WTF moments in TOS & TAS....

[Neopeius]

I always thought it was a bit WTF that Kirk and company so quickly went to an antagonistic mode with Trelene. Obviously this is a highly advanced and unique alien, with tremendous powers and capabilities. I would think "playing along" and learning more about Trelene would have been right in the Enterprise's mission wheelhouse. Of course, we know because of the way the story unfolds later that Kirk's earlier reactions were correct...but at first you'd think that their curiosity and duty as explorers would have tempered their impatience a bit, and they would have viewed this as a "first contact" protocol.

I had the same reactions as I was watching it. On the other hand, it is consistent with 1st season Kirk. He's kind of a dick. "Not a diplomat" as he confesses in "Errand of Mercy."

Indeed, one of the things I didn't like about Pike in SNW in comparison is he's so darned smug and glib. Early Kirk is indecisive, snappish (though he apologizes for it -- three episodes in a row!), and more military commander than diplomat.

 

[1001001]

I can't tell if it's humor or not -- that picture is banned? Like actually?

If it is banned that is really silly.

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/posting-change-all-posters-read-please.255316/

 

[Vger23]

I had the same reactions as I was watching it. On the other hand, it is consistent with 1st season Kirk. He's kind of a dick. "Not a diplomat" as he confesses in "Errand of Mercy."

Indeed, one of the things I didn't like about Pike in SNW in comparison is he's so darned smug and glib. Early Kirk is indecisive, snappish (though he apologizes for it -- three episodes in a row!), and more military commander than diplomat.

I prefer both 23rd century captains to the 24th century versions who, to varying degrees, all seem like overly buttoned-up "Federation Philosophy" cult leaders. I do like Sisko...but even he falls into the "make him talk like Picard" trap too often.

Kirk and Pike feel like real people.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I can't tell if it's humor or not -- that picture is banned? Like actually?

If it is banned that is really silly.

If I recall correctly, TBBS was being kept out of google searches due to questionable content according to their very suspect content filtering and it was killing traffic, advertising and thus the site. There was a mini crackdown on even vaguely suspect pics and posts.

So I don't think it was anyone not named Google Algorithms finding that picture objectionable.

EDIT: Ninja'd by @1001001

 

[Ssosmcin]

Yeah, we talked about in in "Lines You Find Amusing" back in 2020. I'm no less disappointed we can't post the penis rock anymore but we all know what they look like.

 

[Neopeius]

Yeah, we talked about in in "Lines You Find Amusing" back in 2020. I'm no less disappointed we can't post the penis rock anymore but we all know what they look like.

Even the uninitiated in our group, watching that episode for the first time this year, gasped and giggled. "What's that in Kirk's hand?"

 

[Captain Jollydark]

We know that to be true, there were both at Tantulus colony and Elba II.

And the way they kind of just walk down the hall, it seems like they're both off the hook, doesn't it? Noone even says to arrest them, just sorrow over her been such a bad nasty person.

I wonder if a real investigation would find the cause of the other scientists deaths, none was done with Lester in command.

I'm just wondering how much was really revealed afterwards to the crew? Well it's simple, the Captain's old girlfriend from a long time ago stole his body and wore him like a suit, like Henoch did to Spock. I guess they'd be ok with it.

The worst part of Turnabout Intruder for me, the most egregious WTF was the horrible jumpsuit the actor playing Lester was forced to wear in the mistaken belief it would make her look skinnier.

 

[Noname Given]

The worst part of Turnabout Intruder for me, the most egregious WTF was the horrible jumpsuit the actor playing Lester was forced to wear in the mistaken belief it would make her look skinnier.

^^^
And it was a story written and credited to Gene Roddenberry in the episodes opening on-screen credits. (A very forward thinking man, or so I'm told.)

 

[Captain Jollydark]

I never miss any episodes out of a rewatch, not even the dreaded Plato's Stepchildren!
JB

During TOS reruns in the endless summers of my youth we used to feign emergencies to trick my friend's racist mom into coming downstairs just in time for the "kiss." She actually screamed. Every damned time.

 

[Captain Jollydark]

^^^
And it was a story written and credited to Gene Roddenberry in the episodes opening on-screen credits. (A very forward thinking man, or so I'm told.)

Yeah. He was a guy of his time. I get a little annoyed when he is lionized or imbued with saintly qualities. "Roddenberry would never approve of this." "Gene is rolling in his grave right now." I mean, come on.

The first season of TOS we see all these people in the background, people of all races and ethnicities going about their business, at work on a spaceship, doing science-y stuff. It was so cool to me as a kid. But the next year there were fewer people working in the background (budget constraints, etc.). And then S3 culminates in Turnabout Intruder. (The actor who played Janice did a brilliant job "being" Kirk though.)

 

[Maurice]

Like many people, "Bird" was a mass of contradictions; forward thinking in some regards, cro magnon in others. He might well not approve of one regressive thing and totally accept another.

 

[GNDN18]

The worst part of Turnabout Intruder for me, the most egregious WTF was the horrible jumpsuit the actor playing Lester was forced to wear in the mistaken belief it would make her look skinnier.

What jumpsuit?
Whose belief?

 

[Jedi Marso]

Here's another WTF moment:

In WNMHGB, Kirk comments in one of his log entries that he's going to have to strand Gary Mitchell, "a man I've known for fifteen years."

At the time, Kirk is only 31 or 32, which implies he knew Mitchell from childhood, long before either attended the academy.

 

[Poltargyst]

Here's another WTF moment:

In WNMHGB, Kirk comments in one of his log entries that he's going to have to strand Gary Mitchell, "a man I've known for fifteen years."

At the time, Kirk is only 31 or 32, which implies he knew Mitchell from childhood, long before either attended the academy.

Posters have gone to great lengths to work out Kirk's career to fit his knowing Mitchell for 15 years at that point, but I don't think I've before read the simple idea that they knew each other from before the academy.

 

[Jedi Marso]

Posters have gone to great lengths to work out Kirk's career to fit his knowing Mitchell for 15 years at that point, but I don't think I've before read the simple idea that they knew each other from before the academy.

It seemed logical, because even if they are a full year into the 5 year mission when this happens, Kirk is no older than 33. Mitchell would be at least a few years younger than Kirk, in order for him to have been an academy cadet when Kirk was a lieutenant and instructor. So, a fifteen year association would mean Kirk would have known Mitchell when the latter was in about junior high school.

Really, it's just another one of those writing bloopers that translates into a continuity error; they are what they are, and fans have fun straining their brains trying to find a way to retcon them all.

I think the easiest thing to do would be re-draw Kirk's entire career path, make him 4-5 years older (under the pretense that in the 23rd Century, 40 is the new 20, or at least 31), and give his career some 'breathing room.' If you go by the idea that the 'cosmetic ages' we see on screen for the characters are actually older than they look due to 23rd Century living, then guys like Commodore Decker and Captain Tracey could have been well into their 50's or 60's, still making Kirk the youngest starship captain on record. Not only that, but Kirk's list of commendations is pretty long for a guy who has only been a commissioned officer for about 12 years.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Really, it's just another one of those writing bloopers that translates into a continuity error; they are what they are, and fans have fun straining their brains trying to find a way to retcon them all.

I would just say Kirk didn't do the math, and he misspoke. He overestimated how long he'd known Mitchell. I find it difficult to place many of my own past experiences by year, especially if I don't take the time to work it out.

 

[Warped9]

In “The Deadly Years” Kirk claims he is 34, but when he makes that claim he is suffering from a debilitating radiation illness causing rapid aging. We had already seen his faulty memory at work. So why must we assume his memory is exacting at tge moment ge states his current age? Could it be more likely Kirk was remembering his age when he attained his great ambition, starship command?

So maybe Kirk was 34 when he took command of the Enterprise.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I would think "playing along" and learning more about Trelene would have been right in the Enterprise's mission wheelhouse.

There's just something about him that pushes Jim's buttons.

 

[flandry84]

Maybe Kirk and Mitchell were in some sort of Starfleet ‘explorer’ programme together.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Why does it matter when Kirk knew Mitchell? Mitchell remembers Kirk as a stack of book with legs at the academy, but nothing says they met there. This is a non issue. Even if he did, so they went to ROTC together. Kirk was, what, 17? Not sure why this is a WTF moment.