December 22nd, 1967, "Wolf in the Fold"
One wonders if this one should've been saved for Halloween. I'll have plenty to complain about in terms of technology and such, but at the very least,
by itself without being influenced by other episodes, there's good character work here.
Fiver (by Derek)
Transcript
Memory Alpha
The Episode
KIRK: We won't leave without you, Scotty. Relax and enjoy yourself. (Scott and Kara leave) My work is never done.
MCCOY: My work, Jim. This is prescription stuff. Don't forget, the explosion that threw Scotty against a bulkhead was caused by a woman.
KIRK: Physically he's all right. Am I right in assuming that?
MCCOY: Oh, yes, yes. As a matter of fact, considerable psychological damage could have been caused. For example, his total resentment toward women.
KIRK: He seems he's overcoming his resentment.
Always hated this premise, just like I hate all single-episode vice or flaw episodes. Why was this explosion "caused by a woman"? Was she incompetent (transfer her off the ship), malicious (court-martial her), or was this an accident (why are there consequences)? And what does being a woman have to do with any of these? Furthermore, what does any of this have to do with the plot of the rest of the episode? All that has to happen is Scotty picks up a girl in a bar and is alone with her at some point so she can be killed. That's it! Or are you going to tell me that in the future one night stands just don't happen? Highly illogical...
HENGIST: If this was my home planet, Rigel Four, I'd have a dozen investigators working on the matter, but they don't exist here.
MCCOY: You're not a native of Argelius, sir?
HENGIST: Oh, no. Argelius hires its administrative officers from other planets. The Argelians aren't very efficient, you know. Gentle, harmless people.
One: If this is a Federation world, why hasn't a proper security force been shipped in from elsewhere if nobody here wants the job? Two: What does any of this have to do with the plot? It's pointless exposition that's doing nothing but raising questions! All that's required is a minor tweak: this isn't a Federation world, but they want to join. Since this fiasco could have serious diplomatic ramifications, an investigator is shipped in from a neutral world to ensure an impartial investigation. Done!
KIRK: What's the law in these cases?
JARIS: The law of Argelius is love.
I hate planets that are focused so squarely on one character trait or emotion that they ignore all others. Entire treatises have been written about the violent crimes that have been incited in the name of "love", which really means "lust" or "pleasure" most of the time. Even Risa has a planetary security force!
HENGIST: Prefect, don't you think this should be handled in an official manner through my office?
JARIS: It shall be handled in an official manner, Mister Hengist, since I am the highest official.
Oh boy, the rant I could make about that statement. I shall refrain, but suffice to say there was a way to say that without sounding like a dictator.
KIRK: Depending on your wife's empathic abilities is all very well, Prefect, but there's only one way we can find out what it is Mister Scott cannot remember. Since you find it impossible to let us go back up to our ship, I can beam down a technician with a psycho-tricorder.
MCCOY: Prefect, it will give us a detailed account of everything that's happened to Mister Scott in the last twenty four hours.
Ah yes, the psycho-tricorder. It only appeared here, has horrifying implications, and creates plot holes from here to Argelius. I'll refrain from listing all of the episodes past and future that would've benefited from having one available, but it would be a lot of episodes!
KIRK: Argelian hospitality is well-known, as well as its strategic importance as a space port.
JARIS: Yes. I believe it's the only one in the quadrant.
The times we could have pointing out examples where "quadrant" is used where "sector" would be better. How many times has the Enterprise been "the only ship in the quadrant"?
MCCOY: Captain, under normal conditions, Scotty would have never done such a thing.
KIRK: But that blow on the head. It could put all his previous behaviour patterns into the junk heap.
One: Wouldn't "resentment toward women" and "willing to brutally murder defenseless people" be covered by completely different areas of the brain, how could one blow affect both? Two: If Scotty's brain hasn't fully recovered, why was he on a nonaligned world in the first place and why were Kirk and McCoy trying to set him up? Unsound medical ethics all round.
SYBO: I am ready. May I have the knife, please?
JARIS: Certainly. Among other gifts, Sybo has the ability to receive impressions from inanimate objects.
I never did like the psychic residue concept. A knife is just a knife, and a cigar is just a cigar, if I may torture the metaphor.
MORLA: I know it was wrong, but I just couldn't help myself. I loved her, and when she went over to the table with these men, I could not stand to watch, so I left and went home.
KIRK: Jealousy has often been a motive for murder.
JARIS: Yes, I know. That is why the emotion is so strongly disapproved of here.
A society that believes in love and apparently monogamy, but disapproves of jealousy. Good luck with that system!
KIRK: Each testifier will sit here, place his hand on this plate. Any deviation from factual truth will be immediately detected...
I'm more forgiving of lie detector handplates than psycho-tricorders. Come to think of it, couldn't you build a psycho-tricorder into the chair and dispense with the handplate?
KIRK: Computer. Criminological files. Cases of unsolved mass murders of women since Jack the Ripper.
COMPUTER: Working. 1932. Shanghai, China, Earth. Seven women knifed to death. 1974, Kiev, USSR, Earth. Five women knifed to death. 2105. Martian colonies. Eight women knifed to death. 2156. Heliopolis, Alpha Eridani Two. Ten women knifed to death. There are additional examples.
"Mass murder" means four or more murders in a single event. What Kirk and the computer are talking about is "serial murder". And now you know, and knowing is...I really do use that joke too much, and I never even watched G.I. Joe!
KIRK: Deep space. Full power. Widest angle of dispersion. Maintain.
There's another function of the transporter that would have been useful in prior and future episodes.
The Fiver
McCoy: How will we prove Scotty's innocent?
Kirk: If only we had an android Sherlock Holmes....
McCoy: A what?
Just go back to the amusement park planet, imagine up an android Sherlock Holmes, and kidnap it. No sweat!
Hengist: I think it was Mr. Scott with the knife in the alley!
Kirk: Nonsense. I've got the Mr. Scott card!
Hengist: Shouldn't that be Mr. Orson Scott Card instead of-- Hey! That's just the Mr. Green card with a picture of Scotty taped over it!
Haven't played Clue in ages, but
here's a completely irrelevant link to a video where PushingUpRoses covers the history of the game. I also didn't know that Orson Scott Card was still alive (or that his career was that recent, to be frank, I don't follow mainstream scifi fiction).
Kirk: This is unbelievable!
McCoy: What is it?
Kirk: The blueshirt is dead and the redshirt is still alive!
The probabilities have actually been crunched for blueshirts, redshirts, and goldshirts
here. Enjoy. Still a good joke, though.
Kirk: See, we have the best computers ever. We can even tell when someone is lying!
Jarvis: Why don't you just have a half-Betazoid counsellor?
Kirk: Who? What? Huh?
I feel that there was a better punchline to be made there. "Nah, her mother would just hit on me and I don't go for older women like some tea-swilling baldie" or something.
Kirk: What is your name?
Scotty: I am Montgomery Scott.
Kirk: What is your quest?
Scotty: I seek the holy grail.
Kirk: What is your favorite color?
Scotty: Blue.
Hengist: Prove that the computer can check him if he's lying!
Kirk: Scotty, lie to me! How many fingers do you have?
Scotty: Nine.
Kirk: Hm...that's odd. The computer should have caught that.
It's always nice to see a Monty Python joke. How old was I when I found out about Doohan's finger, anyway? I probably found out from the Nitpicker's Guide, come to think of it...