TOS Rewatch

[scotpens]

Ep. 6 Mudd's Women
The miners are all blatantly sexist jackasses . . .

And the story makes it clear that's not a good thing. Remember what Eve said to Ben Childress?

"You don't want wives, you want this. (holding out the pills in her hand) This is what you want, Mister Childress. I hope you remember it and dream about it, because you can't have it. It's not real! (takes the pills) Is this the kind of wife you want, Ben? Not someone to help you, not a wife to cook and sew and cry and need, but this kind. Selfish, vain, useless. Is this what you really want? All right, then. Here it is."

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.

Also, Eve is a lot less "ugly" than the other two women when the drug wears off. Ruth and Magda look like old hags; Eve just looks a bit haggard and disheveled!

Miri:
The 'wild kids' are very dated at this point, obviously.

"Obviously" dated? Why?

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...).

Creepy in what way? I don't recall Kirk doing anything to encourage Miri's interest in him (which I saw as nothing more than an innocent schoolgirl crush).

 

[Grendelsbayne]

And the story makes it clear that's not a good thing. Remember what Eve said to Ben Childress?

"You don't want wives, you want this. (holding out the pills in her hand) This is what you want, Mister Childress. I hope you remember it and dream about it, because you can't have it. It's not real! (takes the pills) Is this the kind of wife you want, Ben? Not someone to help you, not a wife to cook and sew and cry and need, but this kind. Selfish, vain, useless. Is this what you really want? All right, then. Here it is."

Except it doesn't make it very clear, because at the end of the episode she still stays with him even though he only agreed to it because she was able to look hot.

"Obviously" dated? Why?

Bonk! Bonk! Etc, etc. It feels like old-fashioned adults' idea of a group of kids, not an actual group of kids.

Creepy in what way? I don't recall Kirk doing anything to encourage Miri's interest in him (which I saw as nothing more than an innocent schoolgirl crush).

Creepy in the way that she's really, really into him and he never actually says to her that that's not a possibility - in fact, he uses her interest to get closer to her and convince her to do what he wants (like showing him where the others might be).

 

[johnnybear]

I can't say I found it creepy either to be honest! Kirk didn't know that Miri was so much older than him and just how do you break a 'young girl' of her crush on you! Maybe he did use it to their advantage but he never made any overt gestures or promises to her either!
JB

 

[Pauln6]

Kirk has form when it comes to giving the ladies just enough to get what he needs out of them. The way he treats Miri is entirely consistent - he uses her crush to get information and co-operation. Although he jokes about it with Rand at the end the guy can be ruthless when he needs to be!

A more modern version of Trek might have succeeded in making the children more sinister and feral. It might have been cool to see the crew perform a more objective anthropological analysis of the children, and a bit more cat and mouse, baiting traps with food to catch them etc.

Like many Trek concepts, the story could easily have been spread out over several episodes, exploring the concept of parallel Earths more, showing us more remnants of the old society, facing off against more surviving nutty zombie folk (like 28 days later) and so on. Of course this could just be the Walking Dead fan in me. On the budget they had, a wild west set was all we were going to get!

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Just about every multi-character/multi-variable episode could be a season-long (anthology) story arc in itself.

 

[Pauln6]

Just about every multi-character/multi-variable episode could be a season-long (anthology) story arc in itself.

I'd probably settle for 2-4 episodes like classic Dr Who ;-P

 

[johnnybear]

Walking Dead and classic Who fan! Good to know you, Paul!
JB

 

[Pauln6]

Walking Dead and classic Who fan! Good to know you, Paul!
JB

Add six million dollar man, bionic woman, Buck Rogers, sapphire and steel, Blake's 7 and more to that list. Don't get me started on the nineties.

 

[johnnybear]

Early Six Million Dollar Man, B7, Space 1999, Invaders, UFO! Not a fan of Buck Rogers or Sapphire and Steel but I did like Galactica, original of course!
JB

 

[Pauln6]

Early Six Million Dollar Man, B7, Space 1999, Invaders, UFO! Not a fan of Buck Rogers or Sapphire and Steel but I did like Galactica, original of course!
JB

Ooh yeah space 1999! I am just a tad too young for UFO and Galactica wasn't shown in Anglia region back in the day. Invaders was fun but I sort of wished it had a larger recurring cast. I still haven't watched all the UFO episodes but I think i need to get round to that. There is certainly a core of about a dozen BSG episodes that I love.

 

[johnnybear]

No, Anglia did not show Galactica did they! They showed Galactica 80 which was only ten shows much later on! My local channel was also Anglia Tv but we could pick up Central (ATV) and LWT/Thames as well! Which area did you live in as I'm sure Bristol is too far for Anglia? I'm in Northamptonshire!
JB

 

[Pauln6]

No, Anglia did not show Galactica did they! They showed Galactica 80 which was only ten shows much later on! My local channel was also Anglia Tv but we could pick up Central (ATV) and LWT/Thames as well! Which area did you live in as I'm sure Bristol is too far for Anglia? I'm in Northamptonshire!
JB

Yeah, I'm an Essex boy really. We could just about get TVS on the black and white portable but only in my parents' bedroom and with almost no picture. Still worth it for some quality BSG though.

Back on track, I also watch many episodes of TOS on our old black and white TV but it was only when Weetabix did their TMP promotion that I really embraced Star Trek, buying the Mego figures, posters. I recall that I never ever thought of Uhura as the black character; to me she was the woman, and I recall puzzling over why she was stuck on the ship instead of getting onto a landing party for some action, blasting away with the security guards. I was a very early feminist.

Comparing the old B&W to the new remastered episode is interesting. I kind of the miss the old grainier Enterprise if I'm honest.

 

[johnnybear]

Same here! I loved watching the old black and white tv in my parents room too! I started collecting the masks from the serial packs back in the 70s myself, getting my friends to wear a Kirk, Spock or Sulu mask while another kid might be The Klingon!
JB

 

[Grendelsbayne]

The Menagerie:

This is actually one of the stories I remember the most from childhood, but somehow I'd completely forgotten about the prelude on Starbase 11. It actually looks pretty gorgeous, although seems more like a planet than a starbase. That female officer Piper is quite awkward, though.

I like that McCoy is the one defending Spock when even Kirk doubts him.

I really like the uniform style from the older era, especially how it makes a much clearer distinction between officers and enlisted men/grunts. Also the expeditionary jackets that fit over the basic uniform are quite nice.

The Talosians are probably still one of the best make-up designs from the original series.

It's interesting that the Commodore himself was an illusion. That would also retroactively negate the verdict of the court martial, despite the 'Guilty as charge' fakeout before the last act break.

Overall, this is definitely still one of the really great stories of the show. I'd also say it's remarkable in not having any significantly disappointing guest actors.

 

[scotpens]

The Menagerie:

This is actually one of the stories I remember the most from childhood, but somehow I'd completely forgotten about the prelude on Starbase 11. It actually looks pretty gorgeous, although seems more like a planet than a starbase.

It's a starbase on a planet. We saw starbases that were mammoth man-made space stations in the movies and later Trek TV shows, but AFAIK all the TOS starbases were on planets.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

It's a starbase on a planet. We saw starbases that were mammoth man-made space stations in the movies and later Trek TV shows, but AFAIK all the TOS starbases were on planets.

That's interesting. Personally I wouldn't have called them 'starbases', then, but I do like the idea a lot.

 

[johnnybear]

Starbases were on planets and as space stations in deep space! But it is funny calling them both Starbases rather than say planetary installations as it were!
JB

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Yeah, it sounds like they're on the surface of a star. Maybe they used to be, but then Starfleet found out it wouldn't work the hard way. (RIP Crewman Bumf)

 

[UnknownSample]

T

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...).

The core of the story was the SF idea of a tech-created plague wiping out humanity, there but for the grace of God go us.
---------------------------
It seems much more likely to me that being a child mentally is just a matter of not having lived long, and being dependent on adults. After many years of struggling to survive, what we'd see are adults who just still look like children.

 

[UnknownSample]

Except it doesn't make it very clear, because at the end of the episode she still stays with him even though he only agreed to it because she was able to look hot.

We are seeing his subjective view of her. When she thought she had taken the drug, and expected instant beauty, she was able to exude a natural beauty instead. She didn't literally make herself look like she had a nicer hairdo and makeup... He learns something like: beauty is in the person.

Bonk! Bonk! Etc, etc. It feels like old-fashioned adults' idea of a group of kids, not an actual group of kids.

Believe me, it seemed exactly that way when first broadcast, when I was a kid myself. Kids were always depicted as stupid clichés.