TOS Rewatch
- Thread starter Grendelsbayne
- Start date
Obviously, then, not just a great character actor, but a Science fiction fan in general.
The following images are not mine, but they're fun, and many TOS/TAS Trek fans love them, so I'll put them here unless or until somebody with standing complains.
There are 123 objects/people to identify. How many can you identify?
There are 123 objects/people to identify. How many can you identify?
A Piece of the Action
I love the name Horizon for a starship. Wish we'd get one of those as the star of a show.
So '100 years ago' from the late 2260s would make the Horizon one of the very first Federation starships less than a decade after the ENT finale. Interesting that they made it all the way to the galaxy's edge. I can't recall ENT off the top of my head: did they stick with the idea of not having subspace radio?
Fizzbin is still a hilarious scene. Not actually as long as it seemed when I was kid, though.
Oxmyx asks Scotty for 'heaters'. How I wish there was a scene of Scotty beaming down a hundred space heaters and demanding to get his captain back...
The absolute best thing about this episode is watching everyone try to play along to Kirk's improv. I love the moment when Scott and Uhura realize that Kirk is telling them to beam Krako up and share a little smile. And how Spock just gets deeper into character as the story continues, even answering to 'Spocko' without hesitation.
The plot does require a certain grain of salt - why not use the transporters instead of a car? Why didn't Spock tell Scotty to beam them back up within 30 seconds if they didn't signal that Oxmyx kept his word? Or carry hidden patches/implants that the transporter could track in case they lost communication? Why not beam all the bosses to the Enterprise to prove how overpowered they are? Why did Krako just let Kirk give extensive orders over the communicator with no fuss? Was Kirk really talking about sending a starship there every year and wouldn't that just risk making things worse every time? And, at the end of the day they played McCoy's communicator as joke - but Kirk's line is actually not unthinkable. If the Iotians use the transtater to create starship technology, they might consider it an equalizer between them and the Federation - which is the only interstellar body they know and which they would consider either an oppressor or a top boss to be overthrown...
Despite the plot, though, it is a hilarious episode and really fun to watch.
I love the name Horizon for a starship. Wish we'd get one of those as the star of a show.
So '100 years ago' from the late 2260s would make the Horizon one of the very first Federation starships less than a decade after the ENT finale. Interesting that they made it all the way to the galaxy's edge. I can't recall ENT off the top of my head: did they stick with the idea of not having subspace radio?
Fizzbin is still a hilarious scene. Not actually as long as it seemed when I was kid, though.
Oxmyx asks Scotty for 'heaters'. How I wish there was a scene of Scotty beaming down a hundred space heaters and demanding to get his captain back...
The absolute best thing about this episode is watching everyone try to play along to Kirk's improv. I love the moment when Scott and Uhura realize that Kirk is telling them to beam Krako up and share a little smile. And how Spock just gets deeper into character as the story continues, even answering to 'Spocko' without hesitation.
The plot does require a certain grain of salt - why not use the transporters instead of a car? Why didn't Spock tell Scotty to beam them back up within 30 seconds if they didn't signal that Oxmyx kept his word? Or carry hidden patches/implants that the transporter could track in case they lost communication? Why not beam all the bosses to the Enterprise to prove how overpowered they are? Why did Krako just let Kirk give extensive orders over the communicator with no fuss? Was Kirk really talking about sending a starship there every year and wouldn't that just risk making things worse every time? And, at the end of the day they played McCoy's communicator as joke - but Kirk's line is actually not unthinkable. If the Iotians use the transtater to create starship technology, they might consider it an equalizer between them and the Federation - which is the only interstellar body they know and which they would consider either an oppressor or a top boss to be overthrown...
Despite the plot, though, it is a hilarious episode and really fun to watch.
The Doomsday Machine
It seems strange that a presumably scientifically minded starship captain would look at what is obviously a ship and start talking about the devil. Although the maw of the ship does look a lot like the Eye of Sauron...
So if the Doomsday Machine needs to feed on planets to fuel itself, how did it cross from one galaxy to another?
You're out of line, too!... Sir. - Great timing
Shouldn't McCoy have the authority to order Decker to submit to examination if he suspects he's been compromised? And to remove him from command if he refuses to submit to the exam?
When targeting a seemingly indestructible ship, I think I'd at least aim for the obvious 'seams' in its outer hull. Better chance of finding a chink in the armor than just punching straight through.
An episode like this really makes you roll your eyes extra hard at the lack of seatbelts. Not only does Sulu fly halfway across the bridge from a single hit, but Kirk and Scotty can't even keep their seats while accelerating at a speed explicitly described as 'just enough to get us moving, no more than that'.
It's interesting how closely this parallels ST09, right down to Spock debating the commander of the ship about fighting vs regrouping. Only, Kirk going in in complete defiance of logic makes him the hero in 09, while here it makes Decker a tragic figure just barely spared from becoming a villain.
Overall, I'd say a very solid episode. Decker was too over the top at times, but he had a truly heartbreaking story with an incredibly appropriate end. Far more nuanced than I actually remembered it being. And certainly a nice tough that his sacrifice did ultimately lead to the salvation of Rigel, after all, even though it logically couldn't possibly do so.
Here are a couple of things I never understood in this episode. 1) How did Decker have the time to beam down his entire crew while the DM was destroying a neighboring planet? If one assumes the Constellation had a crew similar in size to that of the Enterprise (430) and a transporter room with 6 pads (I think it's 6 IIRC), Decker would have had to operate the transporter 71.66 times to get them all down. The DM easily travels at warp speed, so it would have arrived at the planet they were orbiting long before he could have completed the task.
2) Since Decker saw the DM hovering over the first planet slicing out huge chunks of it, why in the world would he make the decision to leave his crew on a neighboring planet? Did he really think they would be safe there with a large, unknown planet killer nearby? Kirk sure as s*** wouldn't have done that, and this man had the rank of Commodore! Jeez....
I have to chalk these up to flaws in the technical writing of the script, but It's still a great classic TOS episode that I love to watch!
A Piece Of The Action
Read Full Review
Read Full Review
This is a funny episode, though probably not entirely written for laughs. It's good since it adds depth to the Trek universe by referencing the past event (though yet future event for us) of the USS Horizon's visit to the planet Sigma Iotia II one century prior to the current date. It was lost with all hands, so that wasn't funny. And before most ships of that nature had subspace communications, so their radio communications took the last 100 years just to get close enough to Federation space for them to pick it up. Again we can ponder the vast distances in space. I always like it when Science Fiction reminds us of Science Facts.
The USS Horizon (NCC-176) was a Federation Daedalus-Class Starship operated by Starfleet. This ship was built, launched, and commissioned in the 22nd century. Though roughly existing at the same time, the freighter, ECS Horizon, former home of Travis Maywether of the NX01-Enterprise, is not the same ship, though I think in the background on that ship on a Enterprise episode they showed a similar book, "Chicago Mobs Of The Twenties," or some such, as an homage to TOS.
USS Horizon (NCC-176)
Before the prime directive was adopted, the Horizon apparently "contaminated" a newly industrial society - mostly via a book published in 1992 entitled, "Chicago Mobs Of The Twenties" and obviously this information was disseminated throughout that world - but it was influenced from other books and other factors as well, so it's not too hard to believe a very human looking society already surprisingly close to industrial Earth's 1800's could be guided in that direction and greatly resemble Chicago of the 1920's. But rather than a citywide phenomenon, they somehow appear to be talking about the whole planet's culture. There's a bit if disconnect there since these mob bosses don't seem to be operating on a planetary scale, but only a city-wide one, similar to the culture in 1920's Chicago, yet they freely claim to be in charge of the whole planet. Guess we'll ignore that or not look too closely at it - maybe it's explainable, but it escapes me.
They mention a foundational piece of Federation Technology called the transtator, though we're not really sure exactly what it does, it's just important to about every piece of tech the Federation has, so leaving the communicator behind was a pretty important mistake on McCoy's part. They almost should have gone back and beamed it up, probably being capable of locating transtator tech via the sensors. But they didn't, which leads me to believe it's not as big a deal as they implied to Bones just to worry him for a little fun. So I'm guessing though the Iotians could and probably would imitate it, Kirk doesn't honestly feel they'll be a threat any time soon, so meh. It's interesting how these guys with their advanced technology can so easily not know about more primitive tech - like how to operate cars. This makes sense, of course, but it suggests one might ponder changing technology over time more deeply, and how we'd be pretty inept at working the tools of our grandfathers and great grandfathers, etc. let alone the tools of centuries past. Just something to think about.
This is the first episode where they perform a site-to-site transport - that is, bypass materialization on a transporter pad.
Spock doesn't pick up on Kirk's adoption of cultural slang as easily, at first, but he seems to have quickly mastered it at one point when he says, "I would advise yas to keep dialin', Oxmyx," which was pretty darn funny.
And it's always impressive to see what I assume is standard Starfleet training kick in, when McCoy - a doctor and a lover, not a fighter - springs into action and karate chops one of those goons into unconsciousness. He saw it coming, followed his captain's lead, was ready for it, and acted. What a fine man of medicine - easy to forget he's a bit of a solider like the rest them.
Little is done in the remastered work - new planet and ship shots, of course, and reworked phasers, but little else. So this story had little in the way of special effects.
My chosen babe of the day didn't get a screen credit, so I have no idea who she is or even what her character's name was. But she likes to chew gum.
I gave this episode a 6 out of 10 before, and the remastered version doesn't add anything significant to change that. But it was stronger in humor and probably more important in some ways than I gave it credit when I was younger, so I'll rate it 6.5 or even 7 out of 10 now.
Although Sheldon Collins' character never really was shown collecting his percentage or his "piece of the action" (apart from whatever fun he had) I like to think his keen perception and logical thinking (even praised by Spock) earned him a leadership position in the new syndicate within the decade. But in real life, after a few more years of acting, this little guy became a dentist (and a great Star Trek fan, we're told).
And, of course, I should mention the greatest cultural addition of them all - Fizzbin. Except on Tuesday, in which case the Vulcan Idic takes precedence.
The USS Horizon (NCC-176) was a Federation Daedalus-Class Starship operated by Starfleet. This ship was built, launched, and commissioned in the 22nd century. Though roughly existing at the same time, the freighter, ECS Horizon, former home of Travis Maywether of the NX01-Enterprise, is not the same ship, though I think in the background on that ship on a Enterprise episode they showed a similar book, "Chicago Mobs Of The Twenties," or some such, as an homage to TOS.
USS Horizon (NCC-176)
Before the prime directive was adopted, the Horizon apparently "contaminated" a newly industrial society - mostly via a book published in 1992 entitled, "Chicago Mobs Of The Twenties" and obviously this information was disseminated throughout that world - but it was influenced from other books and other factors as well, so it's not too hard to believe a very human looking society already surprisingly close to industrial Earth's 1800's could be guided in that direction and greatly resemble Chicago of the 1920's. But rather than a citywide phenomenon, they somehow appear to be talking about the whole planet's culture. There's a bit if disconnect there since these mob bosses don't seem to be operating on a planetary scale, but only a city-wide one, similar to the culture in 1920's Chicago, yet they freely claim to be in charge of the whole planet. Guess we'll ignore that or not look too closely at it - maybe it's explainable, but it escapes me.
They mention a foundational piece of Federation Technology called the transtator, though we're not really sure exactly what it does, it's just important to about every piece of tech the Federation has, so leaving the communicator behind was a pretty important mistake on McCoy's part. They almost should have gone back and beamed it up, probably being capable of locating transtator tech via the sensors. But they didn't, which leads me to believe it's not as big a deal as they implied to Bones just to worry him for a little fun. So I'm guessing though the Iotians could and probably would imitate it, Kirk doesn't honestly feel they'll be a threat any time soon, so meh. It's interesting how these guys with their advanced technology can so easily not know about more primitive tech - like how to operate cars. This makes sense, of course, but it suggests one might ponder changing technology over time more deeply, and how we'd be pretty inept at working the tools of our grandfathers and great grandfathers, etc. let alone the tools of centuries past. Just something to think about.
This is the first episode where they perform a site-to-site transport - that is, bypass materialization on a transporter pad.
Spock doesn't pick up on Kirk's adoption of cultural slang as easily, at first, but he seems to have quickly mastered it at one point when he says, "I would advise yas to keep dialin', Oxmyx," which was pretty darn funny.
And it's always impressive to see what I assume is standard Starfleet training kick in, when McCoy - a doctor and a lover, not a fighter - springs into action and karate chops one of those goons into unconsciousness. He saw it coming, followed his captain's lead, was ready for it, and acted. What a fine man of medicine - easy to forget he's a bit of a solider like the rest them.
Little is done in the remastered work - new planet and ship shots, of course, and reworked phasers, but little else. So this story had little in the way of special effects.
My chosen babe of the day didn't get a screen credit, so I have no idea who she is or even what her character's name was. But she likes to chew gum.
I gave this episode a 6 out of 10 before, and the remastered version doesn't add anything significant to change that. But it was stronger in humor and probably more important in some ways than I gave it credit when I was younger, so I'll rate it 6.5 or even 7 out of 10 now.
Although Sheldon Collins' character never really was shown collecting his percentage or his "piece of the action" (apart from whatever fun he had) I like to think his keen perception and logical thinking (even praised by Spock) earned him a leadership position in the new syndicate within the decade. But in real life, after a few more years of acting, this little guy became a dentist (and a great Star Trek fan, we're told).
And, of course, I should mention the greatest cultural addition of them all - Fizzbin. Except on Tuesday, in which case the Vulcan Idic takes precedence.
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I'm not sure, but just having subspace communications somewhere doesn't mean all ships have it, or it can't be damaged beyond repair, or other things. Mostly Starfleet top of the line ships had it, and not lesser ships. Also, the method of communication is highly dependent on the number of subspace beacons they (the Federation) have laid between the two points. The more they have, the faster it goes, like it slows down in subspace without periodic boosts.
But the edge of the galaxy could just be departing the main plane or major disc of the bulk of the Milky Way. It may be surprisingly close to regular Federation space, but just out in a direction where there isn't much in the way of other planets, which is why despite its close proximity (100 light years or so) few ships go there. It's just not in the major shipping lanes, so to speak.
At that point, Kirk was still trying to minimize the "damage," so the less he needed to use his higher Tech, the better, and what the Federation is capable of doing remains a mystery, or one has to rely on one-eyewitness, which is notoriously unreliable. And remember, it takes time to beam up, and for quite a few seconds after transport starts, they would still be vulnerable to machinegun bullets. If you try beaming out without getting the all clear first, you might just be beaming up corpses riddled with bullets.
What could Kirk do from there with heaters on him? Kracko didn't know about the ship's phasers, and he could kill Kirk if he tried to transport away, so his general belief he had the drop on him gave Kirk the time he needed. After Kirk issued orders, Krako did grab the communicator and stop him, IIRC, though it was a long shot from outside the window.
It was established that wouldn't happen, so the Federation fund would likely go into a planetary fund for cultural improvement. They aren't coming back there once a year. Like the dilithium cracking stations on Delta Vega, they'd be lucking if a ship came once every 20 years in that neck of the woods.
But it would still take centuries, probably, and before then, they'll check back and see if they are a problem, or possibly a worthy addition to the Federation of Planets.
PhotoTrek
I've made a few PhotoTrek items over the years, and this particular one mostly used images from A Piece of the Action, so I thought I'd put it here for the interested viewer.
Musical Reminder:
PhotoTrek
And there are other PhotoTrek jokes and stories, but they have their own on-going thread, for anyone who likes that sort of thing.
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/phototrek.288654/#post-12074218
I've made a few PhotoTrek items over the years, and this particular one mostly used images from A Piece of the Action, so I thought I'd put it here for the interested viewer.
Musical Reminder:
PhotoTrek
Do You Really Think You Can Do This?
I Am Half Human, So I Can Only Endeavor To Try.
I'll Be Right Behind You.
My love,
There's only you in my life
The only thing that's bright
My first love,
You're every breath that I take
You're every step I make
And I
(I-I-I-I-I)
I want to share
All my love with you
No one else will do...
And your eyes
Your eyes, your eyes
They tell me how much you care
Ooh yes, you will always be
My endless love
Two hearts,
Two hearts that beat as one
Our lives have just begun
Forever
(ohhhhhh)
I'll hold you close in my arms
I can't resist your charms
And love
Oh, love
I'll be a fool
For you,
I'm sure
You know I don't mind
Oh, you know I don't mind
'cause you,
You mean the world to me
Oh
I know
I know
I've found in you
My endless love
Oooh-woow
Boom, boom
Boom, boom, boom, boom, booom
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom
Oooh, and love
Oh, love
I'll be that fool
For you,
I'm sure
You know I don't mind
Oh you know
I don't mind
And, yes
You'll be the only one
'cause no one can deny
This love I have inside
And I'll give it all to you
My love
My love, my love
My endless love
Ughhh, He Does This Every Time I Dress Up Like This.
I Am Half Human, So I Can Only Endeavor To Try.
I'll Be Right Behind You.
My love,
There's only you in my life
The only thing that's bright
My first love,
You're every breath that I take
You're every step I make
And I
(I-I-I-I-I)
I want to share
All my love with you
No one else will do...
And your eyes
Your eyes, your eyes
They tell me how much you care
Ooh yes, you will always be
My endless love
Two hearts,
Two hearts that beat as one
Our lives have just begun
Forever
(ohhhhhh)
I'll hold you close in my arms
I can't resist your charms
And love
Oh, love
I'll be a fool
For you,
I'm sure
You know I don't mind
Oh, you know I don't mind
'cause you,
You mean the world to me
Oh
I know
I know
I've found in you
My endless love
Oooh-woow
Boom, boom
Boom, boom, boom, boom, booom
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom
Oooh, and love
Oh, love
I'll be that fool
For you,
I'm sure
You know I don't mind
Oh you know
I don't mind
And, yes
You'll be the only one
'cause no one can deny
This love I have inside
And I'll give it all to you
My love
My love, my love
My endless love
Ughhh, He Does This Every Time I Dress Up Like This.
And there are other PhotoTrek jokes and stories, but they have their own on-going thread, for anyone who likes that sort of thing.
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/phototrek.288654/#post-12074218
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You may have noticed transporter rooms are numbered, like Transporter Room 3. It is therefore established there is more than one, though it's also likely they are tied together in such a way that if the system is down, they are all down. Also, in emergencies, they have transporters for cargo, too. Anyway, there's more than one, and if not under attack at the moment, and the system is working, it would go faster than what you calculated. I'm not sure how quickly, but also, Decker himself needn't do all the work - he might not even have to transport the last group since it can be automated.
I believe life support systems were so seriously damaged that the Constellation could no longer support a whole crew. One guy, or a few guys, maybe, for a time, but 430? The ship was dead and virtually useless, so they would have died had they staid, but might live if the DDM decided it had better things to do than chop up yet another planet so soon after eating the first one. Apparently this didn't work out so well, but it wasn't a bad call - just a bad result.
Believe me, there are plenty of flaws in all of Trek, but sometimes a little thought or a bit of knowledge about the series and what has been seen in other episodes might help explain the whys and whatfors that arise. Not always, but sometimes.
We don't know how long it took the Planet Killer to eat a planet. It might have taken several hours, and/or it might have paused for several hours after eating a planet before resuming to munch.
I've always thought it was a crazy decision on Decker's part to beam down his crew to a planet with a planet killer in the area. I'm sure the real-world answer is that they wanted to get rid of Decker's crew to provide him with the motivation to be obsessed with the planet killer and so that we could see Kirk and Scotty have to jury rig the Constellation, and then Kirk ram 'er down that thing's throat.
In-Universe, I'll have to go with JRT's explanation and assume that's just how bad the Constellation was that he really had no choice.
Can you give an example of a time where we see that transporter rooms are numbered?
You know, I thought that would be easy. I have a memory of someone looking up above a door and seeing a sign stating "Transporter Room 3," but I can't think which episode that was in, and it may be a false memory. But if I see it, I'll make a serious note of it.
In TOS scripts, it is not too surprising they only refer to the transporter room as if there is only one (since they only had one stage set for it, which I suspect they had to dismantle and reassemble due to stage room limitations, and alter for story requirements, too). And explaining why they can't use the others when one is out for dramatic purposes would be a chore, but like in The Enemy Within, a component is shot in engineering, which takes out the transporter, so this suggests some distant component might be required to run all those puppies.
I can attest they have multiple transporter rooms in TNG and on other ships after TOS and refer to them in dialogue. Enterprise-D has something like 20 of them they used to evacuate, and the general rule that they need to get the crew off quickly requires they have enough to do the job. That's about one transporter room for every 50 crew members, so TOS might have around 8 or 9 of them, or more conservatively, at least 4.
One does notice, however, the transporter rooms look different from episode to episode. Some even have food replicators there, others don't. Some have an engineering panel behind the counsel, others don't. Some have viewing stations or external screens, but not all of them. And some are implied to be on a lower decks, like deck 14 where Simon Van Gelder was, which they were using for cargo transport, but others suggest deck 5 or 6.
I think it's clear from these clues and common sense and what other Trek series have done to feel confident they had more than one transporter room, but if you need actual TOS dialogue stating it to confirm it, at this point I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist.
While Intraship beaming is dangerous in TOS, it improves enough that by the time of the really large ships, like Enterprise-J, turbo-lifts take so long they no longer use them but instead use site-to-site transporters.
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Possibly, but I'd guess science fiction wasn't nearly as popular as most other genres then and now. But sure, an actor will usually take whatever work he can get. His IMDB credits are extensive. It's just when he shows up so often in science fiction, you gotta figure he likes the stuff.
Regarding multiple transporter rooms aboard the Enterprise, quoted from TMOST:
"There are eleven personnel and cargo transporter stations aboard the vessel. Four are the familiar main operational stations, two are cargo transporters, five are emergency personnel transporters which can handle twenty-two people each but involve a risk factor at such power loads and are limited to use in ship-abandoning emergencies."
Make of that what you will.
"There are eleven personnel and cargo transporter stations aboard the vessel. Four are the familiar main operational stations, two are cargo transporters, five are emergency personnel transporters which can handle twenty-two people each but involve a risk factor at such power loads and are limited to use in ship-abandoning emergencies."
Make of that what you will.
Hell, a lot of younger people today wouldn't know how to use a rotary-dial phone. And how many of us can ride a horse?
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I suspect I'm older, but still love TOS, and the Blue-Ray Remastered discs were great. I've since got Netflix and they show those (not the originals with the older effects), and so I did a similar thread on a non-Trek board. Half the fun of Trek is discussing it and speculating on the fictional universe, so I enjoy a thread like this. Since I've already done a lot of the work (collected images and what not), though I'm a Johnny-Come-Lately in this thread, I think it might be fun to quote your review and offer mine in the same thread. The more reviews, the better, IMO. I hope you feel the same way, but if not, ask and I'll keep my other reviews out of your thread.
With that said, and since multiple posts in a row are frowned upon (but so are wickedly long ones) I'll try to do one a day and hope others comment in between.
I guess I'd say the creature needed love as much as salt, and after Professor Crater decided to betray her, there wasn't enough love left to keep him alive, so he was no longer worth his . . . salt. That gloved hand/flower was pretty funny. I'm also going to say since you can't get the chemistry and dynamic between the three main characters in one go, I think this episode does a fairly decent job at laying the ground work. And the effects and props are bound to improve, as well as the acting.
First off, wow, these are beautiful. The old, grainy effects are also included (on the Blu-Ray set) if you want to watch those, too, and it's obviously no contest, but I'm talking about the huge difference between the re-mastered episodes they broadcast on T.V. here a few years back and these Blu-Rays. Crystal clear, crisp, vibrant images - even the non special effects are cleaned up. No advertising banners on the bottom or channel logos, or weather related static, or commercial breaks, and no recording mishaps either, so far. Not to mention the Closed Captioning is perfect - it's doesn't lag. It may not always agree with what is said, apparently following the script more than where the actors have taken liberties, I think, but it's right there, and if you look at it, I'm fairly certain even a hard core fan who has memorized many lines of Trek dialogue might find they misheard some things for years now, and never knew it.
The Man Trap
Read Full Review
I recall a ship requesting "urgent" supplies before while Kirk hung about trying to figure out what killed his crewman, and him saying they could wait a few days. Here, though, I discovered it was more of a joke and the urgent supplies are just red peppers Kirk handpicked for another captain, and he can wait for them. I honestly don't ever recall seeing the red pepper bit before. Could be my memory, but I suspect those seconds were frequently cut out for extra commercials. As these run about 50+ minutes instead of 44, I'm betting I'll see more than a few things I don't recall at all, or better yet, do recall but haven't seen in years due to those extra 6 minutes of commercials often added, despite watching the show numerous times these last few decades. These even have trailers for next week's episode, which I recall they used to show, but I haven't seen since I was a tike. And it's so wonderful not to have to wait for commercial breaks, too.
Of course one should know Vulcan has no moon, but it was mentioned in this very first aired episode. It's sort of funny to think about the "what might have been" between Spock and Uhura here due to the alternate timeline. You could see it happening that way, if things had been a bit different, but Spock, by this time, 10 years further into his life than on NuTrek, he had made firmer commitments to a non-emotional logical approach to life. His emotions still sneak through, of course, but he's more on top of them and less on top of her.
BTW, these are given in the order they aired, and not what I would prefer, the order they were made and intended to be released by the creators before other geniuses decided they knew better (or whatever). But they chose this one since it was a monster story and they felt it would grab a larger audience. Personally, I prefer WNMHGB, but I would have been "grabbed" either way. Trek is a great series.
Side-By-Side Comparison
I gave this episode only a 5 out of 10. Despite being the first and good enough to grab the audience, I'm already well aware of how much better some episodes can and will get, so the overall rating reflects the episode's score amongst all 79 TOS episodes.
Of course one should know Vulcan has no moon, but it was mentioned in this very first aired episode. It's sort of funny to think about the "what might have been" between Spock and Uhura here due to the alternate timeline. You could see it happening that way, if things had been a bit different, but Spock, by this time, 10 years further into his life than on NuTrek, he had made firmer commitments to a non-emotional logical approach to life. His emotions still sneak through, of course, but he's more on top of them and less on top of her.
BTW, these are given in the order they aired, and not what I would prefer, the order they were made and intended to be released by the creators before other geniuses decided they knew better (or whatever). But they chose this one since it was a monster story and they felt it would grab a larger audience. Personally, I prefer WNMHGB, but I would have been "grabbed" either way. Trek is a great series.
Side-By-Side Comparison
I gave this episode only a 5 out of 10. Despite being the first and good enough to grab the audience, I'm already well aware of how much better some episodes can and will get, so the overall rating reflects the episode's score amongst all 79 TOS episodes.
Sorry, but could you tell me what TMOST is, or do you have a URL for it? Seems worth reading. Thanks. And yeah, I was thinking of even older tech, but I'm already running into people who have a hard time with non-digital clocks and shoelaces.
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TMOST is The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield (pseudonym of Stephen Edward Poe), first published in 1968 and reprinted several times since. Currently out of print but used copies are easy to find.
I've heard of kids growing up in the digital age who never learned to tell time by a traditional clock. But not knowing how to tie your shoelaces? Uh, that is a joke, right?
Velcro has many evils to answer for. 
It's easily the most important book about the original series, with tons of behind the scenes info. I see that eBay has quite a few copies available.
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