TVSins: Everything Wrong With "The Man Trap"

[johnnybear]

The Horror channel in the UK plays Trek every weekday over and over again! As much as I'm a fan I don't get the point unless it's a financial order! I mean Lost in Space and The Invaders get a showing and then they end but Trek just continues! Hey, what a good name for another spin-off!!!
JB

 

[Commishsleer]

For an episode that was never a favorite of mine, I've come to appreciate the comfortable-ness of it all. There's a coziness to it that's lacking in many of the other episodes.

Compare the warm interplay in "The Man Trap" between Spock and Uhura, Sulu and Rand, Kirk and McCoy, with the cold & sterile interactions in many of the third season shows.

It's always struck me as odd that Roddenberry could've had such a hand in producing "The Man Trap," where the characters are mostly three-dimensional and the dialogue is often inspired and the Enterprise is so homey -- then done an about-face and ordered the show more "military" and humorless by the time "Spock's Brain" rolled around. (Yeah, there's humor in that episode but it's largely unintentional.)

I agree with you and thought they introduced the characters so well in this episode. You could just see that Kirk was only interested in accompanying McCoy in the landing party to give him a hard time and check out his lady love. They did similar things in Naked Time and Corbomite Maneuver. In a few words or actions the writers told you much about each character. I thought they started concentrating on just Kirk, Spock and McCoy when they got popular. I didn't realise that GR had cut out the {secondary) character stuff deliberately. I'd say its a shame except that I love the series as it is.