TOS Rewatch

[Commishsleer]

Yesteryear

After using the Guardian of Forever for historical research, the returning time travels discover nobody remembers Mr. Spock, and an Andorian first officer is even in his place. They quickly surmise when others were examining Vulcan's past, an event occurred that changed Spock's family history – he apparently died at the age of 7. Spock remembers his cousin saved his life, and Kirk realizes his cousin was Spock's future self. Now Spock has to venture into the past again to see if he can cause time to resume its former shape, or die trying.

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Spoiler

Who are you?

Another annoying thing about TAS is alterations from TOS – prime example, the wonderful and mesmerizing voice of the Guardian of Forever in TOS changed to a ridiculous level of somebody trying to sound, what, scary? And it never helps when Majel Barrett's voice is reused so often and far too many people sound like Christine Chapel. Why use her? She was there and it was Trek, but seriously, voice actors who intend to do multiple voices should have more range.

And wow, Godzilla – right? Who knew Vulcan le-mayta's sounded just like that? So yeah, lots of things done on the cheap are apparent, and it brings down the episode a bit when they do that because, you know, it's good enough for kids or something.

But this was an excellent story, and one should expect as much from D.C. Fontana. She had a strong hand in many aspects of Trek, and this episode has many good call backs to TOS, and was used later on as source material for more Trek to come.

Stupid Earther, our emotional dislike of you should be proof enough we're better than you and your emotional reactions to us. Why, we're so right, they'll probably reuse us in a movie in 2009.

A fairly decent time travel story, though, and I love those, and aspects of the planet Vulcan and its culture are great. And who knew Spock was so great because he had a great teacher?

Stop touching yourself.

With all that touches this episode, past and present, and a good time travel story all wrapped up in 22 minutes, what's not to love? Well, Bones telling Spock how Vulcans are supposed to act again, but Bones oversteps like that frequently.

Personally, I loved it, so I'm giving it an 8 out of 10.

Yesteryear Transcript:
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/TAS003.htm

My only problem with this episode is where Spock saves himself. I've heard the explanations but I don't buy them. Still a great episode. It makes Amanda and Sarek look like better parents than we saw in Journey to Babel.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

The Survivor

That's a big ship for one man.

How is it impossible for a man missing five years to show up again? Space is huge, he could've gone anywhere and just gotten back.

'Identity tapes' seem even less handy than regular ID cards.

Emotion is not the animator's forte, apparently.

It's kind of sad that TAS managed to write a Kirk impostor taking over the ship better than TOS did.

The quarantine of Vendor seems less than effective if the Vendorians themselves can go anywhere they want.

Interesting that the treaty is enforced so civilly.

Why keep going back to the form of Carter Winston? It's a dead giveaway that you don't belong.

Is that Majel Barret again voicing the Caitian? This is getting a little ridiculous.

Ok, I get why he keeps being Winston now. It's a neat twist that he would save them because of Carter's memories.

'Captain, can you assign me that duty?' Um, how about, hell no? You literally stood there and let him escape, twice. You shouldn't even be a security officer after that, let alone his personal guard.

Overall, another very solid, entertaining episode. I have to say, TAS is not disappointing me - I haven't seen a bad episode yet, even if nothing has reached the heights of the live series yet either.

 

[johnnybear]

I've been watching TAS a lot lately and they are very well made shows! I remember seeing the Tarzan shows too, with it's talking apes and animals and which were also made by the same company of Lou Scheimer!
JB

 

[JRTStarlight]

More Tribbles, More Troubles

They beamed Cyrano out through shields...

It's a shame they don't have the original voices for Jones and Koloth.

How are the tribbles in so many places when they don't breed? it shouldn't be that hard to keep track of a few dozen animals that move so slowly.
That tribble really loves the Captain's chair... "I think I'll stand."

Ok, now they're definitely showing way more tribbles than there were on the transporter pad.

Why aren't the tribbles screaming at the Klingons?

This was a fun episode, but very derivative of the first Tribble story. Still, it was nice seeing the beginning of the Klingons' great tribble hunt.

More Tribbles, More Troubles

While transporting grain vital to Sherman's planet, the Enterprise encounters a Klingon ship in hot pursuit of a small scout craft. Who are the Klingons chasing and firing upon in Federation space? Why, it's our old friend, Cyrano Jones, and he's not alone. It wouldn't normally be a huge problem when the Enterprise is on the scene, but the Klingons have a new weapon that might change the balance of power and force captain Kirk to surrender the space trader, Jones. Jones might even deserve it, but he is a Federation citizen, and like it or not, captain Kirk has to save Jones and keep him out of Klingon hands, regardless of what he's done.

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Spoiler

There might be thousands of tribbles in the one shot alone, stacked up like that.

I have never thought as highly of the original TOS: The Trouble With Tribbles episode as many others have. Clearly, it was played for laughs and wasn't as serious a story as most. And this second installment, TAS: More Tribbles, More Troubles, didn't help improve my point of view.

I must confess, though, the excursion of the DS9 crew in Trials and Tribble-ations was fantastic, and vastly improved my whole appreciation for the earlier pair just for that. And they are funny episodes.

Besides, where else can we see Dax dressed in the TOS mini skirt?

But by itself, More Tribbles, More Troubles just annoyed me a great deal. Not only did they beam through Cyrano's shields, they beamed through their own. And while the transporter didn't work in the static field in the opening, it worked just fine at the end when they beamed tribbles and then the glommer over to the Klingon ship.

Giant tribbles, too, and Scotty had zero trouble gathering them up, getting them into the transporter, and transporting them by the ship load in practically no time – unlike Kirk who can't seem to handle one giant tribble on the bridge. For the Scotsman, at least, more tribbles, no trouble. No trouble at all. But then, he is a miracle worker.

The very idea they would allow any tribbles to range freely on a starship seems impossibly stupid to me, given what they know, and yet they do. And how they get everywhere on the ship, or are given access to any food at all is incredibly stupid. Granted, once battle throws open some of the grain shipment they can freely gorge themselves, but how is one little tribble on the bridge doing that up there where there is no food?

Don't ask serious questions about this episode since it's not meant to be a serious story. At least the enforced Organian peace treaty seems to have vanished, and captain Koloth doesn't mind potentially starting an interstellar war. Really? Otherwise, the Klingons, who typically travel in packs of 3 just to match the power of one Constitution Class starship, would have an impossibly effective weapon, while one Klingon ship totally immobilized a Federation starship (or two or three) and the two other D7s could sliced it or them up in short order. And they call that ineffective? One-on-one, yeah, but there's no reason to think they would use it that way. Short sighted nitwits. I hate that. And, of course, we'll never see it again, despite how effective it could be in various applications.

And so the Klingons are so desperate to get this glommer back that they fired on Jone's ship and destroyed it. Huh? How did they intend to get the glommer back then? What was their plan? What morons. At least that tiny scout ship took dozens of hits from a warship and withstood the pounding like a full powered starship for quite a while. What? Huh?

My plan for Kirk to prevent me from destroying our main objective worked perfectly. That tinplated fool.

McCoy, too, despite examining the altered tribbles seems to have missed how dangerous they still were, but it's good for laughs later that he did, eh? Otherwise they would have kept them all in the brig or isolated in some room with no vents.

And quintrotriticale is so much more impressive than quadrotriticale, because, you know. My, how quickly genetic research occurs in the Federation.

Yeah, but it's, like, one more.

At least I'll give a good nod to the first new ship in the franchise for some time - and it'll be reused - and it's a nice looking ship.

And it's true, where is the wonderfully excited and bad reaction the tribbles have toward klingons? I was at least mildly amused when the klingon officer referred to multiple tribbles as "tribble," like a singular substance. The engine room is filled with tribble – not, the engine room is filled with tribbles.

And Cyrano changed the pronunciation of spican flame gems (spike-on to spic-en) – I just hate that – even the same actor who just had that line a few years earlier can't recall how they said it before and doesn't consistently read it the same way, either. It's weird. More to the point, it draws my focus – sure, a little annoyance, but it shouldn't happen at all.

I didn't mind the color change to the tribbles, or their uniformity, either, and sympathize with the animator's colorblindness (I've got the same red and green deficiency, so pink didn't seem an unusual color for tribbles to me at all).

And I didn't mind doctor Phlox had one, either. Even the fact he fed it to a lizard or something, despite it being hard to acquire, is not really surprising since he must be breading them and feeding just some of them to his other critters, keeping back one or so to make more and turn grain, or something, into meat for others. But he's keeping a much tighter control on them, obviously, since good doctors don't tend to let their specimens roam freely about the ship.

But ultimately, More Tribbles, More Troubles is an even less serious story than the original, and it's derivative, and too much crap is tossed in to make "things" work just for laughs. 4 out of 10, tops, in my book. More like 3 out of 10.

More Tribbles, More Troubles Transcript
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/TAS001.htm

 

[JRTStarlight]

The Survivor

That's a big ship for one man.

How is it impossible for a man missing five years to show up again? Space is huge; he could've gone anywhere and just gotten back.

'Identity tapes' seem even less handy than regular ID cards.

Emotion is not the animator's forte, apparently.

It's kind of sad that TAS managed to write a Kirk impostor taking over the ship better than TOS did.

The quarantine of Vendor seems less than effective if the Vendorians themselves can go anywhere they want.

Interesting that the treaty is enforced so civilly.

Why keep going back to the form of Carter Winston? It's a dead giveaway that you don't belong.

Is that Majel Barrette again voicing the Caitian? This is getting a little ridiculous.

Ok, I get why he keeps being Winston now. It's a neat twist that he would save them because of Carter's memories.

'Captain, can you assign me that duty?' Um, how about, hell no? You literally stood there and let him escape, twice. You shouldn't even be a security officer after that, let alone his personal guard.

Overall, another very solid, entertaining episode. I have to say, TAS is not disappointing me - I haven't seen a bad episode yet, even if nothing has reached the heights of the live series yet either.

The Survivor

Incredibly, a famous philanthropist known throughout Federation space - and who has been missing for five years - turns up on a wrecked ship and is recued by the Enterprise. Even luckier, his fiancé is currently serving aboard the starship. But something's not quite right. Next thing you know, captain Kirk has ordered his ship into the Romulan neutral zone in clear violation of treaty, apparently on the word of this philanthropist who said lives were at stake. But then, oddly, captain Kirk doesn't recall giving those orders, and now the Enterprise is deep in the neutral zone facing two enemy Romulan warships and Kirk is being ordered to surrender his vessel.

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Spoiler

This episode was a little fun, and I like the general idea, but I think the execution was . . . cartoonish? Yeah, I know – it is a cartoon.

It's hard to show such a range of deep emotions, but we go with it.

I guess I never like it when McCoy is relegated to being the dope and saying or doing something stupid just to make the story work or move along. Why is it impossible for a missing man to be found? How is it you aren't the first to notice there's a whole extra examination table in your sickbay? Why are you so quick to dismiss what your instruments are telling you?

I'm not happy with other things, too, like when Spock just surmises an alien who can turn into a table is just as capable of turning into a shield and taking fire, no problem. It's a hell of a reach, unless Vendorians are immune to weapon's fire (but not acid). Or was he just mimicking some control parts he sabotaged, despite what Spock concluded?

And wow, the Enterprise, despite being sabotaged, fairly easily beat two Romulans – though they are still using that cheap Klingon design. It just seemed a little too easy. I would have to think the Romulans knew if they had to put up a real fight, certain things would come out, but if the Enterprise surrendered, no one would care enough to check the details. But they didn't surrender, so it was better to cut their losses.

And Carter seemed a little late to change his mind, too, for if he were that much of Carter Winston, you'd think he wouldn't have accepted such a job at all. Maybe only the presence of "his" fiancé made him care enough – so . . . her presence was vital to saving the ship and she wasn't just an inept security guard uselessly taking up space.

While I like the idea Anne could see beyond looks or was in love with an essence of the man who remained, the fact is she seemed a little too willing to forget Winston and move on with a cheap knock off. Maybe she was mostly over him after 5 years, but not enough to do her job effectively. I guess whatever feelings she had needed sorting out, and while she wasn't the best choice to guard the guy, if he needed guarding, I think it was O.K. since captain Kirk decided he didn't really need to be guarded that closely, considering he just saved the ship. And they got away, so no harm, no foul.

I'm not sure that was legal, or just saying "Unh-uh" would be that convincing a counter argument in court, but I'm not sure I'm getting a good feel for this formal treaty that legally gives the Romulans the right to take the Enterprise. Or why since they're in the neutral zone, too, they aren't in violation as well.

That small ship seems bigger than it must be, but we can't resort to saying the imaging screen magnified it when it's shown next to the Enterprise. But it was later inside a cargo hold, so it has to be relatively small.

The first appearance of M'Ress is O.K., though, again, having Majel do so many voices, all of which pretty much sound the same, is not a good idea.

But I still like the character.

You dirty skunk. By the 23rd century, it's pretty clear to most species that no means no.

I'd give this episode a 6 out of 10 – not too horrible, but nothing to raise it much above an average episode. A little, but not a lot.

The Survivor Transcript
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/TAS005.htm

 

[Maurice]

Klingons didn't travel in "packs" of 3 until TMP. "The Enterprise Incident" doesn't count.

 

[JRTStarlight]

Why not? Why does it not "count?"

Of course, that's only if they want to win. 2Ks to 1F and I'd still bet on the Feds.

 

[scotpens]

Klingons didn't travel in "packs" of 3 until TMP. "The Enterprise Incident" doesn't count.

Why not? Why does it not "count?"

Because they were Romulans using Klingon-designed ships, not Klingons.

 

[Maurice]

Because they were Romulans using Klingon-designed ships, not Klingons.

Exactly.

 

[johnnybear]

From their alliance where they swopped technologies like better class ships for the Romulans and cloaking devices for The Klingons! Well that's the theory after Star Trek III:The Search For Spock and completely obliterates the insane idea of Klingons having cloaking tech in DSC!
JB

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Giant tribbles, too, and Scotty had zero trouble gathering them up, getting them into the transporter, and transporting them by the ship load in practically no time – unlike Kirk who can't seem to handle one giant tribble on the bridge. For the Scotsman, at least, more tribbles, no trouble. No trouble at all. But then, he is a miracle worker.

Maybe he used a couple of those antigravs that they hefted Nomad with.

 

[JRTStarlight]

Because they were Romulans using Klingon-designed ships, not Klingons.

Oh yeah.

Well, maybe they copied more than just tech, but tactics for that tech, too. They could clearly see it would take more than one or even two such ships to subdue a Constitution Class starship. Klingons are more impulsive, though. Anyway, the point remains, the new weapon would be quite effective if the Klingons had more than one ship, so writing it off as unimportant was stupid.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

The Infinite Vulcan

I like that Sulu makes friends with a plant.

Why is it so hard to pronounce 'Keniclius' instead of 'keniculus'?

Because a fifty foot vulcan is exactly what the galaxy needs?

Wow, Uhura gets so much more competent dialogue in these episodes than she did on the actual show.

This is an ok episode. I like the idea of the plant based civilization and the revisiting of the eugenics era only with a more noble goal. But the whole 'my clones must be fifty feet tall' is blatantly ridiculous (and counter productive - a fifty foot spock isn't any more durable than a starship, but it's a hell of a lot more difficult to maintain), and the ideal of 'an army of clones' was completely negated by the episode itself (since the cloning was only possible by stealing the mind of the original, rather than duplicating it). Also, using a mind-meld as a perfect duplication felt rather off, as well.



The Magicks of Megus-Tu

This place is very reminiscent of the far end of the universe from the TNG episode that introduced the Traveler.

This planet looks like a melon.

Why do gods who kidnap people for fun always only take a handful instead of taking everyone?

It's funny for Spock to be the proponent of magic.

Rather funny that the Federation (or, I guess, the Human race) is basically cast as the devil here.

Overall I like this episode. It's a hilariously workable way of working actual magic into Star trek and the whole idea of witches as a persecuted alien race who wanted to help humans is actually quite neat. I also like the way their experience with Humans actually sent the Megans down the same path of fear mongering and Kirk had to intervene to remind them of their original values.


Once Upon a Planet

Revisiting the Shore Leave planet. Nice.

Once again Majel Barrett's voice with no real attempt at disguising it. And that purr is terrible.

Weird to trust the planet's programming to 'repair' people when it's clearly breaking its programming.

'Not in my wildest dreams would I think of that!' - That's a great line

It was a nice idea that the Shore Leave planet would grow a mind of its own and want to explore - and also that it would naturally assume machines ruled the galaxy. This episode got a lot of mileage of it that was very entertaining. I do have to dock it, though, for the ending of basically just convincing the machine to keep servicing humanoids without doing anything to improve its situation. Especially creepy after the episode repeatedly evoked the image of slavery with the computer clearly identifying as having been used as a slave.


Mudd's Passion

That's a perfect way to capture Mudd.

So now he's wandering around with an ID card that says 'Christine Chapel'...

'Oh, sorry, sir. I seem to have just fallen onto your lap...'

'Nurse Chapel's sweet summary...' Ok, this episode may be edging closer to porn than the Cloud minders...

McCoy's idea of 'charming' is incredibly self-aggrandizing and self-absorbed.

The rock monster fight is kind of funny, but also weird and a little confusing. Amusing that they use the love potion to save the day, though. And that Harry happily confesses his crimes under its influence. But he will once again get behavior therapy - and yet people still claim this time period has harsh sentences... So it's mostly a filler episode, I think. Mudd shows up, causes Mudd like trouble and is packed off to not-prison again. Though I'm sure some fan-fic enthusiasts were thrilled to finally see Spock actually profess his love for Nurse Chapel.

 

[Commishsleer]

Watch the Agony's Booth's critique of Mudd's passion if you want a laugh. Especially where they observed that the crystals were strictly heterosexual.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

Watch the Agony's Booth's critique of Mudd's passion if you want a laugh. Especially where they observed that the crystals were strictly heterosexual.

Yeah, that possibility occurred to me too. McCoy and Kirk were literally touching right when they found out the crystals had been dispersed through the air vents... But of course, a show in this time (and aimed at kids) would never actually go there. Even though it probably would've been way more entertaining than Kirk and Spock fighting over Christine.

 

[Commishsleer]

Many thousands of fan-fics are out there with that general scenario

Maybe the love crystals enhanced your own preferences.
Still I thought nothing was more awkward than the Kirk-Spock friendship side-hug.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

The Terratin Incident

I like that they have lab animals in medical to gauge the danger of unknown space phenomena.

The incredible shrinking crew.

This is easily my favorite episode so far. The science is utter nonsense, but it's exactly the kind of bizarre space hijinks I expect from Tos and I love it. I honestly wish this script had made it into the live action series, though the extra sets probably would've been too expensive. I also really like how the Terratins built a life at their new size and only caused prblems because they needed to get someone's attention (although Kirk established a comm channel with them far too easiy- that should've been left out). The only thing I really didn't like was the stupid fakeout about Kirk 'destroying the city'. It made no sense that the phasers would be involved at all, and it was an idiotic twist to start with because Kirk wouldn't do that even if they had attacked the enterprise.


The Time Trap

This was another enjoyable episode with a fascinating premise that I would've enjoyed seeing in live action (specifically the Elysian society - which somehow managed to convince Phylosians and Gorn to join a pact of non-violence...), but it is kind of undercut by the very casual playacting from Spock (which still didn't seem in character even after he explained his suspicions) and the utterly ridiculous (too ridiculous) solution of connecting the Enterprise and the Klingon ship with some weird cradle thing. It's also odd that Kirk relied so heavily on the doorway still being in the same exact coordinates where the Klingon ship disappeared, and, you know, just assumed that it wouldn't destroy the Enterprise...

 

[JRTStarlight]

The Infinite Vulcan

I like that Sulu makes friends with a plant.

Why is it so hard to pronounce 'Keniclius' instead of 'keniculus'?

Because a fifty-foot vulcan is exactly what the galaxy needs?

Wow, Uhura gets so much more competent dialogue in these episodes than she did on the actual show.

This is an ok episode. I like the idea of the plant based civilization and the revisiting of the eugenics era only with a more noble goal. But the whole 'my clones must be fifty feet tall' is blatantly ridiculous (and counter productive - a fifty foot spock isn't any more durable than a starship, but it's a hell of a lot more difficult to maintain), and the ideal of 'an army of clones' was completely negated by the episode itself (since the cloning was only possible by stealing the mind of the original, rather than duplicating it). Also, using a mind-meld as a perfect duplication felt rather off, as well.

The Infinite Vulcan

On a world of mobile plants, some of which are intelligent, Spock is abducted for mysterious reasons. After fighting their way past flying bat-plants to recover Spock, they find him on the verge of death. One Spock, anyway. But there is another Spock there, too, and he's a BIG surprise.

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Spoiler

Shades of the TOS episode, Spock's Brain are all over this one, and that's not exactly a ringing endorsement for anything good. But there are differences beyond needing Spock to fulfill some long-term need for an alien race, and the real Spock needing to die as a result of that. Here, he's to become a template for a protector class of giant Vulcans to become an army for a galactic peacekeeping force – perhaps to go forth in infinite numbers, or for all time. Of course needing to destroy the original to make a copy seems to contradict that. Ummm, and how is being 50 feet tall going to make that easier? It would make most things far harder, IMO.

Well, the science is dubious everywhere you look, but what do kids know? Walls 50 times denser than lead, because, you know, things are. Communications that work just by dumping extra power into them. Good thing Uhura explains it to Mr. Scott at length, and quite forcefully, too, since, you know, Scotty's pretty stupid when it comes to stuff like that. Weapon deactivators or shields that work so effortlessly even on the ship's phasers, though it's not the first time for such almost god-like abilities to be used. And they have medical science leaps and bounds beyond the Federation's, though they can't handle a simple bacterial infection like some stupid Martian invaders. But at least it works quicker than anything the Federation has (except great granddaddy's weed killer).

I like they point out the translator the plants are using – though the universal translator they must be using always seemed far more efficient and unseen, so why Spock is impressed with it seems weird.

Again, Dr. McCoy seems to play the fool, instantly dismissing an intelligent alien as a "thing" or a "whatever" instead of a "whomever" kind of moment, in a human centric kind of bigotry or something. Sulu is dying and I can't save him, but I won't let you try, you thing.

So he's more like Nigel Bruce's Dr. Watson that way, showing the fool's POV, or a normal person's reaction, before smarter or more enlightened people step in and get it right.

You'll have to forgive Dr. Watson, for though he's loyal to a fault, he understands very little.

Thank you, Holmes.

Later, McCoy's down home charming tale of his granddaddy's garden doesn't impress me, and IMO he's quite lucky it would work at all, let alone practically instantly since most weed killers I know take a long ass time to work – hours or days or more, and not seconds - and they're specifically formulated to kill those exact weeds and not some alien, never before tested creature. But they aren't normal creatures, are they?

Bat Plant. Nana Nana Nana Nana, Bat Plant.

And while I always like a good callback, and the Eugenics wars is fine for that, I'm not sure somebody (or their giant clone) from 250 years past could realistically be this deep in space, at the periphery of the galaxy, or would know anything about Romulans, Klingons, or Kzinti and how things have been lately in the galaxy (well, maybe that last one) since he's been out of touch too long.

The actions of Keniclius do not reflect a man of intellect, and his loss of purpose at the end seems to throw him for a loop far too easily. Perhaps he's not that good a copy. But then his belief in a master race is a pretty dim witted form of bigotry or racism, so that's not a good sign of intelligence, regardless. And the reason he needed Spock for all this just seemed foolish. I felt maybe Keniclius dressed that way to save on material for such a big guy, but they did make a huge Starfleet uniform for giganto Spock, despite it probably being totally inappropriate for his intended purpose.

And they are going to control the entire galaxy, too. They simply do not have the resources or the ability to reach that far, so it's a stupid plan. And he's had that plan for over 250 years, before we even had proof of intelligent life somewhere other than Earth. It makes little sense.

Didn't they take Spock out of that glass box already and have him on the floor – before Keniclius smashed the box?

Vulcan mind "touch?" Meld not good enough for you guys any more?

Quite frankly, I thought Walter Koenig did a bad job and it might be his best creative work for a Trek script, too. Some were just kinder on it since it was from a Star Trek alumni. Well, opinions vary.

But there are fun moments, like Sulu's inscrutability, Spock-on-Spock action with a twist on the self congratulatory manner, Uhura's commanding attitude, intelligent plant life, and a civilization that may have been beyond Federation science. Too bad there was too much nonsense thrown in and a derivative sense of borrowing too heavily from old ideas in other Trek episodes. I gave this a 3.5 out of 10. I've never cared for it.

I'm touched.

The Infinite Vulcan Transcript
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/TAS002.htm

 

[JRTStarlight]

The Magicks of Megus-Tu

This place is very reminiscent of the far end of the universe from the TNG episode that introduced the Traveler.

This planet looks like a melon.

Why do gods who kidnap people for fun always only take a handful instead of taking everyone?

It's funny for Spock to be the proponent of magic.

Rather funny that the Federation (or, I guess, the Human race) is basically cast as the devil here.

Overall I like this episode. It's a hilariously workable way of working actual magic into Star trek and the whole idea of witches as a persecuted alien race who wanted to help humans is actually quite neat. I also like the way their experience with Humans actually sent the Megans down the same path of fear mongering and Kirk had to intervene to remind them of their original values.

The Magicks of Megus-Tu

On a mission of exploration near the center of the galaxy, the Enterprise encounters a cosmic whirlwind of creation and desperately seeks shelter in the eye of the storm. There, life support systems failing and on the verge of death, a magical alien rescues them. But the thing is, he seems to know about humans - and he seems awfully familiar

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Spoiler

I have to say too many seem to have this idea the center of the galaxy is somehow magical and "should" figure prominently in their story. It's not Tahiti or anything. And the Big Bang creating matter seems a misstatement, but worse, how the center of the Milky Way galaxy is still "doing that" is a preposterous supposition. Not only is it ridiculously far away (much farther than they can realistically get) but being at the center of the galaxy is not where one really wants to be, and even in the early 70's when these were made, speculation was already theorizing a super massive black hole there. This is pretty bad science and bad science fiction. But then, they fully intended to use magic in this story from the off, so . . . fantasy time.

Also, this story does seem to be partially reused in TNG: Where No One Has Gone Before.

Still, I like the story as it sets up an obvious satanic character as the good guy, guiding us to grow beyond our preconceptions of good and evil based upon mere appearances. Even the devil himself may have just been a misunderstood individual, those pious few portraying him as evil only doing so because he wouldn't do their bidding. It might make you think, or even offend you if you take certain things too literally.

Have an Apple. It's real good, I assure you.

Sorry my voice is so annoyingly ridiculous.

Again, the idea one's computer records are potentially a deliberate ruse to hide our genuine evil intent is used, so a test is devised to uncover the truth (The Corbomite Maneuver) and Kirk's compassion is the key to proving Humanity's worthiness (Arena, Spectre Of The Gun).

These records could mean anything - except 23rd century technology.

One might note this episode is sometimes used to suggest it is canon fact Sulu is a heterosexual, having apparently conjured a woman and attempting to get intimate with her before being stopped. For what that is worth – which isn't much.

Sexism is alive and well, it seems, as women need a man, and using a love potion to ensnare them is an obvious thing women would do. Puh-lease.
"What? Ten for that, you must be mad!"

It's only logical this will work – here. Not really – but turns out it does anyway, so he got lucky there. Not as lucky as Kirk who seemed to acquire the skills of a wizard warrior for the trial, but there it is – it's just so he can fight for "the devil" and prove humans have changed. Yeah, like one still couldn't find a few in the Federation that would attempt to manipulate such power.

Really, all 430 crewmembers are in the stocks – you just can't see them all.

Curious they were so weak on Earth. I never felt any true witch could fall victim to such people – though falsely accused people certainly could.

And I never like it when the one and only place an alien culture visited just happened to be Earth – it's too cheesy and improbable.

Overall, though, I found more to like than dislike in the episode, and I thought it was a bit of fun. So I gave this episode a 6 out of 10.

Cheers.

The Magicks of Megus-Tu Transcript
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/TAS009.htm

 

[Grendelsbayne]

The Magicks of Megus-Tu

Curious they were so weak on Earth. I never felt any true witch could fall victim to such people – though falsely accused people certainly could.

I had the same thought at first, but when they talked about how they got home they mentioned needing to get their entire community together to be able to scrounge up enough power. So I assume that early on (they must've been hanging around in pre-classical times to have inspired all these names) they were probably very safe and simply moved elsewhere when someone tried to turn against them. But as time passed, their reserve of power grew smaller and smaller until (by the time of the witch trials) they became vulnerable, at least individually.