Well, the part where Spock is telling Norman about logic...I still crack up. Every. Single. Time.
TOS' worst episode.
- Thread starter Warped9
- Start date
Well maybe and when I have a rewatch of the series I never miss any episodes out despite some not being my favourites!
JB
JB
When TOS did humour stories in the form of "Shore Leave" or even "The Trouble With Tribbles" it still works contextually without making the characters look ridiculous.
But "I, Mudd" and "A Piece Of The Action" cross the line of absurdty.
Yes, there are smirks, but it makes no sense in a universe we accept as serious and believable within its own context. These are two stories I would more expect to have seen come out of TAS, and indeed we did get another Mudd story there.
I think Roddenberry would have been okay with "The Troubles With Tribbles" on its own, but then pushing the comedic element further as was done with "I, Mudd" and "A Piece Of The Action" pushed it too far for GR's liking. Hence his subsequent dictum, "Star Trek is not a comedy." and impressing that upon Fred Frieberger for Season 3.
Contextual humour = okay
Nonsensical absurdity = don't go there.
But "I, Mudd" and "A Piece Of The Action" cross the line of absurdty.
Yes, there are smirks, but it makes no sense in a universe we accept as serious and believable within its own context. These are two stories I would more expect to have seen come out of TAS, and indeed we did get another Mudd story there.
I think Roddenberry would have been okay with "The Troubles With Tribbles" on its own, but then pushing the comedic element further as was done with "I, Mudd" and "A Piece Of The Action" pushed it too far for GR's liking. Hence his subsequent dictum, "Star Trek is not a comedy." and impressing that upon Fred Frieberger for Season 3.
Contextual humour = okay
Nonsensical absurdity = don't go there.
xD the only episode I ever failwd to watch was Let This Be Your Last Battlefield. It was just too boring. I would get 20 minutes into it and just couldn't watch any more. Is it good? Should I finish it?
"I, Mudd" was a tremendous improvement over "Mudd's Women" and all three of those seemed pretty entertaining to me.
Wait, whst's funny about A Piece of the Action?
yep
"I, Mudd" was a tremendous improvement over "Mudd's Women" and all three of those seemed pretty entertaining to me.
I'm glad to hear you say this, because "A Piece of the Action" is often cited as a fan favorite, but it's never been one of mine, for precisely the reason you mention.
"The Trouble with Tribbles" is a real episode that also happens to be funny, whereas "A Piece of the Action" is absurd. Oh, I'd rather have the episode than not -- there are no TOS episodes that I consider to have NO redeeming features -- but I much prefer humor that works without taking the guys out of character or wrecking the assumptions of their milieu.
The parallel Earth gimmick helped GR sell the series, but if it's too close a parallel then the suspension of disbelief falls apart completely.
"Bread And Circuses" - this wasn't an exact Earth parallel and they kinda get away with it.
"Patterns Of Force" - this was a society ursurped by a misguided Earth historian. It wasn't a parallel Earth by nature.
"The Omega Glory" - a parallel in somewhat broad strokes except for the old U.S. flag and the declaration of independence word-for-word.
"The Paradise Syndrome" - American Indians that are most likely transplanted. This society isn't native to this world.
All of the above work sufficiently because they are not exact parallels. That said some of them push the envelope ("Patterns Of Force") because the technology is copied as well as the societal elements.
"A Piece Of The Action" is nuts. An entire society manages to mimic a cliched take on American gangsters of the 1920s based on nothing but a book right down to the technology, the sensibilities and the lingo.
For all the grief heaped on Season 3 at least they stayed away from a glut of parallel Earth stories. Season 2 seems laden with them. It was certainly a way to save costs in terms of costuming, props and sets. You just raided the studio back lots.
"Bread And Circuses" - this wasn't an exact Earth parallel and they kinda get away with it.
"Patterns Of Force" - this was a society ursurped by a misguided Earth historian. It wasn't a parallel Earth by nature.
"The Omega Glory" - a parallel in somewhat broad strokes except for the old U.S. flag and the declaration of independence word-for-word.
"The Paradise Syndrome" - American Indians that are most likely transplanted. This society isn't native to this world.
All of the above work sufficiently because they are not exact parallels. That said some of them push the envelope ("Patterns Of Force") because the technology is copied as well as the societal elements.
"A Piece Of The Action" is nuts. An entire society manages to mimic a cliched take on American gangsters of the 1920s based on nothing but a book right down to the technology, the sensibilities and the lingo.
For all the grief heaped on Season 3 at least they stayed away from a glut of parallel Earth stories. Season 2 seems laden with them. It was certainly a way to save costs in terms of costuming, props and sets. You just raided the studio back lots.
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"The Paradise Syndrome" - Stated onscreen that the natives are a transplanted society, with vague speculation that the 'Preservers' put them there. No intent for parallelism is even there.
Not in details, no, because they sufficiently rationalize the situation.
Tribbles is annoyingly cute rather than actually funny, but they get away with it. I, Mudd, also a fan favorite for decades, actually funny because of the wild Pythonesque non sequiturs , not to mention the self-irony of "He died f rom too much happiness, now he's happier he's dead "...etc... Who hasn't questioned those episodes where everyone's artificially happy, but "need" to be brought back to the real world of pain and responsibilities? It was great to see Trek questioning itself just as we were! Take the damn happiness pill!!
My feelings as well. I find many of the 3rd season episodes just as good as the best of any other season.
It's the ratio of less than good to good that's greatest in the 3rd, undeniably, but that doesn't mean we still didn't get some very valuable stuff.
Oh indeed you should! I never liked it much as a kid but I think it's great these days, FP!
JB
"I, Mudd" was a tremendous improvement over "Mudd's Women" and all three of those seemed pretty entertaining to me.
I think I preferred Mudd's Women myself!
JB
Ben Childress and his coworkers want some words with you.
Ok!
OK, FP? Is that all you have to say about this fantastic thought provoking episode? 
JB
JB
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