Actually Gene Roddenberry was still married to his first wife Eileen at the time. He and Majel were married in Japan in August 1969 -- two months after the last episode of Star Trek aired.
TOS Rewatch
- Thread starter Grendelsbayne
- Start date
The view screen stuff is a mistake, both when Hanson dies and with the Romulan ship's destruction. But they often make mistakes, like panning and zooming when there is no earthly reason to think they could get multiple camera angles. For a nuke, there wouldn't be that much reaction time for the commander to cringe in pain and fall to the right. He'd just vaporize in a microsecond.
Maybe what Uhura is sending out is pretty unidirectional, toward home, and not an omnidirectional broadcast. 100's of campaigns may have been local or civil wars, too, and not conquests of other races. They do have a lot of in fighting. That Romulan ship is cheaply constructed in many ways. And that's not the "love" theme music, but more the mystic/mystery music as she ponders God and the meaning of it all.
Balance Of Terror
Read Full Review
One of my favorite episodes, despite some obvious flaws, this a gripping remake of a couple of classic WWII submarine war movies, as well as the introduction of the greatest recurring antagonistic race the federation ever faces in TOS and onward - The Romulans (and wow, they're an offshoot of the Vulcan race - which itself lends an aura of much deeper time to the show). It must have been before the time of Surak when the forbearers of the Romulans left Vulcan, and war lead Vulcan to lose its spaceflight capabilities for centuries after that. How close to extinction must they have come to lose those records and forget about their long lost brothers? I did really love the suggestion in Star Trek: Enterprise that humans remind the Vulcans of only one other race - themselves - emotional, warlike, dangerous, and without the grace of the discipline of logic, there goes humanity.
The production and airing order are different, so while we've seen the Enterprise fire phasers in The Corbomite Maneuver, this is the first time they actually wrote that the ship's weapons were used - and since it was before the introduction of "photon torpedoes," they called them proximity phasers - so they acted sort of like depth charges. They transferred story elements of the cat and mouse submarine chase so well they never thought to ask if it always made sense - for example, the hush-hush run silent bits where people whisper so the enemy won't hear them. Water carries sounds very well - better than air - but space - not so much - not at all, in fact, so why the lowered voices? Sure, it makes sense to shut off equipment so you're not putting out EM signals, but whispering? I guess Spock's inadvertent hitting of a button that turned on his loud beeping equipment wasn't bad so much for the noise, but for sending out an EM (or subspace) signal or something that could be "heard."
Star Trek was always so cool for getting around hot button topics the censors didn't want anyone talking about - like the war, racial tensions, and bigotry. It was just science fiction, so not real, so who cared - right? They kept pushing the envelope and getting away with it, so it's little wonder the show was ahead of its time in more ways than one.
Back to the story now. A century earlier, Earth was at war with the Romulans, and after 4 or so years of "primitive battle," by 23rd century standards, they set up a neutral zone between Earth and Romulan space. A weird place inasmuch as there are asteroids lining it (must have been towed there) and a nearby star (otherwise, that comet wouldn't look that way with a long tail), but these things are possible. I suppose an uninhabited star system could be there.
And the Romulans have a super cool weapon and a practical cloaking device, but, apparently, no warp drive. I've come to believe the Romulans must have been using something akin to an aircraft carrier, with these impulse powered scout ships not too far away from the warp driven mother carrier, perhaps set off with months of duration, but the carrier remained safely on the other side of the neutral zone (too costly an investment to risk like that). Otherwise, you just can't get that far into space on impulse alone. And I doubt they'd do all that well against a warp driven starship, but at least their weapon was impressive. Too bad they forgot they're in 3-D space and can go in more directions than just forwards or backwards. Sidestepping such a weapon would be totes easy for a warp driven starship. The writers might have been intelligent, but not experienced, and their pattern indicates two-dimensional thinking. Don't talk to me about two-dimensional thinking, boys - you're as guilty as anyone - or maybe even one-dimensional thinking, really. But then if you later think too hard on it, you can't enjoy one of the most exciting moments in the episode (or maybe the entire series) as a weapon of THAT destructive magnitude is about to hit the ship (through deflectors and over a mile of solid iron, you saw what it did to the outpost - mein Gott). And WOW, the incidental music sells it - I love all the Trek music and sound effects, and for me it's often the height of hilarity when other shows use those identical sound effects. And there's a pretty girl who needs to cling to the hero, too, so that's fun, even if it was just Rand. So long, Janice, for I think that might have been your last appearance (canned episode, recall).
Later, in The Deadly Years, the Enterprise will be hit repeatedly with dozens of those blasts (well, maybe the Romulans toned them down to conserve energy/fuel, or the Federation's shield technology had vastly improved since then, or they just found a way to tune their shields specifically to thwart that type of weapon. Live and learn, you know).
But isn't shield tech amazing? An honest to gosh nuke went off just 100 yards away and they survived it - granted, it was probably not a huge nuke since it only needed to destroy their own ship, but still. And talk about one of the most breathtaking re-mastered shots to date - the Enterprise isn't just tilted and dead looking in space like in the original, but tilting and slowly rotating on perhaps two different axes. The shot was truly, Glorious. Other cool remastered bits are a more colorful, particulate laden comet tail and some below and above shots of the Romulan war bird. I was disappointed, though, they didn't include some debris after the war bird self-destructed. Once its transmitters were gone, the viewing screen could/should have reverted from the Romulan bridge shot to an expanding debris field in space rather than an empty space shot. They HAD the room - actual viewing screen time they could have put anything there. I guess they didn't think of it, or more likely, didn't have the time or budget for it, but it would have been much better, IMO. And when they reversed to go away from the Romulan after Spock's tip off, they still showed them moving forward and not backward. Nit picks.
Note: Of course, photon torpedoes would delivery energy on the order of a nuke or more, so I guess the shields are built to take it (or more likely) deflect it around them. I'm just so impressed by shield tech, that's all. When it comes right down to it, their shield tech is always a step ahead of their weapons tech.
We wonder about the wisdom of having Kirk give an order to fire to a guy, who then sends that order down to another guy, who then pushes a button. Why not cut out a step or two? Well, they rarely show that aspect of the weapons again, and when Kirk gives the order, the command is seemingly handled from just the bridge later on. But as I understand it, that is sort of how it works on an actual submarine, so too much direct translation is still going on there.
And never forget well synchronize closed captioning - I occasionally get to learn what's actually been said that was hard to discern before or I just mistook as something else. Here, for example, when the Enterprise fires the final blow, the Romulan commander screams something. I never could make it out. It's "They're firing at us!" which, I guess, was a total surprise since he thought they were virtually dead from the nuke. Guess not, commander. But another CC version has the commander screaming "Weapons!" and that's probably closer to what was actually said. So I dunno.
And there's great acting all over the place - Kirk, the Romulan Commander and his Centurion sidekick - Bones – Spock - Rand. Scotty doesn't say much, but a few gestures made me smile and I knew he was there, too.
Lawrence Montaigne makes his first appearance in Trek: here, as one of my favorite Romulans, Decius.
We will see him gain later as the Vulcan, Stonn.
And Uhura even takes over the navigator's position - she's not just a pretty face, but also a competent bridge officer.
This isn't my favorite episode, but it is certainly one of my top 5 favorites, despite its flawed story elements. The story is a 9, but flaws bring it down, and yet the re-mastered effects raise it back to its rightful 9 out of 10 status. It's one of the best TOS episodes they made.
The production and airing order are different, so while we've seen the Enterprise fire phasers in The Corbomite Maneuver, this is the first time they actually wrote that the ship's weapons were used - and since it was before the introduction of "photon torpedoes," they called them proximity phasers - so they acted sort of like depth charges. They transferred story elements of the cat and mouse submarine chase so well they never thought to ask if it always made sense - for example, the hush-hush run silent bits where people whisper so the enemy won't hear them. Water carries sounds very well - better than air - but space - not so much - not at all, in fact, so why the lowered voices? Sure, it makes sense to shut off equipment so you're not putting out EM signals, but whispering? I guess Spock's inadvertent hitting of a button that turned on his loud beeping equipment wasn't bad so much for the noise, but for sending out an EM (or subspace) signal or something that could be "heard."
Star Trek was always so cool for getting around hot button topics the censors didn't want anyone talking about - like the war, racial tensions, and bigotry. It was just science fiction, so not real, so who cared - right? They kept pushing the envelope and getting away with it, so it's little wonder the show was ahead of its time in more ways than one.
Back to the story now. A century earlier, Earth was at war with the Romulans, and after 4 or so years of "primitive battle," by 23rd century standards, they set up a neutral zone between Earth and Romulan space. A weird place inasmuch as there are asteroids lining it (must have been towed there) and a nearby star (otherwise, that comet wouldn't look that way with a long tail), but these things are possible. I suppose an uninhabited star system could be there.
And the Romulans have a super cool weapon and a practical cloaking device, but, apparently, no warp drive. I've come to believe the Romulans must have been using something akin to an aircraft carrier, with these impulse powered scout ships not too far away from the warp driven mother carrier, perhaps set off with months of duration, but the carrier remained safely on the other side of the neutral zone (too costly an investment to risk like that). Otherwise, you just can't get that far into space on impulse alone. And I doubt they'd do all that well against a warp driven starship, but at least their weapon was impressive. Too bad they forgot they're in 3-D space and can go in more directions than just forwards or backwards. Sidestepping such a weapon would be totes easy for a warp driven starship. The writers might have been intelligent, but not experienced, and their pattern indicates two-dimensional thinking. Don't talk to me about two-dimensional thinking, boys - you're as guilty as anyone - or maybe even one-dimensional thinking, really. But then if you later think too hard on it, you can't enjoy one of the most exciting moments in the episode (or maybe the entire series) as a weapon of THAT destructive magnitude is about to hit the ship (through deflectors and over a mile of solid iron, you saw what it did to the outpost - mein Gott). And WOW, the incidental music sells it - I love all the Trek music and sound effects, and for me it's often the height of hilarity when other shows use those identical sound effects. And there's a pretty girl who needs to cling to the hero, too, so that's fun, even if it was just Rand. So long, Janice, for I think that might have been your last appearance (canned episode, recall).
Later, in The Deadly Years, the Enterprise will be hit repeatedly with dozens of those blasts (well, maybe the Romulans toned them down to conserve energy/fuel, or the Federation's shield technology had vastly improved since then, or they just found a way to tune their shields specifically to thwart that type of weapon. Live and learn, you know).
But isn't shield tech amazing? An honest to gosh nuke went off just 100 yards away and they survived it - granted, it was probably not a huge nuke since it only needed to destroy their own ship, but still. And talk about one of the most breathtaking re-mastered shots to date - the Enterprise isn't just tilted and dead looking in space like in the original, but tilting and slowly rotating on perhaps two different axes. The shot was truly, Glorious. Other cool remastered bits are a more colorful, particulate laden comet tail and some below and above shots of the Romulan war bird. I was disappointed, though, they didn't include some debris after the war bird self-destructed. Once its transmitters were gone, the viewing screen could/should have reverted from the Romulan bridge shot to an expanding debris field in space rather than an empty space shot. They HAD the room - actual viewing screen time they could have put anything there. I guess they didn't think of it, or more likely, didn't have the time or budget for it, but it would have been much better, IMO. And when they reversed to go away from the Romulan after Spock's tip off, they still showed them moving forward and not backward. Nit picks.
Note: Of course, photon torpedoes would delivery energy on the order of a nuke or more, so I guess the shields are built to take it (or more likely) deflect it around them. I'm just so impressed by shield tech, that's all. When it comes right down to it, their shield tech is always a step ahead of their weapons tech.
We wonder about the wisdom of having Kirk give an order to fire to a guy, who then sends that order down to another guy, who then pushes a button. Why not cut out a step or two? Well, they rarely show that aspect of the weapons again, and when Kirk gives the order, the command is seemingly handled from just the bridge later on. But as I understand it, that is sort of how it works on an actual submarine, so too much direct translation is still going on there.
And never forget well synchronize closed captioning - I occasionally get to learn what's actually been said that was hard to discern before or I just mistook as something else. Here, for example, when the Enterprise fires the final blow, the Romulan commander screams something. I never could make it out. It's "They're firing at us!" which, I guess, was a total surprise since he thought they were virtually dead from the nuke. Guess not, commander. But another CC version has the commander screaming "Weapons!" and that's probably closer to what was actually said. So I dunno.
And there's great acting all over the place - Kirk, the Romulan Commander and his Centurion sidekick - Bones – Spock - Rand. Scotty doesn't say much, but a few gestures made me smile and I knew he was there, too.
Lawrence Montaigne makes his first appearance in Trek: here, as one of my favorite Romulans, Decius.
We will see him gain later as the Vulcan, Stonn.
And Uhura even takes over the navigator's position - she's not just a pretty face, but also a competent bridge officer.
This isn't my favorite episode, but it is certainly one of my top 5 favorites, despite its flawed story elements. The story is a 9, but flaws bring it down, and yet the re-mastered effects raise it back to its rightful 9 out of 10 status. It's one of the best TOS episodes they made.
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That wasn't a love theme. It was a cue called "Doctor Bartender" from "The Cage." It's a melancholy variation on the Captain's theme. It's a very beautiful expression of sadness and contemplation.
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It's not a back rub, per se, but just helping a buddy out with a knot he can't reach. But from a woman, it could be taken the wrong way. Maybe today from either gender it could be taken the wrong way, but it was the 60's.
They set that planet up for their own people, and they already know about it, so the inadvertent use of another group is possible, but yeah, one would think they might have more safeguards put in, or signs set out in orbit to alert new comers what they are, and that they are welcome. In not before, then probably after. Though I might also think Kirk would drop off a space marker to alert Federation ships of the planet's potential for fun and/or danger.
Shore Leave
Read Full Review
This is a fun episode where mere thoughts and flights of fancy are coming to life - and not always in a good way.
For character development, we gain insight into Kirk's early days at the academy, 15 years ago, and see a former love-interests of his, Ruth. There's some new music that goes with that, too. That's the "love" theme. The re-mastered shots are more vibrant and colorful and you can see more of the oddly colored scenery, and there's a lot of sexual intent running through here from most characters, so that's fun.
Kirk calls Angela "Teller" (Baldavin) but she's listed as Angela and was called Angela a couple of times by others. This was shot while the script was being rewritten, or they would have fixed that when they realized the same actress had played a named character before and so should use that name. In fact, she was the one who jut lost her fiancé in Balance of Terror. We'll see this actress one more time, but she's playing Lt. Lisa then, but her scenes from Space Seed were cut.
Barbara Baldavin.
As for the new Yeoman, Tonia Barrows, we're amused when Kirk thinks Spock is digging into his sore back muscles, but it's Barrows. Ha. A lovely woman, but we only see her once and she's gone.
Here's a couple of shots that come up in a Google search for Emily Banks, though I suspect they are "shopped" and may be NSFW, but YMMV, and I'm never sure what this board will allow, so they are under a spoiler tag and will be deleted upon request.
ETA: links removed
I've always liked this episode as a cool, fantasy idea come to life, and, of course, the fight between Kirk and Finnegan is just hilarious. I think I read the Irish jig-like music they used for Finnegan's scenes was inspired by the music in The Quiet Man, a John Wayne movie, where there was another hilarious bit of fisticuffs.
Now there's a bit of a to-do about changing the direction of the orbit (in TOS they used a reverse earth shot, greened up, and reversed the film so the Enterprise went right to left (one of the few times they did that, but you can see the letters are reversed) but they went with the normal left to right direction in the re-mastered version and remade the world below to look more earth-like and normal since, well, it looked that way on the surface. I prefer the new shots, of course. There's a TAS episode where they return to this planet, but it's not on these Blu-Ray discs.
There was some speculation Ruth was the little blonde lab technician Gary Mitchell aimed at Kirk, but I prefer to think that was Carol Marcus or Janet Wallace. But we never do find out for sure.
All in all, a fun-filled episode. Not your normal episode of Trek, that's for sure. While you may notice more weird colors than I (color visionally challenged as I am) the re-mastered stuff isn't a vast improvement, but for the fun factor, I gave this episode a 7 out of 10.
For character development, we gain insight into Kirk's early days at the academy, 15 years ago, and see a former love-interests of his, Ruth. There's some new music that goes with that, too. That's the "love" theme. The re-mastered shots are more vibrant and colorful and you can see more of the oddly colored scenery, and there's a lot of sexual intent running through here from most characters, so that's fun.
Kirk calls Angela "Teller" (Baldavin) but she's listed as Angela and was called Angela a couple of times by others. This was shot while the script was being rewritten, or they would have fixed that when they realized the same actress had played a named character before and so should use that name. In fact, she was the one who jut lost her fiancé in Balance of Terror. We'll see this actress one more time, but she's playing Lt. Lisa then, but her scenes from Space Seed were cut.
Barbara Baldavin.
As for the new Yeoman, Tonia Barrows, we're amused when Kirk thinks Spock is digging into his sore back muscles, but it's Barrows. Ha. A lovely woman, but we only see her once and she's gone.
Here's a couple of shots that come up in a Google search for Emily Banks, though I suspect they are "shopped" and may be NSFW, but YMMV, and I'm never sure what this board will allow, so they are under a spoiler tag and will be deleted upon request.
ETA: links removed
I've always liked this episode as a cool, fantasy idea come to life, and, of course, the fight between Kirk and Finnegan is just hilarious. I think I read the Irish jig-like music they used for Finnegan's scenes was inspired by the music in The Quiet Man, a John Wayne movie, where there was another hilarious bit of fisticuffs.
Now there's a bit of a to-do about changing the direction of the orbit (in TOS they used a reverse earth shot, greened up, and reversed the film so the Enterprise went right to left (one of the few times they did that, but you can see the letters are reversed) but they went with the normal left to right direction in the re-mastered version and remade the world below to look more earth-like and normal since, well, it looked that way on the surface. I prefer the new shots, of course. There's a TAS episode where they return to this planet, but it's not on these Blu-Ray discs.
There was some speculation Ruth was the little blonde lab technician Gary Mitchell aimed at Kirk, but I prefer to think that was Carol Marcus or Janet Wallace. But we never do find out for sure.
All in all, a fun-filled episode. Not your normal episode of Trek, that's for sure. While you may notice more weird colors than I (color visionally challenged as I am) the re-mastered stuff isn't a vast improvement, but for the fun factor, I gave this episode a 7 out of 10.
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It's not a back rub, per se, but just helping a buddy out with a knot he can't reach. But from a woman, it could be taken the wrong way. Maybe today from either gender it could be taken the wrong way, but it was the 60's.
They set that planet up for their own people, and they already know about it, so the inadvertent use of another group is possible, but yeah, one would think they might have more safeguards put in, or signs set out in orbit to alert new comers what they are, and that they are welcome. In not before, then probably after. Though I might also think Kirk would drop off a space marker to alert Federation ships of the planet's potential for fun and/or danger.
Shore Leave
This is a fun episode where mere thoughts and flights of fancy are coming to life - and not always in a good way.
For character development, we gain insight into Kirk's early days at the academy, 15 years ago, and see a former love-interests of his, Ruth. There's some new music that goes with that, too. That's the "love" theme. The re-mastered shots are more vibrant and colorful and you can see more of the oddly colored scenery, and there's a lot of sexual intent running through here from most characters, so that's fun.
Kirk calls Angela "Teller" (Baldavin) but she's listed as Angela and was called Angela a couple of times by others. This was shot while the script was being rewritten, or they would have fixed that when they realized the same actress had played a named character before and so should use that name. In fact, she was the one who jut lost her fiancé in Balance of Terror. We'll see this actress one more time, but she's playing Lt. Lisa then, but her scenes from Space Seed were cut.
Barbara Baldavin.
As for the new Yeoman, Tonia Barrows, we're amused when Kirk thinks Spock is digging into his sore back muscles, but it's Barrows. Ha. A lovely woman, but we only see her once and she's gone.
Here's a couple of shots that come up in a Google search for Emily Banks, though I suspect they are "shopped" and may be NSFW, but YYMV, and I'm never sure what this board will allow, so they are under a spoiler tag and will be deleted upon request.
ETA: links removed
I've always liked this episode as a cool, fantasy idea come to life, and, of course, the fight between Kirk and Finnegan is just hilarious. I think I read the Irish jig-like music they used for Finnegan's scenes was inspired by the music in The Quiet Man, a John Wayne movie, where there was another hilarious bit of fisticuffs.
Now there's a bit of a to-do about changing the direction of the orbit (in TOS they used a reverse earth shot, greened up, and reversed the film so the Enterprise went right to left (one of the few times they did that, but you can see the letters are reversed) but they went with the normal left to right direction in the re-mastered version and remade the world below to look more earth-like and normal since, well, it looked that way on the surface. I prefer the new shots, of course. There's a TAS episode where they return to this planet, but it's not on these Blu-Ray discs.
There was some speculation Ruth was the little blonde lab technician Gary Mitchell aimed at Kirk, but I prefer to think that was Carol Marcus or Janet Wallace. But we never do find out for sure.
All in all, a fun-filled episode. Not your normal episode of Trek, that's for sure. While you may notice more weird colors than I (color visionally challenged as I am) the re-mastered stuff isn't a vast improvement, but for the fun factor, I gave this episode a 7 out of 10.
The pictures linked in your spoiler code were certainly not offensive, but nevertheless too far for the rules. You said you didn't know what was okay to post or not post. Here is the rule:
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/posting-change-all-posters-read-please.255316/
I've removed the links per the board announcement.
If those are the Emily Banks pictures I'm thinking of, they're definitely fakes. Someone on the DeviantArt forum has a whole bunch of Star Trek TOS photomanips. No real nudity but I suppose a bit much for Trek BBS.
The Romulan campaigns they mentioned could have been to suppress the rebellion on Remus? Or as we discover in later episodes and series of Star Trek, The Romulan area of space has many planets like Eden and the like and maybe some of them are inhabited by races that oppose their rule!
JB
JB
The Immunity Syndrome:
There's been plenty of talk regarding the exact status of the Intrepid (is it starfleet or not) - hearing the line here, it certainly seemed to me to be intended as Starfleet and the way Kirk says it actually seems, imo, to carry a subtext that it is normal for ships to be crewed by the same species (which is one of the easiest ways to explain how there are hardly any alien crewmembers on the Enterprise).
Spock's logic re Vulcan History isn't logical at all. I've never seen or known anyone with experience of dying from starvation, but that doesn't mean I can't imagine the possibility of running out of food. I also find the idea of him 'feeling' the deaths of the Intrepid crew, so strongly as to actually know firsthand they were astonished, to be completely ill-fitting for the character and the show. I think the episode would've been better off letting the Intrepid fire off a last (partial) warning to get that info across. Or even just leaving it a mystery.
The actress lying 'almost dead' in sickbay apparently couldn't stop herself from looking around several times while the cameras on her. Also, Scotty argues with Kirk about the tractor beams, then gives in and 'activates' the tractor beams without moving a single muscle.
This was a solid episode with plenty of drama. It was nice to see unknown phenomena actually stay unknown for while and provide a real challenge to determine what's going on. I liked how Spock and McCoy both volunteered for the suicide mission. But as a concept - Kirk and McCoy's philosphical exchange about antibodies notwithstanding - I'm not really sure how this episode adds anything unique or valuable to the show. It's not the first time the writers reused an earlier concept in a slightly new jacket, but this one feels more egregious than most. I honestly don't think there was much point in making both this episode and the Doomsday Device.
There's been plenty of talk regarding the exact status of the Intrepid (is it starfleet or not) - hearing the line here, it certainly seemed to me to be intended as Starfleet and the way Kirk says it actually seems, imo, to carry a subtext that it is normal for ships to be crewed by the same species (which is one of the easiest ways to explain how there are hardly any alien crewmembers on the Enterprise).
Spock's logic re Vulcan History isn't logical at all. I've never seen or known anyone with experience of dying from starvation, but that doesn't mean I can't imagine the possibility of running out of food. I also find the idea of him 'feeling' the deaths of the Intrepid crew, so strongly as to actually know firsthand they were astonished, to be completely ill-fitting for the character and the show. I think the episode would've been better off letting the Intrepid fire off a last (partial) warning to get that info across. Or even just leaving it a mystery.
The actress lying 'almost dead' in sickbay apparently couldn't stop herself from looking around several times while the cameras on her. Also, Scotty argues with Kirk about the tractor beams, then gives in and 'activates' the tractor beams without moving a single muscle.
This was a solid episode with plenty of drama. It was nice to see unknown phenomena actually stay unknown for while and provide a real challenge to determine what's going on. I liked how Spock and McCoy both volunteered for the suicide mission. But as a concept - Kirk and McCoy's philosphical exchange about antibodies notwithstanding - I'm not really sure how this episode adds anything unique or valuable to the show. It's not the first time the writers reused an earlier concept in a slightly new jacket, but this one feels more egregious than most. I honestly don't think there was much point in making both this episode and the Doomsday Device.
I didn't know it was disputed. Kirk calls her "USS," that is generally regarded as designating Starfleet vessels.
There might have been more of a difference if we could have had back-and-forth with the device's creators. The amoeba is alive - they could have mashed the two together by saying the device developed a consciousness and was now killing because it wanted to, not just set in motion like a machine and never turned off. Oh wait - V'ger.
The Galileo Seven
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It's not the red shirts who are gonna get this it, this time.
I've never seen the 1939 movie Five Came Back, but I gather this episode took its inspiration from that movie.
The tension is high in this episode as High Commissioner Ferris exercises his right to be an annoying pain in Kirk's arse. A bit overplayed as an unsympathetic arsehole, but it gets the job done. I might have preferred a more sympathetic commissioner, with the enemy just being the time constraint and countless plague victims weighed against 7 lost crewmen, but they went with the more identifiable jerk.
This episode is heavy on the special effects, and so the re-mastered version has a great deal of new stuff to look at. First, the "Quasar" is beautiful - though it's probably one of those "quasar-like" phenomenon since it's doubtful the Enterprise could encounter an actual quasar. No matter.
Lots of shuttlecraft work here, too. I like the new effects compared to the old ones. Even the decaying, burning orbit is so hot, it's cool. The newer planet rendering of Taurus II is great looking, and the final fuel dump/ignition (aka, Spock's desperation flare) is gorgeous, both in close up and from afar, with a far more realistic orbital depiction instead of the hard, equatorially parallel line from before.
And the new yeoman is still hotter than Rand (who seems to have become the standard). I just guess Rand never impressed me.
Phyllis Douglas as Yeoman Mears is cute - but she's another "one and done" character. I guess yeoman Mears didn't dis Spock, either. I was a little impressed she didn't want to give up her phaser, her only defense, but did so anyway. It impressed me inasmuch as that meant here's a woman who can handle a phaser (otherwise, why care) and who follows the orders of a superior officer, despite it putting her at a seeming disadvantage. She's a team player - not like Boma - and a good crewman (crew woman?)
But we'll see Phyllis again, mostly in the background, playing girl #2, or Sevrin's Girl in The Way To Eden.
I was always amazed at the amount of crap flung Spock's way in this episode. Sure, EVENTUALLY, Scotty and McCoy finally stood up for him when Lt. Boma went too far by calling Spock a "machine." Rubbish. He went too far long before that in just his general disrespect for the authority of command, but so did some others - I swear, it was probably bordering on racism or bigotry toward vulcans. Lt. Boma obviously wasn't cut out for the military or this "service," and in some stories, Scotty helps him on his way with a court martial for his insubordination toward Spock during this incident, propelling Boma into a civilian career perhaps more suited to him.
But I also scoff as their burying their dead in the amount of time they had (less than 10 minutes, and without using phasers to dig). I doubt it. And the insistence to do so under such conditions always struck me as foolish. That's the sort of thing you do when you have time. I also didn't like that Bones, of all people, wouldn't step up and say a few words at a burial ceremony, insisting it was Spock's place. More rubbish. I think it would've been more realistic if Bones just said, O.K., I'll do it, seeing how you're busy trying to save all our lives while I'm just sitting on my arse here.
At any rate, it demonstrates more insight into Spock's character and what others tend to think of him. Even McCoy went so far as to say he was "sick and tired" of Spock's logic, too. At least Scotty never once showed an ounce of disrespect, and I think that says it all - the higher ranked, dyed in the wool Star Fleet types know better. They just really do have their priorities in the proper order.
Despite some Paper Mache boulders that "rocked" a little too easily, and the general lack of detail amid all the fog, I liked the setting. The thought of getting a dirty big spear right through you was something to think about as a kid. Yikes! I don't mind the relatively cheesy creatures, either. The show wasn't really about them.
Another thread wonders exactly how one converts phaser energy into shuttle fuel, of course, and I wouldn't worry if TOS shuttles had replicators or transporters like DS9 runabouts, but they don't, as far as we know. Yet, with enough circuitry to tinker with, and perhaps a transtator or two, ha ha, maybe Scotty could make something to convert some matter to another form of matter, just like the replicators do. It only requires additional energy when mass in equals mass out, and the phasers have massive amounts of stored energy. Could he have made a dedicated system to convert oxygen to helium and other choice molecules suitable for ignitable shuttle fuel? Maybe. Otherwise we have to wonder how one ignites phaser power like that, or how it propels a shuttle. Regardless . . .
I really liked this episode. A solid 7 with great insight into Spock, command, Kirk and who has authority over him, and Scotty, too. And with those new special effects (they're fantastic) I'm gonna give it an 8 out of 10. A great episode.
I've never seen the 1939 movie Five Came Back, but I gather this episode took its inspiration from that movie.
The tension is high in this episode as High Commissioner Ferris exercises his right to be an annoying pain in Kirk's arse. A bit overplayed as an unsympathetic arsehole, but it gets the job done. I might have preferred a more sympathetic commissioner, with the enemy just being the time constraint and countless plague victims weighed against 7 lost crewmen, but they went with the more identifiable jerk.
This episode is heavy on the special effects, and so the re-mastered version has a great deal of new stuff to look at. First, the "Quasar" is beautiful - though it's probably one of those "quasar-like" phenomenon since it's doubtful the Enterprise could encounter an actual quasar. No matter.
Lots of shuttlecraft work here, too. I like the new effects compared to the old ones. Even the decaying, burning orbit is so hot, it's cool. The newer planet rendering of Taurus II is great looking, and the final fuel dump/ignition (aka, Spock's desperation flare) is gorgeous, both in close up and from afar, with a far more realistic orbital depiction instead of the hard, equatorially parallel line from before.
And the new yeoman is still hotter than Rand (who seems to have become the standard). I just guess Rand never impressed me.
Phyllis Douglas as Yeoman Mears is cute - but she's another "one and done" character. I guess yeoman Mears didn't dis Spock, either. I was a little impressed she didn't want to give up her phaser, her only defense, but did so anyway. It impressed me inasmuch as that meant here's a woman who can handle a phaser (otherwise, why care) and who follows the orders of a superior officer, despite it putting her at a seeming disadvantage. She's a team player - not like Boma - and a good crewman (crew woman?)
But we'll see Phyllis again, mostly in the background, playing girl #2, or Sevrin's Girl in The Way To Eden.
I was always amazed at the amount of crap flung Spock's way in this episode. Sure, EVENTUALLY, Scotty and McCoy finally stood up for him when Lt. Boma went too far by calling Spock a "machine." Rubbish. He went too far long before that in just his general disrespect for the authority of command, but so did some others - I swear, it was probably bordering on racism or bigotry toward vulcans. Lt. Boma obviously wasn't cut out for the military or this "service," and in some stories, Scotty helps him on his way with a court martial for his insubordination toward Spock during this incident, propelling Boma into a civilian career perhaps more suited to him.
But I also scoff as their burying their dead in the amount of time they had (less than 10 minutes, and without using phasers to dig). I doubt it. And the insistence to do so under such conditions always struck me as foolish. That's the sort of thing you do when you have time. I also didn't like that Bones, of all people, wouldn't step up and say a few words at a burial ceremony, insisting it was Spock's place. More rubbish. I think it would've been more realistic if Bones just said, O.K., I'll do it, seeing how you're busy trying to save all our lives while I'm just sitting on my arse here.
At any rate, it demonstrates more insight into Spock's character and what others tend to think of him. Even McCoy went so far as to say he was "sick and tired" of Spock's logic, too. At least Scotty never once showed an ounce of disrespect, and I think that says it all - the higher ranked, dyed in the wool Star Fleet types know better. They just really do have their priorities in the proper order.
Despite some Paper Mache boulders that "rocked" a little too easily, and the general lack of detail amid all the fog, I liked the setting. The thought of getting a dirty big spear right through you was something to think about as a kid. Yikes! I don't mind the relatively cheesy creatures, either. The show wasn't really about them.
Another thread wonders exactly how one converts phaser energy into shuttle fuel, of course, and I wouldn't worry if TOS shuttles had replicators or transporters like DS9 runabouts, but they don't, as far as we know. Yet, with enough circuitry to tinker with, and perhaps a transtator or two, ha ha, maybe Scotty could make something to convert some matter to another form of matter, just like the replicators do. It only requires additional energy when mass in equals mass out, and the phasers have massive amounts of stored energy. Could he have made a dedicated system to convert oxygen to helium and other choice molecules suitable for ignitable shuttle fuel? Maybe. Otherwise we have to wonder how one ignites phaser power like that, or how it propels a shuttle. Regardless . . .
I really liked this episode. A solid 7 with great insight into Spock, command, Kirk and who has authority over him, and Scotty, too. And with those new special effects (they're fantastic) I'm gonna give it an 8 out of 10. A great episode.
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I'd say some of Kirk's conclusions were warranted as calculated risks. While certainty was not his to have, his and Spock's and McCoy's analysis were reasonable enough to warrant the risk he took, so I'm not sure I see the contradictory nature or the illogic of what they tried, given the alternatives. My biggest problem is they always instantly defy a god-like being rather than trying to work with them and humor them a bit, and, would you believe, learn far more from them as a representative of a life or new civilization. Anyway . . .
The Squire Of Gothos
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The re-mastered planet of Gothos is pretty impressive - from space you see the flashes from repeated lightning strikes. As Trelane later uses his planet as a weapon, you get some pretty good views of it with the Enterprise barely missing it despite their best evasive maneuvers. They come so close to the surface, you can actually feel yourself leaning left or right with them to avoid being hit. This is a vast improvement over the original cat and mouse bit. Frankly, all the fiddly stuff Trelane does before is trivial compared to the power it would take to move a planet like that (or maybe he was pulling the Enterprise. Even Spock commented on the relative nature of the movement between ship and planet, though Sulu says they are still on course, so it seems more likely the planet is being moved.)
Speaking of Spock, he had a couple of great lines: "I object to intellect without discipline. I object to power without constructive purpose." And, Kirk, too, apparently objects to anything god-like and never bends his knee to it. And like the hero he is, he risks his life to save others, or offers up his own life to free his crew. Perhaps this type of situation comes about too frequently as they are so unwilling to humor such entities even for a short time, but show open defiance right from the start - which in turn forces Trelane's hand, who MAY HAVE BEEN happy with a single representative crewman left behind to exchange ideas for a time and further Trelane's studies and further the Federation's mission objective of learning about new life forms and new civilizations. But noooooo.
William Campbell was great, and we will see him again as our Dear Captain Koloth, the klingon captain in The Trouble With Tribbles.
Yet another one and done beautiful, woman, Yeoman
Teresa Ross - played by Venita Wolf - outshines Rand, IMO.
Venita Wolf, winner of numerous beauty pageants, Appeared on the cover of Playboy 1967
(But I don't think she appears inside.) I think they were using filters or a softer focus on the women, too, to make them prettier. However sexist the behind the scenes stuff was, like picking playboy playmates or cover girls as guest stars, Star Trek usually put the women in roles other than mother, teacher, nurse, or secretary, so one step back, maybe, but two or three forward. Though yeoman may be where they used those guest stars most, and they had different classes/ranks, this position wasn't much more than personal assistant/secratary. Yet some have higher ranks, and some yeoman did go on to much higher ranking positions in starfleet, and yeoman was not a role solely reserved for women.
I guess the one and done pretty yeoman in nearly every episode was a good idea for ratings - just like cheerleaders are a good idea to help sporting event attendance. But YMMV.
Some Fun Bits: There's a stuffed "salt vampire" on display in Trelane's castle, and Bones reacts a bit upon seeing it, but doesn't say anything. And we see the Laser Beacon for the first and only time, IIRC, though I'm not sure how he determined it wasn't working since it only seems to send a signal and not receive one.
At this point there's still some question as to when Kirk's time is taking place (200 years ahead, 300, more) but the suggestion Trelane is looking just at Earth 900 years past is demonstrably wrong, I think, when he also mentions Napoleon and later Alexander Hamilton in relation to the dueling pistols, so that's only 400 years or so past - not 900 years. Or maybe Trelane made some adjustments and did a quick study after their first encounter revealed his error to him, and he quickly learned more of Earth history in such a short span of time before their second encounter - you never know with an alien that powerful.
I reject the notion this is a member of the Q continuum, for the Q's power never seems to rely on instrumentality. But no doubt they are god-like beings, depending on what constitutes a god those days, on order with Charlie X's adopted folks, or maybe the Organians, or perhaps even the wormhole Aliens on DS9 and others, all who seem likely to have recently (a relative term) evolved beyond the need for a physical body, though they may still take physical form. Even V'Ger and Decker/Ilia may have been an example of that very type of evolution, but one would hope it does not require a V'Ger-like entity to get there every time. Still, speculation abounds.
Futurama parodies much of Trek, but this episode in particular with their episode entitled Where No Fan Has Gone Before, and the final credits for that Futurama episode had me ROTFLMAO.
This was a fun episode, and while the new effects are great, I wonder about some elements of it, and the omnipresent god-like beings Trek is always dealing with. Too common a theme, as the jokes go. But it's still a lot of fun, so a strong 7 out of 10.
Speaking of Spock, he had a couple of great lines: "I object to intellect without discipline. I object to power without constructive purpose." And, Kirk, too, apparently objects to anything god-like and never bends his knee to it. And like the hero he is, he risks his life to save others, or offers up his own life to free his crew. Perhaps this type of situation comes about too frequently as they are so unwilling to humor such entities even for a short time, but show open defiance right from the start - which in turn forces Trelane's hand, who MAY HAVE BEEN happy with a single representative crewman left behind to exchange ideas for a time and further Trelane's studies and further the Federation's mission objective of learning about new life forms and new civilizations. But noooooo.
William Campbell was great, and we will see him again as our Dear Captain Koloth, the klingon captain in The Trouble With Tribbles.
Yet another one and done beautiful, woman, Yeoman
Teresa Ross - played by Venita Wolf - outshines Rand, IMO.
Venita Wolf, winner of numerous beauty pageants, Appeared on the cover of Playboy 1967
(But I don't think she appears inside.) I think they were using filters or a softer focus on the women, too, to make them prettier. However sexist the behind the scenes stuff was, like picking playboy playmates or cover girls as guest stars, Star Trek usually put the women in roles other than mother, teacher, nurse, or secretary, so one step back, maybe, but two or three forward. Though yeoman may be where they used those guest stars most, and they had different classes/ranks, this position wasn't much more than personal assistant/secratary. Yet some have higher ranks, and some yeoman did go on to much higher ranking positions in starfleet, and yeoman was not a role solely reserved for women.
I guess the one and done pretty yeoman in nearly every episode was a good idea for ratings - just like cheerleaders are a good idea to help sporting event attendance. But YMMV.
Some Fun Bits: There's a stuffed "salt vampire" on display in Trelane's castle, and Bones reacts a bit upon seeing it, but doesn't say anything. And we see the Laser Beacon for the first and only time, IIRC, though I'm not sure how he determined it wasn't working since it only seems to send a signal and not receive one.
At this point there's still some question as to when Kirk's time is taking place (200 years ahead, 300, more) but the suggestion Trelane is looking just at Earth 900 years past is demonstrably wrong, I think, when he also mentions Napoleon and later Alexander Hamilton in relation to the dueling pistols, so that's only 400 years or so past - not 900 years. Or maybe Trelane made some adjustments and did a quick study after their first encounter revealed his error to him, and he quickly learned more of Earth history in such a short span of time before their second encounter - you never know with an alien that powerful.
I reject the notion this is a member of the Q continuum, for the Q's power never seems to rely on instrumentality. But no doubt they are god-like beings, depending on what constitutes a god those days, on order with Charlie X's adopted folks, or maybe the Organians, or perhaps even the wormhole Aliens on DS9 and others, all who seem likely to have recently (a relative term) evolved beyond the need for a physical body, though they may still take physical form. Even V'Ger and Decker/Ilia may have been an example of that very type of evolution, but one would hope it does not require a V'Ger-like entity to get there every time. Still, speculation abounds.
Futurama parodies much of Trek, but this episode in particular with their episode entitled Where No Fan Has Gone Before, and the final credits for that Futurama episode had me ROTFLMAO.
This was a fun episode, and while the new effects are great, I wonder about some elements of it, and the omnipresent god-like beings Trek is always dealing with. Too common a theme, as the jokes go. But it's still a lot of fun, so a strong 7 out of 10.
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Arena
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Always a fun and cool episode, Arena is right up there in the top third for me. The new effects are a great addition, too. Phasers - three blasts (and later photon torpedoes are finally introduced, too). Sadly, they have little effect on the Gorn ship. And one of my favorite bits in the series - though not retouched, as far as I can tell - was the mortar that fired those impressive little "jewels" that sounded so cool and blew up a huge piece of real estate. They're a lot smaller than a photon torpedo, but a lot bigger than anything you want to be near. I don't think it's quite a tactical nuke, but it's huge, and wow, Kirk has some balls shooting it at such close range. But as he said, (the enemy) will be a lot closer. Well done.
We learn that apparently one can't beam up or down through shields in this episode. Such limitations just make sense, really, lest your enemies beam onto your ship, or beam you off, or just beam nukes over - whatever. If you can beam through shields, you have a huge problem. Limitations are actually a good thing for good story telling, and in a series like this, as long as they're consistent, it's great.
THE GORN NOW BLINKS! Isn't that a wonderful addition in this remastered version? I liked it. The planet looks far better, but they have planet special effects down pat here. There's more impressive damage on Cestus III that can be seen, including a huge-arse-smoking crater near the beam down point. Later, we actually see the gorn ship, but just barely, which is still more than ever before. It's on the screen, stopped dead in space, a tiny little thing at the limit of vision (but 4 warp nacelles can be made out - it almost looks like an X-Wing fighter). Mr. Metron glows more and there are sparkly bits in the air surrounding him, so that's interesting.
I always wondered why Mr. Metron said they'd spare Kirk since he showed mercy. They promised if he won, they'd spare him and his crew, and he won, so why say it was the mercy that did it? Well, I read their real plan was to destroy the winner and his ship and crew since they'd represent the more violent and dangerous threat. What liars! This seems wrong to me for a so-called advanced race that's "actually" big on peace and civilized behavior - and given the power differential, hardly necessary, but it does make such a statement more understandable in that context. Luckily, Kirk showed mercy, so maybe the humans wouldn't be such a threat.
While Mythbusters thoroughly scoff at Kirk's cannon, due to bamboo having insufficient strength to do the job, they failed to consider the Metron-supplied suitable materials weren't earth-grown bamboo and could have other properties. However, it is unlikely Kirk could produce decent gunpowder under those conditions. I even doubt he could get a spark striking steel (or whatever the recorder was made of) against coal (it looked like coal, anyway). No matter.
I cringed a bit at how strong the gorn was (throwing a huge boulder dozens of feet high into the air and for a distance of dozens and dozens of feet besides), and also getting hit with a head-sized rock that Kirk threw at him from a height, like it was nothing. If he's that strong, he should have easily crushed Kirk the first time he had him in his grasp. But it was pointed out they were on an artificially prepared, atmosphere-wrapped asteroid, so the gravity could be quite low, and rock density could be surprisingly light, too. Sure, it looks earth normal enough, but it's hard to film things on earth at lower gravity. Point is, the rocks could be low density and the gravity not all that strong. And, of course, no asteroid would have coal naturally on it, being a product of long dead life, but the place was artificially prepared, so that's fine. And finally, the Gorn slipped up, not being used to low gravity environments, so Kirk escaped.
I wonder, as the Gorn ship screeched to a halt and the Enterprise continued on at warp 8, how long they could talk about it and not simply overshoot it. Well, I'm going to surmise that unlike our everyday experience where we see a ship we're pursuing in the distance, this isn't a close ship at all - it's still quite far away - many light minutes yet - and they only "see" it by virtue of subspace sensors, which work at FLT speeds (even faster than regular warp speeds). In fact, what their viewscreens show must not only be the product of FTL signals, but ultra warp speeds, too, to produce images that can be seen while still at warp velocities. The Metrons, too, and most advanced post-warp civilizations, all must use subspace tech or better, which is FTL, and can operate at some pretty impressive ranges. I'm impressed anyone can "see" that far to even know something's happening, while Kirk's impressed they can reach out that far from their stellar system and stop ships, but mostly we all should be impressed the Metrons can fling the Enterprise 500 parsecs away (1610 light years) in scant seconds.
"Take us back to where we belong, Mr. Sulu. Ahead warp factor 1."
Warp 1, sir??? O.K., captain, but at that speed, it'll take us 1,610 years to get back to where we were.
I'm always a bit let down when Trek doesn't seem to fully grasp the enormity of space. Even at warp 9 (back when it was suggested one cube the warp factor to see how many times c (light speed) they were traveling, that would be 729c and still take 2.2 years to get back. At a 4th power, more in line with TNG's suggestions when somebody realized a cubed power just wasn't cutting it, that would be 6,561c and still take a quarter of a year. Even that's really too slow to do all they say they do. Oh well. Trek makes lots of mistakes like that. Thankfully, they are not always readily apparent, and unless you stop and make some back of the envelope calculations, they probably wouldn't bother you during the story or take you out of the moment. If you do make those calculations, particularly during the show, then any disappointment that takes you out of the moment is largely self-inflicted.
Good thing most such mistakes aren't foundational to the otherwise great story and can be adjusted. And, of course, they can't sustain warp speeds much past warp 6 for any decent length of time, let alone warp 9. So, no, Mr. Sulu, we are not halfway across the galaxy, as 500 parsecs is a little more than 1% of the galaxy's diameter. Furthermore, you must have meant 50.0 parsecs, anyway. Now maybe 50 parsecs is halfway across our normal patrol sector, or even halfway across earth-explored space, but certainly not halfway across the galaxy. Naturally, that's what he meant, and it must have been 50.0 parsecs, too, or even 5.0. Those darn decimal points will mess you up every time.
Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.
What? No pretty yeoman? You're slippin', guys.
Anyway, we have Jerry Ayres playing O'Herlihy, but he was killed right away - totally disintegrated. His only regret was that he had but one life to give to the Federation. But wait, actually, he played Rizzo in the episode, Obsession, where they changed his hair color and he makes another red shirt death - got most of the red blood cells sucked right out of him, he did, though he survived long enough to talk and only died later in sick bay - too bad they didn't give him a transfusion - or have artificial blood yet – artificial blood would have been an impressively cool, insightful idea for the late 60's.
Grant Woods is back as Kelowitz, but he's a blue shirt survivor. He's in three episodes where he speaks, and three episodes where he doesn't. And holy crud - they killed Lang. I'm only impressed because he was apparently a Lieutenant Commander (that's a Spock and Riker level investment there) - they can't have many of those lying around - one of their top tactical officers, apparently. This was a huge loss for the Federation, and it shouldn't be ignored as just another red shirt death.
7/10 before, and remastered effects make it better. 7.5 out of 10 - this is a great episode of Trek.
We learn that apparently one can't beam up or down through shields in this episode. Such limitations just make sense, really, lest your enemies beam onto your ship, or beam you off, or just beam nukes over - whatever. If you can beam through shields, you have a huge problem. Limitations are actually a good thing for good story telling, and in a series like this, as long as they're consistent, it's great.
THE GORN NOW BLINKS! Isn't that a wonderful addition in this remastered version? I liked it. The planet looks far better, but they have planet special effects down pat here. There's more impressive damage on Cestus III that can be seen, including a huge-arse-smoking crater near the beam down point. Later, we actually see the gorn ship, but just barely, which is still more than ever before. It's on the screen, stopped dead in space, a tiny little thing at the limit of vision (but 4 warp nacelles can be made out - it almost looks like an X-Wing fighter). Mr. Metron glows more and there are sparkly bits in the air surrounding him, so that's interesting.
I always wondered why Mr. Metron said they'd spare Kirk since he showed mercy. They promised if he won, they'd spare him and his crew, and he won, so why say it was the mercy that did it? Well, I read their real plan was to destroy the winner and his ship and crew since they'd represent the more violent and dangerous threat. What liars! This seems wrong to me for a so-called advanced race that's "actually" big on peace and civilized behavior - and given the power differential, hardly necessary, but it does make such a statement more understandable in that context. Luckily, Kirk showed mercy, so maybe the humans wouldn't be such a threat.
While Mythbusters thoroughly scoff at Kirk's cannon, due to bamboo having insufficient strength to do the job, they failed to consider the Metron-supplied suitable materials weren't earth-grown bamboo and could have other properties. However, it is unlikely Kirk could produce decent gunpowder under those conditions. I even doubt he could get a spark striking steel (or whatever the recorder was made of) against coal (it looked like coal, anyway). No matter.
I cringed a bit at how strong the gorn was (throwing a huge boulder dozens of feet high into the air and for a distance of dozens and dozens of feet besides), and also getting hit with a head-sized rock that Kirk threw at him from a height, like it was nothing. If he's that strong, he should have easily crushed Kirk the first time he had him in his grasp. But it was pointed out they were on an artificially prepared, atmosphere-wrapped asteroid, so the gravity could be quite low, and rock density could be surprisingly light, too. Sure, it looks earth normal enough, but it's hard to film things on earth at lower gravity. Point is, the rocks could be low density and the gravity not all that strong. And, of course, no asteroid would have coal naturally on it, being a product of long dead life, but the place was artificially prepared, so that's fine. And finally, the Gorn slipped up, not being used to low gravity environments, so Kirk escaped.
I wonder, as the Gorn ship screeched to a halt and the Enterprise continued on at warp 8, how long they could talk about it and not simply overshoot it. Well, I'm going to surmise that unlike our everyday experience where we see a ship we're pursuing in the distance, this isn't a close ship at all - it's still quite far away - many light minutes yet - and they only "see" it by virtue of subspace sensors, which work at FLT speeds (even faster than regular warp speeds). In fact, what their viewscreens show must not only be the product of FTL signals, but ultra warp speeds, too, to produce images that can be seen while still at warp velocities. The Metrons, too, and most advanced post-warp civilizations, all must use subspace tech or better, which is FTL, and can operate at some pretty impressive ranges. I'm impressed anyone can "see" that far to even know something's happening, while Kirk's impressed they can reach out that far from their stellar system and stop ships, but mostly we all should be impressed the Metrons can fling the Enterprise 500 parsecs away (1610 light years) in scant seconds.
"Take us back to where we belong, Mr. Sulu. Ahead warp factor 1."
Warp 1, sir??? O.K., captain, but at that speed, it'll take us 1,610 years to get back to where we were.
I'm always a bit let down when Trek doesn't seem to fully grasp the enormity of space. Even at warp 9 (back when it was suggested one cube the warp factor to see how many times c (light speed) they were traveling, that would be 729c and still take 2.2 years to get back. At a 4th power, more in line with TNG's suggestions when somebody realized a cubed power just wasn't cutting it, that would be 6,561c and still take a quarter of a year. Even that's really too slow to do all they say they do. Oh well. Trek makes lots of mistakes like that. Thankfully, they are not always readily apparent, and unless you stop and make some back of the envelope calculations, they probably wouldn't bother you during the story or take you out of the moment. If you do make those calculations, particularly during the show, then any disappointment that takes you out of the moment is largely self-inflicted.
Good thing most such mistakes aren't foundational to the otherwise great story and can be adjusted. And, of course, they can't sustain warp speeds much past warp 6 for any decent length of time, let alone warp 9. So, no, Mr. Sulu, we are not halfway across the galaxy, as 500 parsecs is a little more than 1% of the galaxy's diameter. Furthermore, you must have meant 50.0 parsecs, anyway. Now maybe 50 parsecs is halfway across our normal patrol sector, or even halfway across earth-explored space, but certainly not halfway across the galaxy. Naturally, that's what he meant, and it must have been 50.0 parsecs, too, or even 5.0. Those darn decimal points will mess you up every time.
Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.
What? No pretty yeoman? You're slippin', guys.
Anyway, we have Jerry Ayres playing O'Herlihy, but he was killed right away - totally disintegrated. His only regret was that he had but one life to give to the Federation. But wait, actually, he played Rizzo in the episode, Obsession, where they changed his hair color and he makes another red shirt death - got most of the red blood cells sucked right out of him, he did, though he survived long enough to talk and only died later in sick bay - too bad they didn't give him a transfusion - or have artificial blood yet – artificial blood would have been an impressively cool, insightful idea for the late 60's.
Grant Woods is back as Kelowitz, but he's a blue shirt survivor. He's in three episodes where he speaks, and three episodes where he doesn't. And holy crud - they killed Lang. I'm only impressed because he was apparently a Lieutenant Commander (that's a Spock and Riker level investment there) - they can't have many of those lying around - one of their top tactical officers, apparently. This was a huge loss for the Federation, and it shouldn't be ignored as just another red shirt death.
7/10 before, and remastered effects make it better. 7.5 out of 10 - this is a great episode of Trek.
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Working with a defective computer may explain why Spock took longer to ascertain Christopher's relevant contribution. And the explanation for why the computer has a woman's voice is given, and why it is acting weird since some baseline feminine behavior was built into it and now it's malfunctioning.
Losing one person during a time travel incident may not be as bad as you imagine since that may have been the original history. Take the whino/bum that kills himself with McCoy's phaser in The City On The Edge Of Forever. The Guardian of Forever does say ALL is as it was before, which suggests a death like that wouldn't change history so much as it may have always been part of that history.
As for the transporter return of Christopher, there's little accounting for what that machine does sometimes, but it apparently can copy your memories and transport them, too. We can't be sure, but it seems they were beaming/copying a past copy and somehow incorporating the current mass/person back into that position but with the old memories. It's clumsy and it's not fully explained, but it's just a way to depict changing things back so the future copy was "never" there in the fixed timeline. The fact people in the heart of most temporal anomalies seem immune to the time change and remember that stuff is pretty standard.
Tomorrow Is Yesterday
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This was a fun episode and a time travel episode as well, which always sparked my imagination. But I ended up rating it a little lower since I didn't think they handled the return of the two guests "properly," but since the transporter was involved and there may be more than one way to time travel, who knows what's "right?" So I've upgraded it a bit. And with the re-mastered effects, even more so.
This episode first aired in January, 1967 and predicted the first moon shot to be on a Wednesday in the late 1960's, despite NASA's estimate at the time saying it'd be in the early 1970's. Apollo 11 was actually on July 16, 1969 - a Wednesday. Well done, gentlemen. But, sadly, a day or so after this episode first aired, Gus Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee tragically lost their lives in the Apollo 1 capsule fire.
I found it interesting this episode was supposed to be part 2, part 1 being The Naked Time where that one ended in a time warp problem and this one started with a time warp problem. But they split the story into two episodes and stated this one occurred due to an uncharted Black Star. Later that year, physicist John Archibald Wheeler would coin the term "Black Hole" to refer to the phenomenon Kirk described - though it could also have been a long dead white dwarf (a brown or black dwarf, then). Whatever the case, it and Starbase 9 are apparently close enough to Earth for them to have ended up there, probably not because they were flung there in the conventional sense, but due to time travel, the distance traveled may not be as large an issue.
There are some gorgeous shots of the Enterprise in the atmosphere here, and later in orbit. Using Space Shuttle and I.S.S. obtained images of the earth, we see some beautiful earth shots, too, complete with our real moon in orbit in the backdrop. How cool was that? But mostly I was impressed with the completely redone slingshot effect around the sun where the Enterprise just misses a Solar flare or Solar prominence.
Fun Facts: This is the last time Spock is called a Lieutenant Commander, so I guess he gets a promotion after this to Full Commander.
Blink and you'll miss it, but they used a rare double door shot of the turbolift here when Captains Kirk and Christopher get on the turbo lift and head toward the bridge. You see, elevators really won't work unless they have two sets of doors - an inner one for the actual mobile room, and an outer one for the hall or corridor or bridge (unless the inner one is an invisible force field you normally can't see, or one doesn't mind having an open shaft). I reject the force field idea out of hand since we clearly see the inner doors and outer doors, just usually not both, and I just assume the double door design is what's meant to be taking place, even if for ease of filming, they usually just use one set of doors.
The above mentioned turbo scene is also where Kirk states there are 12 ships in the fleet like her (so 13 ships? Later, some manuals actually state there were 14, but maybe by the time Kirk said that, they had already lost one or two and he meant there were that many then, and not they made that many, or maybe the first one, the U.S.S. Constitution NCC-1700 (from which that class of starship derives its name), never really went into service, sort of like how the Space Shuttle Enterprise never really went into space. If so, the U.S.S. Constitution may be the one in the space museum that Picard mentioned he visited in TNG episode, Relics. In any event, it's cool we get an idea of how rare these Constitution Class Starships really are.
Once again we see the ship's chronometers running backwards, but this time they can't be relying on outside Federation beacons (since they are in the past before any such beacons were made) but must instead (and rightly so) be mathematically calculating time based upon external (most likely) stellar phenomenon, like several known pulsars. Clever, that.
BTW, that little Constitution Class starship configuration panel on the bridge next to the turbolift is apparently a backlit panel.
When the power goes off, so does that display. I always thought it was just a plaque screwed onto the wall. Who knew?
I liked this episode, but I disliked how they handled time travel or some other relatively minor things, so I gave it a 6 out of 10. With the new remastered visuals, I'd go to 6.5 out of 10 for this enjoyable and sometimes quite funny episode.
This episode first aired in January, 1967 and predicted the first moon shot to be on a Wednesday in the late 1960's, despite NASA's estimate at the time saying it'd be in the early 1970's. Apollo 11 was actually on July 16, 1969 - a Wednesday. Well done, gentlemen. But, sadly, a day or so after this episode first aired, Gus Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee tragically lost their lives in the Apollo 1 capsule fire.
I found it interesting this episode was supposed to be part 2, part 1 being The Naked Time where that one ended in a time warp problem and this one started with a time warp problem. But they split the story into two episodes and stated this one occurred due to an uncharted Black Star. Later that year, physicist John Archibald Wheeler would coin the term "Black Hole" to refer to the phenomenon Kirk described - though it could also have been a long dead white dwarf (a brown or black dwarf, then). Whatever the case, it and Starbase 9 are apparently close enough to Earth for them to have ended up there, probably not because they were flung there in the conventional sense, but due to time travel, the distance traveled may not be as large an issue.
There are some gorgeous shots of the Enterprise in the atmosphere here, and later in orbit. Using Space Shuttle and I.S.S. obtained images of the earth, we see some beautiful earth shots, too, complete with our real moon in orbit in the backdrop. How cool was that? But mostly I was impressed with the completely redone slingshot effect around the sun where the Enterprise just misses a Solar flare or Solar prominence.
Fun Facts: This is the last time Spock is called a Lieutenant Commander, so I guess he gets a promotion after this to Full Commander.
Blink and you'll miss it, but they used a rare double door shot of the turbolift here when Captains Kirk and Christopher get on the turbo lift and head toward the bridge. You see, elevators really won't work unless they have two sets of doors - an inner one for the actual mobile room, and an outer one for the hall or corridor or bridge (unless the inner one is an invisible force field you normally can't see, or one doesn't mind having an open shaft). I reject the force field idea out of hand since we clearly see the inner doors and outer doors, just usually not both, and I just assume the double door design is what's meant to be taking place, even if for ease of filming, they usually just use one set of doors.
The above mentioned turbo scene is also where Kirk states there are 12 ships in the fleet like her (so 13 ships? Later, some manuals actually state there were 14, but maybe by the time Kirk said that, they had already lost one or two and he meant there were that many then, and not they made that many, or maybe the first one, the U.S.S. Constitution NCC-1700 (from which that class of starship derives its name), never really went into service, sort of like how the Space Shuttle Enterprise never really went into space. If so, the U.S.S. Constitution may be the one in the space museum that Picard mentioned he visited in TNG episode, Relics. In any event, it's cool we get an idea of how rare these Constitution Class Starships really are.
Once again we see the ship's chronometers running backwards, but this time they can't be relying on outside Federation beacons (since they are in the past before any such beacons were made) but must instead (and rightly so) be mathematically calculating time based upon external (most likely) stellar phenomenon, like several known pulsars. Clever, that.
BTW, that little Constitution Class starship configuration panel on the bridge next to the turbolift is apparently a backlit panel.
When the power goes off, so does that display. I always thought it was just a plaque screwed onto the wall. Who knew?
I liked this episode, but I disliked how they handled time travel or some other relatively minor things, so I gave it a 6 out of 10. With the new remastered visuals, I'd go to 6.5 out of 10 for this enjoyable and sometimes quite funny episode.
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In watching TOS in reruns at the time TWOK hit theatres, I thought that panel near the turbolift was like the one Kirk and Spock looked at to see the damage to the ship.
If there's one thing this board has taught me, it's that EVERYTHING is disputed!
Whatever agreed-upon fact there is about Star Trek, whether real-world trivia about the show, in-universe event, or whatever, there's always going to be someone, no check that, at least two fans who dispute it and won't ever change their minds either, no matter what evidence is presented.
But, yeah, clearly the intent in "The Immunity Syndrome" was that Intrepid was a Starfleet vessel. McCoy even refers to her as a "starship."
And The Intrepid was mentioned in Court Martial too as having had a refit at the Starbase! So if it isn't a Starship, does Star Fleet refit ships for anyone?
JB
I love this episode too - it's not just the one where Kirk fights the Gorn (AKA guy in a lizard suit) but the story takes its time getting there, setting up the stakes, establishing motivations and ends with a really good MESSAGE. It's quintessential Star Trek IMO.
The distance thing isn't too much of a problem for me, since virtually no episodes of Star Trek (23rd or 24th century) stick to the "official" speed charts and exceed them on a regular basis.
Remember that in the chase with the Gorn ship they went 22.3 parsecs at Warp 6 in what seemed like a few hours (no more than 0.6 stardate units later). If we assume 12 hours, that would be around Warp 37 on the cubic scale which would be nonsense, so it's clear that this region of space is particularly generous to FTL vehicles, one huge "subspace highway" if you will
No wonder the Gorn are so keen to hold onto this region of the Galaxy!
BTW, Kirk often starts the warp engines at Warp One, even in emergency situations (the end of Galileo Seven) so it's probably just a case of ramping up the speed gradually whenever possible (especially after the strain he's put them through recently).
And just like the panel in TWOK, the display in TOS is only mostly accurate to the actual ship! All the graphics on the TMP/TWOK bridge are from the aborted Phase-II TV series. I'm not sure at what part in the design process the TOS display is from, but the elongated secondary hull is an indication that this was produced far earlier in production.
This is not a slight against either, BTW; I am well aware of the amount of time and effort required to produce these backlit displays - little wonder they would want to get some use out of them
A Private Little War
I understand the era had very different musical tastes, and 90% of the time I do appreciate them. But I'm not sure I've ever seen a more egregious example of the music walking all over a scene than Spock's surgery at the start of this episode.
The Mugato design always makes me laugh. But at the same time I actually really like it. It's a very sci-fi thing for a monster to look funny or cute instead of terrifying - it would actually be a great evolutionary advantage, for a while at least.
I always really liked Dr MBenga. It's a shame he wasn't around more often. Especially the slapping scene is fantastic.
The storyline on the ground... It's not bad. It works well and there aren't any weak links. But at this point in the show things are starting to blend into one big pot of 'intrigue among the local natives', and this particular example doesn't really have any purpose other than to set up the 'balance of power' argument. It's perfectly succesful in that regard, although honestly Kirk's argument doesn't make much sense and reads more as a defense of contemporary policy at the time the episode was written than a logical conclusion to a story. In truth, an ongoing conflict between two people at such a low level of technology can easily come to end, in various different ways, without destroying the world or even necessarily destroying the combatants.
I do think it was a nice, bittersweet touch that after so much failed manipulation and cajoling to try and make Tyree abandon his principles, Nona actually ultimately succeeded in her wish by trying to betray him and join the villagers. And that she held the power to destroy her attackers with ease in her hand, but simply didn't know how to use it - a truly ironic end for a witch whose entire life is based on knowing and understanding more than others.
ETA: Almost forgot, since I commented on the terrible music at the start, I also wanted to mention how much I've always loved the low brass theme they used for 'death', and the final scene of this episode is possibly one of the best examples of that.
I understand the era had very different musical tastes, and 90% of the time I do appreciate them. But I'm not sure I've ever seen a more egregious example of the music walking all over a scene than Spock's surgery at the start of this episode.
The Mugato design always makes me laugh. But at the same time I actually really like it. It's a very sci-fi thing for a monster to look funny or cute instead of terrifying - it would actually be a great evolutionary advantage, for a while at least.
I always really liked Dr MBenga. It's a shame he wasn't around more often. Especially the slapping scene is fantastic.
The storyline on the ground... It's not bad. It works well and there aren't any weak links. But at this point in the show things are starting to blend into one big pot of 'intrigue among the local natives', and this particular example doesn't really have any purpose other than to set up the 'balance of power' argument. It's perfectly succesful in that regard, although honestly Kirk's argument doesn't make much sense and reads more as a defense of contemporary policy at the time the episode was written than a logical conclusion to a story. In truth, an ongoing conflict between two people at such a low level of technology can easily come to end, in various different ways, without destroying the world or even necessarily destroying the combatants.
I do think it was a nice, bittersweet touch that after so much failed manipulation and cajoling to try and make Tyree abandon his principles, Nona actually ultimately succeeded in her wish by trying to betray him and join the villagers. And that she held the power to destroy her attackers with ease in her hand, but simply didn't know how to use it - a truly ironic end for a witch whose entire life is based on knowing and understanding more than others.
ETA: Almost forgot, since I commented on the terrible music at the start, I also wanted to mention how much I've always loved the low brass theme they used for 'death', and the final scene of this episode is possibly one of the best examples of that.
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