course Kirk wouldn't do it, but it's insane that Proconsul Marcus ever thought he would. Merik's crew, at least, came ashore in waves, trying to rescue the landing party, and their ship was hopelessly crippled or all but destroyed, anyway, so they had little choice. But Kirk (and Scotty and that personal playbook of theirs) included a "condition green" alert - so no rescue party - the ship and crew were safe. FYI, "Queen to queen's level 3," is also part of Kirk and Scotty's shared playbook - and this probably isn't standard starfleet issue stuff.
Actually, I don't quite understand how the Beagle was destroyed and adrift like it was if they were damaged and in orbit, and going ashore a few at a time. I also have my doubts wreckage could drift 1/16th a parsec (or about 0.2 light years) in 6 years. It'd "drift" 1 light year in 30 years at that rate, which seems pretty fast for debris. But while possible, I think, Chekov claims that the Enterprise can go that distance in mere seconds is crazy. At warp 7, it'd take about 5 hours, and at warp 9, about 2.4 hours. At warp 50, under a minute. Anyway, the damage to the Beagle is why they came down, so maybe a large section of the ship was damaged nearby and set adrift, while the remainder achieved orbit. What else could they do but go ashore? The Enterprise wasn't in that position, so it was stupid to think they could coerce the entire crew to come down, even if they could get some of them to come.
BTW, weird they reused Claudius Marcus' name twice, once as a gladiator that killed flight officer William B. Harrison, and again as the proconsul. Guess it's a common name.
We're told, definitively, that a starship could lay waste to the entire planetary surface. I was impressed. Is it any wonder even a split second of indecision is enough to disqualify a person from holding that kind of command? You can't put that kind of power into just anyone's hands.
I think the way they made it look like a coincidence that Scotty overloaded the planet's power grid just as Kirk was about the be executed was a missed opportunity to show a more believable scenario, where Uhura and Scotty are monitoring the broadcast and trip the circuits right when it'd do the most good to help Kirk. It's not like they weren't openly broadcasting that show, so naturally Uhura would be on top of it, and Scotty would time the power failure accordingly. But no - the way they did it, it looks like complete luck. Even the remastered effects could have "fixed" that, not by showing the planet again, but the TV broadcast of the arena - but that would have altered the original story too much, probably, and really got the purists up in arms.
The Beauty of the Day is the slave, Drusilla, played by Lois Jewell. Meh. The costume didn't impress me and she looked like an artificial blonde, but as always, YMMV.
One of my favorite character actors makes his first Trek appearance here as Septimus. Ian Wolfe. He'll later appear as Mr. Atoz in the episode All Our Yesterdays.
He was a senator here, now a slave after he was enlightened by the Son, but he also had worshiped the false gods, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and Neptune, or whatever other names they stole. I figured Merik polluted the culture with those names for trade goods and personal profit, but not if Septimus had worshipped them before, and now thought them as false gods. It should take far longer than a mere 6 years for anyone to think of them as Gods. I think this aspect of the story was badly done.
Remastered Effects. After the wreckage of the S.S. Beagle, the new scenes mostly seemed to be the new planet and its double moon system (seen many times while in orbit, and during the beam down to the planet in the blue sky, too). It's very nice. I assume those moons orbit one another and that pair's barycenter orbits the primary planet, but I dunno.
Side-By-Side Comparison
I had given this a 7 out of 10 before, but there's some pretty stupid stuff in it, so I'd downgrade it a bit for that - but with the interesting double moon system (though not part of the story) I'll bring it back up to 7. I do like episodes that add to character development, the Trek universe background, and other details that help flesh out this fictional universe - or might inspire scientific thought about our own universe - like wow - a double moon. We see a lot of that here, even if the story doesn't otherwise impress you. Anyway, I liked it more than it probably deserves, but hey, it's my review.
Do You Like Stories About Space Gladiators?
And what a great line, "If you bring this network's ratings down, Flavius, and we'll do a special on you." Fantastic. The episode's title is perhaps also a comment on us, a T.V. audience, if all we need these days is food and entertainment (or Bread and Circuses). It was probably a great joke filming their own cameras as props just by slapping an "Empire TV" sticker on them. Also, there is some excellent dialogue exchanged between Spock and McCoy that shows Bones doesn't just take Spock's insults lying down but can fight back, but rather than press the conflict, they further bond when they realize they both share something greater, a deep concern for their mutual friend, James T. Kirk. The fact their lives are in serious danger and Kirk is getting laid at that moment is neither here nor there.
There's a nice but brief rundown of some of the rules of the Prime Directive, so that's good. But they are talking about people in general or the population at large, and not individual societal leaders.
One of the flaws of the story, I thought, is the way they felt the need to point out how closely the planet matched the Earth in numerous ways, and to hammer on the parallel development between them, calling it Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development. Mostly it's an excuse to reuse props and situations you'd find on Earth or in Earth's history. They even go out of their way in this episode (the only TOS episode to say this) to point out the natives are actually speaking English (a practical impossibility unless it's a transplant, which, in this case, it apparently isn't). I thought this was completely idiotic and unnecessary, but I gather they did that to justify the easy confusion between the homophones, Sun and Son - something that would not hold true in most other languages, or would have been readily revealed by the unseen but ubiquitous universal translators - so no surprise reveal at the end that it's not Sun worshipers, but worshipers of the Son of God. If they aren't speaking English, it doesn't quite work, but I think they over thought it, though at least they realized it was a small problem. Unfortunately, the small coincidence of a similar homophone is nothing compared to the astronomically unrealistic parallel development of colloquial English. Having a Caesar and a Christ figure is actually not all that unrealistic in comparison.
In fact, a true believer might assume the one True God runs that "show" for every world he creates, but I don't really wish to offend anyone's religious point of view here. The message of universal love and brotherhood is a good one, and I think it holds some innate universal truth at its core, so the parallel development does not surprise or bother me. At least those historical figures are not actually named Caesar and Christ, which would have been a bridge too far.
We should also be mindful of WWI, and WWII, and, ahem, WWIII, so watch out, lest the 6 million who died in WWI, or the 11 million who died in WWII, is eclipsed by the 37 million who could soon die in the upcoming WWIII, though we have gone beyond those estimated dates already.
Not to mention the problems of pollution and smog, of course. It's always good to point out some of our society's problems or potential pitfalls as somebody else's, so it might invite open and honest discussion of those matters without the often more immediate defensive reaction, as if you were talking about yourself or ourselves and not somebody else. Anyway . . .RANDOM COMMENTS:
Once again they had phasers with them but seem to have lost them, and the Roman-types who captured them didn't use them or mention them, and the landing party never tried to retrieve them (or the communicators). Given the Prime Directive, it's almost a wonder they even carry phasers in such situations since they almost certainly won't use them. It's too bad those subcutaneous transponders were overly handy - it'd be a shame for many story lines if every landing party member had one of those in them as standard equipment. One might assume their equipment would also give off signals that could be traced from orbit, and that equipment (and maybe even anyone who has it) could be beamed up later. They might retrieve lost communicators and phasers a lot this way, just before they break orbit - they just don't mention it during the show since it's boring, routine stuff.
I've always felt the Proconsul's fear of his society's potential contamination was odd - if he let those guys leave and told them not to come back, why wouldn't they grant his request? Merik would have told him that's exactly what they would have to do, by law. Losing a starship, however, would instead practically guarantee more visits and ensure contamination. It seemed stupid. And why Merik was convinced Marcus' way was right or better is beyond me. I wonder what Kirk did when they left. I probably would have deployed a satellite warning Federation types (if and/or when they approached) to avoid the planet for at least a century, or until they developed warp drive.
I did appreciate that Merik made the clear distinction between a spaceship and a starship (something Kirk (or Shatner) himself didn't seem to appreciate). One or two of the best lines of the episode are personal insults directed at Merik's manhood, or lack thereof. If anything, it probably inspired him to "man up" and risk his life and save the landing party, even though it cost him his own life in the end, but maybe he felt he could get away with it and explain it later. Nope! While he did violate the prime directive, he did, in the end, step up and take one for the team. RIP Captain R.M. Merik, and most of the crew of the S.S. Beagle. Most? Yeah, I think it's implied some of them (who willingly melded into that society) weren't classified as "barbarians," and therefore did not become slaves and were not sent to the games, and thus probably survived - like, maybe, as a chartered accountant or something interesting like that. Kirk did not, however, seem interested in tracking them down.
Another weakness of the story is the crazy idea that Kirk (or anyone) would willingly order or even allow 427 crewmen to walk to their deaths just to temporarily save two others, who will almost certainly be killed later anyway. Of course Kirk wouldn't do it, but it's insane that Proconsul Marcus ever thought he would. Merik's crew, at least, came ashore in waves, trying to rescue the landing party, and their ship was hopelessly crippled or all but destroyed, anyway, so they had little choice. But Kirk (and Scotty and that personal playbook of theirs) included a "condition green" alert - so no rescue party - the ship and crew were safe. FYI, "Queen to queen's level 3," is also part of Kirk and Scotty's shared playbook - and this probably isn't standard starfleet issue stuff.
Actually, I don't quite understand how the Beagle was destroyed and adrift like it was if they were damaged and in orbit, and going ashore a few at a time. I also have my doubts wreckage could drift 1/16th a parsec (or about 0.2 light years) in 6 years. It'd "drift" 1 light year in 30 years at that rate, which seems pretty fast for debris. But while possible, I think, Chekov claims that the Enterprise can go that distance in mere seconds is crazy. At warp 7, it'd take about 5 hours, and at warp 9, about 2.4 hours. At warp 50, under a minute. Anyway, the damage to the Beagle is why they came down, so maybe a large section of the ship was damaged nearby and set adrift, while the remainder achieved orbit. What else could they do but go ashore? The Enterprise wasn't in that position, so it was stupid to think they could coerce the entire crew to come down, even if they could get some of them to come.
BTW, weird they reused Claudius Marcus' name twice, once as a gladiator that killed flight officer William B. Harrison, and again as the proconsul. Guess it's a common name.
We're told, definitively, that a starship could lay waste to the entire planetary surface. I was impressed. Is it any wonder even a split second of indecision is enough to disqualify a person from holding that kind of command? You can't put that kind of power into just anyone's hands.
I think the way they made it look like a coincidence that Scotty overloaded the planet's power grid just as Kirk was about the be executed was a missed opportunity to show a more believable scenario, where Uhura and Scotty are monitoring the broadcast and trip the circuits right when it'd do the most good to help Kirk. It's not like they weren't openly broadcasting that show, so naturally Uhura would be on top of it, and Scotty would time the power failure accordingly. But no - the way they did it, it looks like complete luck. Even the remastered effects could have "fixed" that, not by showing the planet again, but the TV broadcast of the arena - but that would have altered the original story too much, probably, and really got the purists up in arms.
The Beauty of the Day is the slave, Drusilla, played by Lois Jewell. Meh. The costume didn't impress me and she looked like an artificial blonde, but as always, YMMV.
One of my favorite character actors makes his first Trek appearance here as Septimus. Ian Wolfe. He'll later appear as Mr. Atoz in the episode All Our Yesterdays.
He was a senator here, now a slave after he was enlightened by the Son, but he also had worshiped the false gods, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and Neptune, or whatever other names they stole. I figured Merik polluted the culture with those names for trade goods and personal profit, but not if Septimus had worshipped them before, and now thought them as false gods. It should take far longer than a mere 6 years for anyone to think of them as Gods. I think this aspect of the story was badly done.
Remastered Effects. After the wreckage of the S.S. Beagle, the new scenes mostly seemed to be the new planet and its double moon system (seen many times while in orbit, and during the beam down to the planet in the blue sky, too). It's very nice. I assume those moons orbit one another and that pair's barycenter orbits the primary planet, but I dunno.
Side-By-Side Comparison
I had given this a 7 out of 10 before, but there's some pretty stupid stuff in it, so I'd downgrade it a bit for that - but with the interesting double moon system (though not part of the story) I'll bring it back up to 7. I do like episodes that add to character development, the Trek universe background, and other details that help flesh out this fictional universe - or might inspire scientific thought about our own universe - like wow - a double moon. We see a lot of that here, even if the story doesn't otherwise impress you. Anyway, I liked it more than it probably deserves, but hey, it's my review.
Last edited:
Assignment: Earth
Read Full Review
This episode was meant to be a spin off for a new series by Gene Roddenberry. It didn't fly, apparently, but they made some comics and stories (of which I am mostly unfamiliar).
Assignment Earth Spin Off
If starship captains start going back into history for trivial reasons, you better watch out or Kirk will make his dream of sailing on an old ocean vessel guided by the stars a reality.
And Not to seem overly modest, the one PhotoTrek I made that was a complete Star Trek episode is a sequel to this story. If you have the time or inclination, it starts here:
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/phototrek.288654/page-3#post-12086239
I was never happy with the way they started this episode - an almost casual announcement they've deliberately traveled back in time (no problem or danger at all, it would seem) to 1968 just to see how we managed to survive that time (as if it's a particularly dangerous time, more so than most any other they could have picked). Sure, this greatly helps launch a new series set in 1968, but it does something that doesn't otherwise seem normal for the Trek universe - deliberately risking Earth's history (and future) for no particularly compelling reason. Historical Research? And on a rather vague topic? Please. And when they're done, they just as easily fly off, ostensibly to return to the future - easy as pie - without any apparent concern for failure. It makes many of their other epic and dangerous time travel journeys seem as if they probably weren't all that big a deal after all.
So, apparently some nation (probably Russia) had secretly launched and was maintaining an orbital nuclear platform - quite a problem of that era, according to Spock, with many people doing it at one point - but this was widely unknown stuff to the general public, which explains why "we" don't know about it, or know of things like a nuke going off 104 miles above the surface of the Earth. I suspect the resulting EMP from such a blast would cause a great deal of damage to the EuroAsia area, but I guess the government is pretty darn good at hiding massive secrets like that (like the electrical grid of Europe going down for a few years until they would repair it without power to help them).
Kind of makes Earth seem pretty scary and supports countless conspiracy theories. I'll ignore the fact the Beta-5 computer refers to such a things as a sub-orbital platform - maybe sub-orbital just sounds cooler than orbital, but WTF are they thinking? And, of course, I don't think they even considered the problem of a high-altitude EMP at 104 miles. Maybe others will know more about just how nasty (or harmless) that would be. Unfortunately, they never really said how large a nuke they had there, so maybe it was just a baby nuke - a little tactical thing meant to take out a small target with some precision. But I digress.
While he had several more suitable fake ID's, like the NSA, I wonder why Gary Seven was flashing his CIA ID to Roberta Lincoln. If I were her, I'd wonder WTF is the CIA doing running an operation on American soil? Well, maybe nobody seems to care about that, so what do I know?
So, does the culture that sent Gray Seven to Earth have Transwarp beaming? They've been procuring human beings from here for at least 6,000 years, as long as the Biblical God's been around, so they are an interesting and mysterious culture that won't be elaborated upon here. The transporter beam originated more than a 1,000 light years away (some later sources say 10,000 light years) and they beamed their operative to Earth where he sets about solving many problems with his sonic screwdriver.
"Who" does he think he is?
Well, the Doctor's sonic screwdriver was also introduced in 1968, but I'm not sure which came first - the sonic screwdriver, or Gary Seven's Servo. I gather the servo was filmed first, but the screwdriver aired first, and it's apparently nothing more than a fantastic coincidence. I'm not as certain the advanced science boy and his cute companion is as coincidental, however.
Well, no matter. I probably would have watched and enjoyed that spin off, had it taken flight. Too bad.
Gah, again, they lose the communicators and phasers and the people that capture them remain clueless. How hard is it to push a button? OK, MAYBE these devices have some serious biometrics built into them and are usually rendered useless in the hands of anyone not sporting the right subcutaneous transponder chip in them or currently on file in a weapon's user profiles, or something. At least some serious safety devices that makes it harder for the untrained to activate them, but not too hard to slow authorized users down when they need them. Otherwise, it just gets too hard to believe nobody experiments with those devices and sees what they can do in short order.
Beauties of the Day are Teri Garr and Victoria Cecilia Vetri.
cat fight . . .
Victoria Cecilia Vetri was Playboy's Miss September 1967 and Playmate of the Year 1968.
I've always enjoyed Teri Garr and her work, but, well, Victoria was prettier (then). But she's also far deadlier, I gather, as she pled no contest to attempted voluntary manslaughter after shooting her husband in 2010 and was sentenced to 9 years. Yikes - so are cats or bunnies the deadlier of predators?
My, how the lovely have fallen. Bad Kitty!
I was also saddened to learn Teri's Trek experience was not a happy one, and she doesn't like to talk about it. Maybe Roddenberry's hands-on approach to her wardrobe - insisting her skirt be made shorter and shorter until she felt uncomfortable in it - had a lot to do with it. But I dunno. Was he a dirty old man, or did he just know that sex sells and he wanted the ratings, or, I would assume, both?
Bruce Mars (Finnegan) returns as the police officer Charlie.
The re-mastered material is mostly shots of the Earth (sadly, the Earth is often rotating in the wrong direction, or so it seems to me.)
Side-By-Side Comparison
I generally liked the episode - the interactions with Isis, the cat, were particular funny. The Beta-5 computer is amusing. That could have been a hoot. And I found some sequences interesting and exciting. But I won't go higher than a 6 out of 10, and the re-mastered shots don't really do anything for it, as far as I noticed, except maybe downgrade it a bit for a rather large mistake of rotating the Earth in the wrong direction. Morons.
Assignment Earth Spin Off
If starship captains start going back into history for trivial reasons, you better watch out or Kirk will make his dream of sailing on an old ocean vessel guided by the stars a reality.
And Not to seem overly modest, the one PhotoTrek I made that was a complete Star Trek episode is a sequel to this story. If you have the time or inclination, it starts here:
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/phototrek.288654/page-3#post-12086239
I was never happy with the way they started this episode - an almost casual announcement they've deliberately traveled back in time (no problem or danger at all, it would seem) to 1968 just to see how we managed to survive that time (as if it's a particularly dangerous time, more so than most any other they could have picked). Sure, this greatly helps launch a new series set in 1968, but it does something that doesn't otherwise seem normal for the Trek universe - deliberately risking Earth's history (and future) for no particularly compelling reason. Historical Research? And on a rather vague topic? Please. And when they're done, they just as easily fly off, ostensibly to return to the future - easy as pie - without any apparent concern for failure. It makes many of their other epic and dangerous time travel journeys seem as if they probably weren't all that big a deal after all.
So, apparently some nation (probably Russia) had secretly launched and was maintaining an orbital nuclear platform - quite a problem of that era, according to Spock, with many people doing it at one point - but this was widely unknown stuff to the general public, which explains why "we" don't know about it, or know of things like a nuke going off 104 miles above the surface of the Earth. I suspect the resulting EMP from such a blast would cause a great deal of damage to the EuroAsia area, but I guess the government is pretty darn good at hiding massive secrets like that (like the electrical grid of Europe going down for a few years until they would repair it without power to help them).
Kind of makes Earth seem pretty scary and supports countless conspiracy theories. I'll ignore the fact the Beta-5 computer refers to such a things as a sub-orbital platform - maybe sub-orbital just sounds cooler than orbital, but WTF are they thinking? And, of course, I don't think they even considered the problem of a high-altitude EMP at 104 miles. Maybe others will know more about just how nasty (or harmless) that would be. Unfortunately, they never really said how large a nuke they had there, so maybe it was just a baby nuke - a little tactical thing meant to take out a small target with some precision. But I digress.
While he had several more suitable fake ID's, like the NSA, I wonder why Gary Seven was flashing his CIA ID to Roberta Lincoln. If I were her, I'd wonder WTF is the CIA doing running an operation on American soil? Well, maybe nobody seems to care about that, so what do I know?
So, does the culture that sent Gray Seven to Earth have Transwarp beaming? They've been procuring human beings from here for at least 6,000 years, as long as the Biblical God's been around, so they are an interesting and mysterious culture that won't be elaborated upon here. The transporter beam originated more than a 1,000 light years away (some later sources say 10,000 light years) and they beamed their operative to Earth where he sets about solving many problems with his sonic screwdriver.
"Who" does he think he is?
Well, the Doctor's sonic screwdriver was also introduced in 1968, but I'm not sure which came first - the sonic screwdriver, or Gary Seven's Servo. I gather the servo was filmed first, but the screwdriver aired first, and it's apparently nothing more than a fantastic coincidence. I'm not as certain the advanced science boy and his cute companion is as coincidental, however.
Well, no matter. I probably would have watched and enjoyed that spin off, had it taken flight. Too bad.
Gah, again, they lose the communicators and phasers and the people that capture them remain clueless. How hard is it to push a button? OK, MAYBE these devices have some serious biometrics built into them and are usually rendered useless in the hands of anyone not sporting the right subcutaneous transponder chip in them or currently on file in a weapon's user profiles, or something. At least some serious safety devices that makes it harder for the untrained to activate them, but not too hard to slow authorized users down when they need them. Otherwise, it just gets too hard to believe nobody experiments with those devices and sees what they can do in short order.
Beauties of the Day are Teri Garr and Victoria Cecilia Vetri.
cat fight . . .
Victoria Cecilia Vetri was Playboy's Miss September 1967 and Playmate of the Year 1968.
Naughty, naughty. Star Trek may have been PG-13, but this Trek board is mostly G rated. You should have known better.
I was familiar with that Playboy layout, but I never realized she played Isis. It's as if her name wasn't particularly important for me to notice - go figure.
I was familiar with that Playboy layout, but I never realized she played Isis. It's as if her name wasn't particularly important for me to notice - go figure.
I've always enjoyed Teri Garr and her work, but, well, Victoria was prettier (then). But she's also far deadlier, I gather, as she pled no contest to attempted voluntary manslaughter after shooting her husband in 2010 and was sentenced to 9 years. Yikes - so are cats or bunnies the deadlier of predators?
My, how the lovely have fallen. Bad Kitty!
I was also saddened to learn Teri's Trek experience was not a happy one, and she doesn't like to talk about it. Maybe Roddenberry's hands-on approach to her wardrobe - insisting her skirt be made shorter and shorter until she felt uncomfortable in it - had a lot to do with it. But I dunno. Was he a dirty old man, or did he just know that sex sells and he wanted the ratings, or, I would assume, both?
Bruce Mars (Finnegan) returns as the police officer Charlie.
The re-mastered material is mostly shots of the Earth (sadly, the Earth is often rotating in the wrong direction, or so it seems to me.)
Side-By-Side Comparison
I generally liked the episode - the interactions with Isis, the cat, were particular funny. The Beta-5 computer is amusing. That could have been a hoot. And I found some sequences interesting and exciting. But I won't go higher than a 6 out of 10, and the re-mastered shots don't really do anything for it, as far as I noticed, except maybe downgrade it a bit for a rather large mistake of rotating the Earth in the wrong direction. Morons.
That wraps up the second season of TOS. Well done, people. While I generally believe the third season to be TOS's weakest, there are still some exceptional episodes and scenes in the stories to come, so I look forward to starting my season 3 Trek reviews soon.
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Beauties of the Day are Teri Garr and Victoria Cecilia Vetri.
cat fight . . .
Victoria Cecilia Vetri was Playboy's Miss September 1967 and Playmate of the Year 1968.
Naughty, naughty. Star Trek may have been PG-13, but this Trek board is mostly G rated. You should have known better.
I was familiar with that Playboy layout, but I never realized she played Isis. It's as if her name wasn't particularly important for me to notice - go figure.
I've always enjoyed Teri Garr and her work, but, well, Victoria was prettier (then). But she's also far deadlier, I gather, as she pled no contest to attempted voluntary manslaughter after shooting her husband in 2010 and was sentenced to 9 years. Yikes - so are cats or bunnies the deadlier of predators?
My, how the lovely have fallen. Bad Kitty!
There's no proof that Victoria Vetri played Isis.
From her talk page at Memory Alpha [http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:Victoria_Vetri]:
This page is erroneous. The uncredited actress who played Isis was not Victoria Vetri. The speculation that she might be Vetri arose from a fan webpage (no longer online but archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20131006023406/http://www.assignmentearth.ca/cast.html#VictoriaVetri) whose author merely suggested it as a possibility based on a vague resemblance and on the information that Isis was played by a Playboy Playmate. The author never claimed it was anything more than a guess, but IMDb has incorrectly presented this speculation as a fact and many other sites have followed its lead, perpetuating the mistake. However, there are clear differences between the two women's features; Vetri has brown eyes and a speck of pigment on the white of her left eye, while the Isis actress has gray or green eyes and no speck. Vetri also has a softer bone structure to her face and a more curvaceous build.--CLBennett (talk) 17:36, October 3, 2014 (UTC)
Looks like that might have been posted by @Christopher.
From the linked page at Internet Archive [https://web.archive.org/web/20131006023406/http://www.assignmentearth.ca/cast.html#VictoriaVetri]:
Victoria Vetri Rathgeb
For the first few years of this site, I had no idea who played the human version of Isis. In fact, the first thing people used to see on the home page was, "Do you know who this woman is?" All references listed her as an unknown bit player.
It wasn't until October 2005 that I received a lead from a person who said, "I don't know the name of the actress who played Isis but I do recall reading she was an ex-Playboy Playmate."
So I undertook the arduous task of sourcing photos of Playboy Playmates of the 60s. When I found Victoria Vetri (Miss September 1967, Playmate of the Year 1968), who used the stage name Angela Dorian for Playboy, I knew it was very likely this was the person. The cleft in the chin, her nose and cheek structure, and spacing of her eyes all agree. The career path also aligns. With her many small TV roles at the time, an appearance on Star Trek fit.
I went ahead and named Vetri as Isis with the thought that if I was wrong someone would eventually tell me about it.
However, the opposite happened. James Brady, the fellow who built the wonderful Seven and Lincoln Mego custom figures over on the Media page, kept track as a few sites began to list Vetri as Isis, including imdb.com.
I am happy to take the credit or the blame for this, and hope to learn more as time goes on. If you know Ms. Vetri, perhaps you'll let her know I'd like to hear her story.
For the first few years of this site, I had no idea who played the human version of Isis. In fact, the first thing people used to see on the home page was, "Do you know who this woman is?" All references listed her as an unknown bit player.
It wasn't until October 2005 that I received a lead from a person who said, "I don't know the name of the actress who played Isis but I do recall reading she was an ex-Playboy Playmate."
So I undertook the arduous task of sourcing photos of Playboy Playmates of the 60s. When I found Victoria Vetri (Miss September 1967, Playmate of the Year 1968), who used the stage name Angela Dorian for Playboy, I knew it was very likely this was the person. The cleft in the chin, her nose and cheek structure, and spacing of her eyes all agree. The career path also aligns. With her many small TV roles at the time, an appearance on Star Trek fit.
I went ahead and named Vetri as Isis with the thought that if I was wrong someone would eventually tell me about it.
However, the opposite happened. James Brady, the fellow who built the wonderful Seven and Lincoln Mego custom figures over on the Media page, kept track as a few sites began to list Vetri as Isis, including imdb.com.
I am happy to take the credit or the blame for this, and hope to learn more as time goes on. If you know Ms. Vetri, perhaps you'll let her know I'd like to hear her story.
Was Desilu/Paramount even doing any live or videotaped productions at the time? AFAIK, all of Desilu's TV shows were done on film. 35mm film cameras and television cameras look completely different.
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On the left, Isis, in human form, and right of her, all of those are Victoria Vetri. It seems to me it's the same woman, and given one can wear colored contacts for a role, or photographs can be touched up, I wouldn't put too much stock in just that. But I'm not an expert who was there. If it was a Playmate around that time, I can't think of another that looks more like her during that period. But you be the judge.
It was just a guess, but I wouldn't assume they didn't have easy access to live TV cameras even if they weren't doing live TV at the time. Do you think they were just non-working props?
A searched produced this old quote somewhere on Trek BBS.
Another quote elsewhere says about Bread and Circuses:
"Gulf Western, owner of Paramount Studio right next door, had purchased Desilu. The wall separating the two studios had been torn down, and it was now just one big unhappy family."
Maybe they had some TV Cameras they could borrow.
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This doesn't constitute evidence.
On the left, Isis, in human form, and right of her, all of those are Victoria Vetri. It seems to me it's the same woman, and given one can wear colored contacts for a role, or photographs can be touched up, I wouldn't put too much stock in just that. But I'm not an expert who was there. If it was a Playmate around that time, I can't think of another that looks more like her during that period. But you be the judge.
To wit: http://incrediblethings.com/web/strangers-that-look-like-twins/
Not conclusive proof, no. But if it is a fact the actress was a playboy playmate, who at that time looks closer to Isis than Victoria and was also a playmate? Or is it also just a guess she was a playmate?
And I don't think a lot of those so close it's amazing "twins" look like identical twins, though I'd happily believe they were siblings or related or fraternal twins. "Isis" and "Victoria" look closer alike than any pair of those in that link, IMO.
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If there's no evidence that she was a playmate, then yeah of course that's a guess.
Perhaps @Harvey can help?
You're definitely in the minority on this one. Most TOS fans think it's one of the worst episodes of the series -- perhaps the worst.
Not quite, that 'honour' belongs to Plato's Stepcildren I believe!
JB
On the left, Isis, in human form, and right of her, all of those are Victoria Vetri. It seems to me it's the same woman, and given one can wear colored contacts for a role, or photographs can be touched up, I wouldn't put too much stock in just that. But I'm not an expert who was there. If it was a Playmate around that time, I can't think of another that looks more like her during that period. But you be the judge.
I have spoken to Ms.Vetri last year over this error and I can attest that she claims it is not her!
JB
If there's no evidence that she was a playmate, then yeah of course that's a guess.
Perhaps @Harvey can help?
There's no evidence that Vetri appears in the episode. This is an internet rumor that has taken on a life of its own -- not unlike several other rumors about famous actors appearing as extras on the show.
Vetri was booking notable guest roles throughout the mid-60s. It makes no sense that she'd book a background role (through the Screen Extras Guild -- a separate union from SAG until 1990) for pennies while she was getting decent speaking roles.
(Whoever played this part was definitely a background performer -- the part does not appear on any cast lists for the show in the files at UCLA).
"It wasn't until October 2005 that I received a lead from a person who said, "I don't know the name of the actress who played Isis but I do recall reading she was an ex-Playboy Playmate.""
If it's not a fact the actress was a playmate, then the whole thing falls through, of course. Finding a look-a-like from the whole population would be easy compared to finding one in the small pool of playmates from that period. Why somebody would claim they didn't know who it was but did know it was a playmate is beyond me. If it was a playmate from that time, I don't believe it could have been anybody else but Victoria given those pictures.
I'm surprise she wasn't going to be a regular in the spin off series, Assignment Earth, that there would be some record of it there, but maybe they never got far enough into it to do that, or they intended to use another actress. It's also surprising they don't keep track of such things, though since it wasn't a speaking part, I guess they are less inclined to list "extras," however significant their screen time and importance to the story.
IMDB does not (no longer) list her in a Star Trek episode. When I first wrote that write up, I believe they did, but maybe they took it down. Wiki still lists it, but claims it needs citation.
Still, it's incredible to me there aren't enough people who were there that would know who she was, or a bit actress wouldn't be proud to come forth and take credit for a well loved Star Trek role. Of course, she may be dead by now, too, which would make that proposition exceedingly more challenging.
If it's not a fact the actress was a playmate, then the whole thing falls through, of course. Finding a look-a-like from the whole population would be easy compared to finding one in the small pool of playmates from that period. Why somebody would claim they didn't know who it was but did know it was a playmate is beyond me. If it was a playmate from that time, I don't believe it could have been anybody else but Victoria given those pictures.
It's possible she may be lying about that for a variety of reasons, but it seems unlikely, even if she was described as a ditz and a scatter brain or what was it? Val Guest, who directed her in Dinosaurs, called Vetri, "a real nothing, and a very strange mixed up lady... it was tough to take her. She was a... nitwit." It's even possible she wasn't listed in the credits because she didn't want her name on the product, or she did it for a friend, or some other reason she didn't want to advertise, and her reasons hold to this day. But again, that's a stretch. I only point it out since even if Victoria says it isn't her, that, too, isn't definitive proof. But it does seem more likely she didn't play Human/Isis.
I'm surprise she wasn't going to be a regular in the spin off series, Assignment Earth, that there would be some record of it there, but maybe they never got far enough into it to do that, or they intended to use another actress. It's also surprising they don't keep track of such things, though since it wasn't a speaking part, I guess they are less inclined to list "extras," however significant their screen time and importance to the story.
IMDB does not (no longer) list her in a Star Trek episode. When I first wrote that write up, I believe they did, but maybe they took it down. Wiki still lists it, but claims it needs citation.
Still, it's incredible to me there aren't enough people who were there that would know who she was, or a bit actress wouldn't be proud to come forth and take credit for a well loved Star Trek role. Of course, she may be dead by now, too, which would make that proposition exceedingly more challenging.
Why doesn't someone ask the Shat?
JB
JB
My guess? The Shat was rather self involved, so unless he was intimate with her, or really needed something from her, she came and went virtually unnoticed by the guy. I'd love to think those actors all know each other's names and know their coworkers, but I get the impression Bill wasn't that concerned with most of the regulars, let alone a one time bit part played by somebody with no lines and who wasn't even in a scene with him. If she were a Playmate, that would be more incentive I guess for him to get to know her or talk to her, but under the theory she wasn't even that . . .
Teri Garr at least had screen time with her, so I'd want to ask her, but I almost get the impression if she could, Teri would disavow any connection to Star Trek, too. She does not, I'm told, like to discuss the topic - it really left such a bad impression on her.
Whoever was in charge of costumes might know, if they are still alive and mentally with it, but it's been 50 years more or less, so if we don't know already, we probably never will. And I'm not the sort to go hunting around for actual people who were there, or actual studio records, so I have to leave it to those who care a hell of a lot more than I do. I just know Memory Alpha and Wiki STILL says Victoria played that part. If some people actually have evidence she didn't, they should get those guys to change that.
Teri Garr at least had screen time with her, so I'd want to ask her, but I almost get the impression if she could, Teri would disavow any connection to Star Trek, too. She does not, I'm told, like to discuss the topic - it really left such a bad impression on her.
Whoever was in charge of costumes might know, if they are still alive and mentally with it, but it's been 50 years more or less, so if we don't know already, we probably never will. And I'm not the sort to go hunting around for actual people who were there, or actual studio records, so I have to leave it to those who care a hell of a lot more than I do. I just know Memory Alpha and Wiki STILL says Victoria played that part. If some people actually have evidence she didn't, they should get those guys to change that.
Regarding "Shore Leave" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before" - a nice bit of continuity - young Kirk meant business, as a cadet and later as a teacher.
MITCHELL: Hey man, I remember you back at the academy. A stack of books with legs. The first thing I ever heard from upperclassmen was, Watch out for Lieutenant Kirk. In his class, you either think or sink. (Where No Man Has Gone Before)
KIRK: Serious? I'll make a confession, Bones. I was absolutely grim, which delighted Finnegan no end. (Shore Leave)
MITCHELL: Hey man, I remember you back at the academy. A stack of books with legs. The first thing I ever heard from upperclassmen was, Watch out for Lieutenant Kirk. In his class, you either think or sink. (Where No Man Has Gone Before)
KIRK: Serious? I'll make a confession, Bones. I was absolutely grim, which delighted Finnegan no end. (Shore Leave)
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