What The Heck?....That Makes No Sense.

[Timo]

Indeed, it seems that this preplanned mission will involve just three decisions from Kirk: whether to issue Yellow Alert, whether to issue Red Alert, and whether to Jettison. Seems he could have done the last regardless of alert status, but Jettison was probably always going to happen, separately from the other two "keyed" events. After all, Red Alert is established to require specific actions of the crew (Finney has to abandon the pod for one), but Jettison itself is not one of those actions.

Issuing an alert is not micromanaging. Jettisoning the pod would seem to be; apparently, it just fires the four explosive bolts the charring of which we see in the TOS-R shot where a new pod is being manhandled into place, and no men-in-the-loop or joint action or adjoining tasks are involved. But it's micromanaging specific to this adventure, so by all rights could be elevated to decisionmaking status on par with alert status.

Did Mankiewicz think in these terms when writing the story? Probably not. But that's the version that holds together, while treating the ion pod as a crow's nest that by its very existence was going to blow up the ship doesn't do that very plausibly.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[ZapBrannigan]

No, no, I believe a lot of them had labels actually. Feek would know for certain. But in any event, the lettering from CM just looks cheap and silly.

There's the chronometer, obviously:
http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/3x16hd/themarkofgideonhd0353.jpg

And these rare close-ups:
http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x00hd/thecagehd0272.jpg
Laserjet printer in "The Cage."

http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/3x13hd/elaanoftroyiushd0456.jpg
This panel is also seen pretty clearly in the poster of Star Trek Giant Poster Book, Voyage 11 (July 1977). It has a sharp, color publicity still of Spock with his hand over some of the buttons (naturally), but altogether we can see the top row as PANEL POWER and POWER CONTROL, then LOS and MOS, and then ARMED and ARMED.

I'd like to know what the other buttons said.
Edit: I think the second button in the lower row says GUIDANCE LOOP.

And most of the bridge station panels seem to be more like this:
http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/3x13hd/elaanoftroyiushd1387.jpg

 

[Phaser Two]

Good stuff. Never noticed before that there's a switch below the chronometer reading "Engine switch."

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Good stuff. Never noticed before that there's a switch below the chronometer reading "Engine switch."

It actually says LIGHT SWITCH. But I can indeed see how the frame I posted before looks like ENGINE.
http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/1x04/thenakedtime362.jpg

 

[Mres_was_framed!]

...It's a mission waiting to be performed. A mission specific to this adventure, mind you: the button isn't there at any other time, as far as we can tell.

I had the blessed opportunity to sit in that chair in a traveling event. It had been battered by use with a theater dept, etc, after the show, but not only are most of the buttons still there, but the labels are still there, too. Countless fans were commenting about it. It was amazing. Plenty of jokes about the dangers of having a coffee, like in Wink of an Eye.

 

[Timo]

Paint me green with Vulcanesque envy.

But the question remains, can we tell? In an episode, that is.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[F. King Daniel]

Because the transporter would have split them in two, effectively unweaving them and sending the landing party a ball of string.

And half the string would have been... evil.

 

[Phaser Two]

And half the string would have been... evil.

Some really smart people I went to college with used to watch TOS episodes sometimes, particularly when I dropped by their dorm room, as I was a known TOS advocate (to say the least). During a showing of "The Enemy Within," one of them said, "Sulu, if they beam down a pot of hot coffee like you're asking, half of it will corrupt your digestive system. IT'S **EVIL**!!"

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Some really smart people I went to college with used to watch TOS episodes sometimes, particularly when I dropped by their dorm room, as I was a known TOS advocate (to say the least). During a showing of "The Enemy Within," one of them said, "Sulu, if they beam down a pot of hot coffee like you're asking, half of it will corrupt your digestive system. IT'S **EVIL**!!"

That's a funny take, but if a human can be duplicated such that his brain and consciousness are still up and running, then a blanket would duplicate such that you'd have two indistinguishable blankets. The evil and good in a blanket would not amount to much of a difference if physical structures are preserved.

Where the duplicated mass is coming from is the real question.

 

[Mytran]

Is there extra mass though? The good and evil versions of Kirk could be half the weight of the original. No wonder they're dying!

 

[johnnybear]

Some of the items they were going to send down didn't arrive! They must have duplicated and if they were portable heaters, malfunctioned I guess!
JB

 

[Mytran]

If you typed that from memory, you were spot on!

KIRK: Isn't there any way we can help them?
SPOCK: Thermal heaters were transported down. They duplicated. They won't operate.
KIRK: Then we've got to get those men up.

 

[Maurice]

If you typed that from memory, you were spot on!

KIRK: Isn't there any way we can help them?
SPOCK: Thermal heaters were transported down. They duplicated. They won't operate.
KIRK: Then we've got to get those men up.

And if they worked, the evil ones would generate COLD!

 

[Timo]

Well, "I could have come up with better rescue ideas than Kirk!" is pretty much the point of the entire episode. Whatever Kirk does here, it's always too little, too late...

What is really weird is the way Spock concentrates exclusively on protecting Kirk's reputation, instead of tackling the problem down below. Then again, he's but the Second Officer here; apparently First Officer Scott is doing his best pursuing the solution closest to his heart, fixing the transporters.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Mres_was_framed!]

Well, "I could have come up with better rescue ideas than Kirk!" is pretty much the point of the entire episode. Whatever Kirk does here, it's always too little, too late...

What is really weird is the way Spock concentrates exclusively on protecting Kirk's reputation, instead of tackling the problem down below. Then again, he's but the Second Officer here; apparently First Officer Scott is doing his best pursuing the solution closest to his heart, fixing the transporters.

Timo Saloniemi

I've read your theory about the fact that Spock may not have been next in line for command after Kirk early on on this thread and others. I love the tone of episodes where we get to see Scotty in command, so much so that, had the movies gone differently, I could have seen Scotty as the main captain of a ship at some point. My question is though, why would Kirk have promoted Spock to XO and thus taken Scotty out of that position?

 

[Timo]

...Because of this very episode, where Spock saved Kirk's bacon and Scotty just twiddled with his beloved machinery?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Phaser Two]

That's why I never watched Perry Mason or Matlock. Courtroom 'dramas' cure my insomnia. Boring.

Interestingly, most of them bear no relationship to reality either. So the latter might bore you even more!

But two recent exceptions to that are "Philadelphia" (shockingly realistic) and yes, even "A Few Good Men" (fairly realistic until the last scenes and then wildly entertaining so who cares?). Another good military drama with well-done courtroom scenes: "Rules of Engagement."

 

[ZapBrannigan]

What is really weird is the way Spock concentrates exclusively on protecting Kirk's reputation, instead of tackling the problem down below. Then again, he's but the Second Officer here; apparently First Officer Scott is doing his best pursuing the solution closest to his heart, fixing the transporters.

As I see it, Scotty can't be the first officer, because that's a full time job, and Chief Engineer is an even more full time job, without enough hours in the day to be the XO. Two different jobs.

Also, Scotty clearly has 1 1/2 stripes on his sleeve, while Spock has two.
http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x05hd/theenemywithinhd030.jpg
http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x05hd/theenemywithinhd798.jpg

I think the "second officer" bit in "The Enemy Within" was a scripting error where they totally spaced out and thought Spock was second because the captain would be first.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

I'd say the greatest what the heck moment in TOS has always been the opening of The Naked Time. When your job requires you to examine an abandoned ship in a *hazmat* suit, that's really not the time to take off your glove and start testing the random space powder with your finger. I really hope that guy was drummed out of Starfleet.

In terms of moments involving the main characters, I would definitely mention 'Wink of an Eye'. First the technical issue of contact. The only thing different between the accelerated people and the normal people is how fast they move. Which means that if Kirk really wants his people to know he's still alive, he could've easily accomplished that by just staying in the Captain's chair until they noticed him. And his last ditch effort of recording a tape with the computer could have easily been accomplished right away, on the bridge, and it would've been much easier for them to find, too. In fact, if he can interact with the computer in the first place, then he could've immediately left Spock a message by other means that couldn't even be confused or missed at all.

Far worse than any of that, though, is the ending. An entire people are trapped in this terrible condition, McCoy instantly finds a miracle cure and the Enterprise just... warps away. I thought this was Star Trek I was watching? Where's the compassionate attempt to provide them with the cure as well? It would've made so much more sense, not even just because of the Trek factor, but because it would've lead to a much better ending all around. Whether you try to bring them the cure and then realize that their time ran out while you were synthesizing it, or whether you successfully bring them the cure and leave Deela to live with the fact that she killed people on the strength of this idea that their condition was 'incurable' only for 1 Federation doctor to succesfully cure it in a matter of hours - this ending could've been incredibly memorable and poignant instead of 'huh?'.

 

[Timo]

I'd say the greatest what the heck moment in TOS has always been the opening of The Naked Time. When your job requires you to examine an abandoned ship in a *hazmat* suit, that's really not the time to take off your glove and start testing the random space powder with your finger. I really hope that guy was drummed out of Starfleet.

Why should anybody think it's a hazmat suit? It's not airtight or anything. And the heroes beaming down are certainly not expecting any sort of hazardous materials anyway: Spock only comes to suspect their presence a few minutes into the away mission, duly informing his team of this all-new development by telling them not to touch anything (a definitely unnecessary precaution if the landing party were actually protectively clad). A few seconds too late, alas...

I think the heroes simply knew it would be cold down there, so they donned the standard cold environment suits, suitably colored for icy wastes and provided with obvious heating coils and all.

In terms of moments involving the main characters, I would definitely mention 'Wink of an Eye'. First the technical issue of contact. The only thing different between the accelerated people and the normal people is how fast they move. Which means that if Kirk really wants his people to know he's still alive, he could've easily accomplished that by just staying in the Captain's chair until they noticed him. And his last ditch effort of recording a tape with the computer could have easily been accomplished right away, on the bridge, and it would've been much easier for them to find, too. In fact, if he can interact with the computer in the first place, then he could've immediately left Spock a message by other means that couldn't even be confused or missed at all.

It's not as if he could do either of those things unsupervised, though. If he tried to sit still, he'd be prodded till he moved. If he dictated something, it would be erased literally in split seconds, at his keepers' leisure, provided this happened at a time when it still mattered.

Far worse than any of that, though, is the ending. An entire people are trapped in this terrible condition, McCoy instantly finds a miracle cure and the Enterprise just... warps away.

...Leaving behind a planet full of recently deceased adversaries. It's not as if we would get indication that any Scalosians survived till that point, after all. To the contrary, when Uhura accidentally replays a recording of the now-long-dead Deela, the Captain asks for a quiet moment of personal reminiscence.

Timo Saloniemi