50th Anniversary TOS Episode Discussion Marathon

[Nate the Great]

Are we maintaining the 50 year gap?

[Flying Gremlin]

I was going to. It was to give myself time to get to Amok Time since I decided on that day to start re-watching TOS.

[Nate the Great]

Amok Time is coming on the 15th, right Gremmy?

[Nate the Great]

Amok Time is coming on the 15th, right Gremmy?

If you don't say yes I'd like the advance warning.

The TNG 30th is coming up on the 28th; that'll be it's own thread of course.

[Flying Gremlin]

YOU'RE NOT MY SUPERVISOR

...ahem.

Yeah, it's all written and everything. I even have a reminder for it on my phone.

[Flying Gremlin]

"Amok Time"

Originally aired September 15, 1967, as the start of the second season of Star Trek. Also called one of the essential episodes of the series, which I wholeheartedly agree with.

No fiver? Awwwwwwww...
Transcript
Memory Alpha Page


The episode:

* The Spock feature episode that set up so many things about Vulcans, or as someone would say, “backfilling”.
* Hi, Chekov, nice of you to finally join the rest of us. Your hair looks funny though.
* Geez, Spock, could you stomp a little bit more on Chapel’s poor heart? Talk about kicking the dog throughout the episode. To her credit, Majel played this really well.
* The Vulcan set is one of the best in TOS, hands down.
* The fact that both Kirk and McCoy speak with admiration about T’Pau here is quite impressive. There are not many places in the first season of TOS where they speak this positively about any female, other than to be basically a prop for a male. Not sure if this was something that was scandalous back in the 60s, but as a historical perspective this may be a pretty significant action: they acknowledge that there are powerful women out there, even ones that demand respect of the men.
* Is it just me, or does Kirk seem a little, “Duh, okay” once the wedding party arrives?
* Insert obligatory reference to the fight music here.
* The end excuse that the Enterprise gets for diverting to Vulcan seemed a little tacked on and unnecessary. Then again, some of the excuse stuff to divert the ship throughout the episode seemed unnecessary and just trying to build tension. Though shoutout to T’Pau’s influence that she can divert starships on important missions.


Memory Alpha:

* Some of the original script details might have helped the episode along, admiration for T’Pau or not.
* I never noticed that the thick painted stripes on the corridors were added on this season.
* Out of all things, why does MA not have a page of all the places where the fight music is directly played?
* The actress playing T’Pring agreed with me saying it was a good set. Also was originally going to be Doctor Dehner from “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. Interesting.
* The fact that this episode was one of the ones considered for the DS9 “Trials and Tribble-ations” scene where Sisko and Kirk would interact would have been hilarious, as it would have been a good play on fandom and what actually meeting a fictional character like Kirk would go like from a fan stuck in the same spot, in the turbolift with Kirk just looking at them like a babbling idiot. I do agree with the final assessment that the scene they ultimately went with was good, though, as it was meant to be more touching than jabbing.



YouTube:

The entire fight scene
Just the music
”I shall do neither. I have killed my captain… and my friend.”
Spock smiles!

[Nate the Great]

I thought we were ditching the Memory Alpha and transcript links in the name of expediency. Kudos for going above and beyond, I guess...

* Don't you just love the use of helmets to cover the pointed ears to save on makeup costs?
* While it's certainly impressive that T'Pau is the only one to ever turn down a seat on the Federation Council, I wonder if she'd really be the first in a hundred years.
* I wonder where Chapel got the plomeek for the soup. Let's assume that the food slot is not a replicator for a moment, but a mechanical assembler or delivery system from the kitchen. If plomeek soup takes a considerable amount of effort and time to prepare, as McCoy indicates, I doubt Spock would consider it a logical use of his time to do it himself. Is there a simpler use for plomeek (salad, etc.) that Spock would use, and Chapel "borrowed" it from him?

[Flying Gremlin]

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

I thought we were ditching the Memory Alpha and transcript links in the name of expediency. Kudos for going above and beyond, I guess...

It was easier to copy/paste the template and modify the links. Considering there was also no Fiver to go along, I thought to give it some more substance it was best to keep the links.

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

* While it's certainly impressive that T'Pau is the only one to ever turn down a seat on the Federation Council, I wonder if she'd really be the first in a hundred years.

Probably not, but think about how old T'Pau is. Yes, I know I'm pulling ENT here, but she's about 160 years old in this particular episode (give or take a decade). She could have only been offered the spot later on in life and turned it down, but she also could have been offered it at the birth of the Federation in 2161.

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

* I wonder where Chapel got the plomeek for the soup. Let's assume that the food slot is not a replicator for a moment, but a mechanical assembler or delivery system from the kitchen. If plomeek soup takes a considerable amount of effort and time to prepare, as McCoy indicates, I doubt Spock would consider it a logical use of his time to do it himself. Is there a simpler use for plomeek (salad, etc.) that Spock would use, and Chapel "borrowed" it from him?

Tea.

[Nate the Great]

Oh look, a beartrap baited with a reference to Enterprise just waiting for Nate to step into!

[Nate the Great]

Nitpicker's Guide notes for "Amok Time:"

Well, there's only one this time: Does Starfleet really condone rank advancement via assassination? Suppose Kirk really was killed, wouldn't McCoy be obligated to arrest Spock rather than declare him captain of the Enterprise?

[Nate the Great]

Turkish Spock fights Turkish Kirk using Turkish Lirpas!

If you need an explanation of Turkish Star Trek, may I recommend the Deja View episode that covers it?

Leonard Nimoy narrates an excerpt of the audiobook of Spock's World by Diane Duane. It gives Spock's account of the events of "Amok Time."

Geek Remixed covers the fight music (which is apparently technically "The Ritual" by Gerald Fried) in almost dubstep style.

Trek in the Park presents a live performance of the fight.

A surf remix of the fight music.

Two cats playfight backed by the fight music. This music really does make anything seem more epic.

Someone turned the episode into an opera. Don't ask me why, mass insanity is all I can guess.

Of course Hallmark made an ornament of Kirk and Spock's lirpa fight with the fight music built in.

I've already posted the handheld fight music box, but why not do it again?

[Flying Gremlin]

...did I really do that bad of a job?

[Nate the Great]

What makes you think you did a bad job?

[Flying Gremlin]

Never mind, just being a little insecure. Sorry.

[Nate the Great]

September 22nd, 1967, "Who Mourns for Adonais"

Fiver by Derek
Memory Alpha
Transcript

The fiver:

Sulu: A big hand just appeared in space!
Spock: I've got to hand it to you, Mr. Sulu. Your observation is correct.
Sulu: It's grabbing the Enterprise!
Spock: Now things are getting out of hand.
Kirk: Spock! Stop with the hand puns!
Spock: Sorry, Captain. I wouldn't want to get ahead of myself.
Kirk: Don't tell me: there's a head on the viewscreen.
Sulu: Yep.
Kirk: Just for that, Spock, you're confined to the ship for a week.

You gotta love puns.

Apollo: I will now turn into Giant Apollo.
Kirk: How'd you do that?
Apollo: There was a piece of cake here with a note that said "BITE ME."
Kirk: You mean "EAT ME."
Apollo: Whatever.

Hey, I'm a sucker for Alice in Wonderland jokes, that earns a lot of points right there.

Palamas: I'm agog!
Apollo: And I'm a god. Works well, doesn't it?

Reminds me of the allegorical/Al Gore joke. I'll just toss that out as a pale imitation of the quote game, name that episode!

Kirk: Hey, Scotty's alive!
McCoy: Yep. Turns out he was only mostly dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. See, mostly dead is....
Kirk: ...slightly alive. We've all seen The Princess Bride, no need to quote the whole thing.
McCoy: As you wish.

I'm also a sucker for Princess Bride jokes.

Scotty: I bet Cupid could shoot better arrows than you!
Apollo: It's Eros, moron! People who confuse Greek and Roman gods deserve to be zapped!

It reminds me of all of those times people surround Hercules with Greek gods instead of Roman ones.

The episode:

MCCOY: And he thinks he's the right man for her, but I'm not sure she thinks he's the right man. On the other hand, she's a woman. All woman. One day she'll find the right man and off she'll go, out of the service.

Yikes, there's '60s gender politics for you. The problem is that when Martine and Tomlinson got married in "Balance of Terror" there was no such talk of Martine retiring. Another question is why there would be a problem as long as children aren't in the picture and they aren't in the same chain of command.

KIRK: Thank you. Mister Sulu. Our forward tractor beams, adjust to repel.
SULU: Aye, aye, sir. Standing by.

It puts Wesley's repulser beam in "The Naked Now" into perspective, doesn't it?

APOLLO [on viewscreen]: Yes. I caused the wind to withdraw from your sails.

I suddenly wonder how he and Trelane would get along.

APOLLO [on viewscreen]: You have the same fire. How like your fathers you are. Agamemnon, Hector, Odysseus.

Odysseus needs no explanation, or at least he shouldn't. Kirk is like him because of his cleverness and his luck with the ladies.

Agamemnon was a king and general during the Trojan War. Kirk is like him because he's a great warrior.

Hector was also a leader in the Trojan War (although on the other side). Kirk is like him because of his nobility, love of peace, and to quote James Redfield, "martyr to loyalties, a witness to the things of this world, a hero ready to die for the precious imperfections of ordinary life."

APOLLO: I am Apollo.
CHEKOV: And I am the tsar of all the Russias.

I like the Queen of Sheba joke.

MCCOY: To coin a phrase, fascinating.

I always like it when a catchphrase is called for but the usual user of said catchphrase isn't present, so someone else has to say it.

APOLLO: I've known other women. Daphne, Cassandra, but none more beautiful than you.

Daphne was a nymph who turned herself into a tree to escape Apollo's advances. This is what we call a joke meant for the mythology majors in the audience. And before you ask, of course I'm googling all this stuff!

Cassandra of course is the one cursed with being able to see the future but no one will believe her. What I'm trying to get at is simply this: TOS writers don't just throw references to Greek mythology willy-nilly into a script just to sound smart; they do their homework!

UHURA: Mister Spock, I haven't done anything like this in years. If it isn't done just right, I could blow the entire communications system. It's very delicate work, sir.
SPOCK: I can think no one better equipped to handle it, Miss Uhura. Please proceed.

Gasp! A minor character given half a minute to show how competent they are in roles outside their usual pigeonhole! Remember when that actually happened in Star Trek?

Now's as good a place as any to mention the work of William Ware Theiss and the Theiss Titilation Theory. The gown worn by Palamas seems to be held up only by the weight of her cape, but plenty of double-sided tape was employed, there was no danger of a wardrobe malfunction.

Memory Alpha:

The original ending where Palamas is pregnant is discussed. I remember reading that one in the Blish novelization as a child. I'm glad it wasn't kept, as it's a little squicky. "The Child", anyone?

Nitpicker's Guide:

It's pointed out that Apollo melts a phaser while Scotty is holding it, making a prime opportunity to explain Doohan's missing finger in future episodes. I don't like this idea, by this point a mere finger should be able to be cloned and attached.

Youtube:

Apollo fixates on Palamas and transforms her clothes.

Star Trek Continues, "Pilgrim of Eternity", featuring the return of an aged Apollo.

[Flying Gremlin]

I'm glad I didn't volunteer for any more; my primary way of watching these decided to quit out on me.

[Nate the Great]

September 29th, 1967, "The Changeling"

Obligatory "STTMP is a worse version of this episode" joke, moving on...

Fiver by IJD GAF
Memory Alpha
Transcript

The Episode

SULU: Captain, shields just snapped on. Something heading in at multiwarp speeds.

Multiwarp? Is that anything like transwarp?

KIRK: Five hundred kilos and only one metre long?
SCOTT: What kind of intelligent creatures can exist in a thing that small?
SPOCK: Intelligence does not necessarily require bulk, Mister Scott.

I suddenly wonder how much a Hooloovoo weighs (kudos to those who get the reference).

KIRK: Besides, once it's aboard, it won't be taking any more shots at us.

Why not? If anything, weapons fire from the inside out could do more damage because the hull will contain at least some of the energy.

MCCOY: I thought you might like to know that Lieutenant Uhura is back to college level. She'll be back on the job within a week.

This reeducation in a week stuff is just ridiculous. Even if we're to buy that the raw information can be imprinted onto the brain, there's more to being a person, much less a Starfleet officer, than raw information. What about her childhood, what about her hobbies, the relationships she's formed? At least run her through the transporter using the most recent trace to restore her mind to what it was a few days ago!

The Fiver

Spock: I'm not reading any lifeforms in the entire system. It appears that one of our planets is missing.

No Animated Series joke, IJD?

Kirk: I am Captain James T. Kirk of the U.S.S. Enterprise. But you can call me T-Bone. By the way, I'm single.

T-Bone?

Kirk: I've been hitting on tiny space chicks?
McCoy: Looks like a robot to me.
Scotty: I'll say. It just leaked oil on the transporter pad.
Nomad: I require star charts.
Spock: Jim, that book isn't canon. If we show it to him, the data may be contradicted in future episodes!
Kirk: It's a risk we'll have to take.

Book? I think we might need a dicer for this one.

Spock: I also believe it is confusing the captain with its creator, Roykirk.
McCoy: Or maybe Kirk Douglass.
Kirk: Or Ole Kirk Christiansen, inventor of the LEGO.
McCoy: Or Southern Gospel talent Kirk Talley.
Kirk: Or Congressman Mark Steven Kirk, 10th District Illinois.

Kirk Douglas only has one "s". Anyway, he starred in many films, and he's still kicking at the ripe old age of 100. I shudder to think that in time he'll be remembered for 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and nothing else.

Ole Kirk Christiansen, the LEGO guy. He made my youth so much richer, and the day I had to surrender my collection to a younger generation was a sad day indeed (of course I still have a few souvenirs). I may have mentioned before how I was a member of the fan club for many years.

Mark Steven Kirk retired recently from Congress. "Kirk" means "church" in Scotland. Apparently Star Trek invented "roykirk" as a name, but there was a guy in Minnesota named Monte Roy Kirk who died in 2002, so let him have his five seconds of fame. Other James Kirks in history include a Scottish actor, a Union Army officer from the Civil War (his middle initial is even "T", although for Thompson and not Tiberius), an English WWI soldier and Victoria Cross recipient, the captain of the Navy Destroyer USS Zumwalt (jokes were made when he got the job), a member of the defunt Scottish punk band Orange Juice, a former Scottish soccer player, and a former Canadian Parliment member.

Spock: (ahem) Between Nomad's launch and our encounter, it collided with an alien probe programmed to sterilize soil samples. Though I have no idea how that explains its ridiculously god-like powers.
Kirk: Perhaps the data was referring to the advanced soil-sample peoples of--

Is that last line a reference to something?

Memory Alpha

* Comparisons between this and STTMP abound. Some add the subtitle "Where Nomad Has Gone Before" to the movie.
* Then again, this episode stole from an episode of The Outer Limits first. Everyone join the plagiarism conga line!
* Somehow the equivalent of 90 photon torpedoes only dropped shield strength by 20%. This is an obvious mistake on the scriptwriters part, I'd think the equivalent of ten would do the job just as well.
* One of four "Kirk talks a computer to death" episodes.
* Nichols argued that Uhura would remember Swahili first, not English. Why would this matter? Her mind is supposedly completely blank, she would have no memory or preference for any language! Besides, these guys are speaking Federation Standard and not English, right?

YouTube

Note: Google-fu is hard to use with this episode as "changeling" generates a lot more DS9 links than anything related to this episode.
* Kirk talks Nomad to death.
* Fans have built a functioning Nomad prop.

Nitpicker's Guide

* Phil wonders why the crew can't lure Nomad back to the transporter and beam him out only as energy.
* How would a soil-sterilizing probe have planet-destroying capability anyway?

[Nate the Great]

October 6th, 1967, "Mirror, Mirror"

First let me say how gratifying it is that this episode has led to who knows how many parodies and riffs in all kinds of shows over the year, and "the evil alternate with a goatee" has entered pop culture.

Second, no mentions of Enterprise or Sato clones, please.

The Fiver (by IJD GAF)
Transcript
Memory Alpha

The Episode

Captain's log, stardate unknown. During an ion storm, my landing party has beamed back to the Enterprise and found it and the personnel aboard changed. The ship is subtly altered physically. Behaviour and discipline has become brutal, savage.

I hope this log was recorded on something heavily classified. Furthermore, the Captain's Log is supposed to be accessible to all Starfleet officers, right? Shouldn't Kirk at least use an encrypted personal log? Unless you're a fan of the postwritten log theory.

KIRK: Get to your post. Run today's communication from Starfleet Command. I want to know my exact orders and options, if any.

Today's communication? I never got the idea that Starfleet Command sent daily communiques to their ships, talk about micromanagement!

SCOTT: The two-way matter transmission affected the local field density between the universes, and it's increasing. We've got to move fast.

Yesterday Scotty didn't know that this parallel universe even existed, and now he completely understands the "local field density" between them?

SPOCK: May I point out that I had an opportunity to observe your counterparts here quite closely. They were brutal, savage, unprincipled, uncivilised, treacherous, In every way, splendid examples of homo sapiens, the very flower of humanity. I found them quite refreshing.
KIRK: I'm not sure, but I think we've been insulted.
MCCOY: I'm sure.

So am I, Bones. So am I.

The Fiver

Kirk: Scotty, just get to engineering and short out the phaser circuits. Uhura, go flirt with Sulu or something. And McCoy... I dunno, just stand there and look boring.
McCoy: I'm a doctor, not a doorstop!

Classic gag from First Contact. The thing is, I'm not in the camp that puts that movie near the top of the list. Too much violence, and Picard in Ahab mode is simply annoying.

Mirror Marlena: It's Jim Kirk, my love and my master.
Kirk: This has got to be a speed record for me.
Mirror Marlena: You almost got killed and you're disobeying orders. (smacks Kirk in the head) Stupid!
Kirk: My second speed record this scene.

Reminds me of a SF Debris gag where Kirk is slapped and declares an increased arousal level every time in confusion.

Memory Alpha

* The scriptwriter based the idea on a short story he wrote over ten years earlier.
* A similar idea was part of Roddenberry's original series proposal.
* This episode marks the first time a Trek actor (Takei) has worn all three division colors, although this includes alternate versions.

Memory Beta

* Mirror Kirk recurred in the Shatnerverse novels. It's revealed that he got the Tantalus Field from Mirror Balok.
* Mirror Spock apparently used the Tantalus Field to gain power. That doesn't seem to fit his personality, does it?

Nitpicker's Guide

* Wouldn't a starship built by the warlike Terran Empire be better armed, with a different design?

YouTube

Star Trek Continues revisits the Mirror Universe
Kirk convinces Mirror Spock to overthrow the Empire
The ending, including Spock zinging humanity and the Marlena cameo that was reused in Trials and Tribbleations
Uhura tricks Mirror Sulu
The TNG intro as if it was set in the Mirror Universe (many shots from the alternate timeline of "Yesterday's Enterprise" were used)

[Nate the Great]

As a supplement to "Mirror, Mirror" this post is about goatees on evil twins!

Wikipedia discusses the subject, while pointing out that the prime example of Mirror Mirror isn't really "evil". Furthermore, Chris Seibold (a movie reviewer featured on Rotten Tomatoes) has this to say:

You can't go to the evil twin school of plotting very often if you're hack writing your way through Hollywood, but once you do it's thankfully easy. You slap a goatee on somebody (evil Spock, Evil David Hasselhoff) and voila: evil twin goodness. The rest of the story, I am told, writes itself.

Gizmodo discusses the phenomenon:

You can't be a decent evil twin without bushy, severely slanted eyebrows, and a nice pointy goatee. But why do we read these features as so very diabolical? A study explains that it all has to do with the geometry of evil.


Dr Derrick Watson and Dr Elisabeth Blagrove of the Unversity of Warwick have apparently grown up watching the same cartoons that I have. Anyone worth their salt knows that the evil twin has a pointy beard — or, at the very least, dark eyebrows that were slanted in a way that made them look angry. Usually the twin does things like rubbing their hands together and cackling evilly, to remove all doubt, but that's just for the people who can't pick up on visual cues. Why are the goatee and the severe eyebrows such a universal code for evil?

The researchers think that those features give a face a shape more like a downward pointing triangle. People seem to find the shape itself threatening.
"Evil Twin Goatee" is a buyable item in Neopets.

[Nate the Great]

October 13th, 1967, "The Apple"

The Fiver (by Kristina)
Transcript
Memory Alpha

The Episode

MCCOY: It's a shame to have to intrude.
KIRK: Well, the last scout ship reported some pretty strange sensor readings. Starfleet wants it investigated and the inhabitants contacted. We do what we're told.

Why is our crew here? I thought the Prime Directive was very clear about this stuff. I'll buy that holographic duckblinds haven't been invented, but shouldn't there at least be a trained team of specialists coming along? Maybe paint a shuttlecraft to look like clouds and just fly around conducting scans (I know, I know, special effects budgets...)?

SCOTT: We're losing potency in our antimatter pods. I don't think it's serious, but we're looking into it.

I don't think antimatter loses "potency". It almost sounds like the containment fields are losing strength, but that is certainly "serious"!

SCOTT [OC]: I'm not sure, sir, but we've run measurements on the electromagnetic field of the planet, and they are a wee bit abnormal. That might have something to do with it.

SCOTT: We can't make transporter contact, sir. The entire system's inhibited. The way it is now, we couldn't beam up a fly.

Okay, the EM field of the planet is blocking the transporter, fair enough. So why do the antimatter pods have to be any part of this?

KIRK: Scotty, you're my Chief Engineer. You know everything about that ship there is to know. More than the men who designed it.

I'm reminded of when a hologram of Leah Brahms knew more about the E-D than Geordi. That was stupid, wasn't it?

KIRK: Discard the warp drive nacelles if you have to, and crack out of there with the main section, but get that ship out of there!

So saucer separation was possible with the Constitution-class, but I assume that in this case it was something you could only do once. We'll be coming back to this.

MCCOY: I just ran a thorough check on the natives, and there's a complete lack of harmful bacteria in their systems, no decalcification, no degeneration of tissue, no arteriosclerosis. In simple terms, Jim, they're not growing old, and I can't begin to tell you how old they are, twenty years or twenty thousand years.
KIRK: I see. Opinion.
SPOCK: Quite possible. It checks with my atmospheric analysis. Their atmosphere completely negates any harmful effects from their sun.
KIRK: Add to that a simple diet, a perfectly controlled temperature, no natural enemies, apparently no vices, no replacements needed.

I still think that it's impossible to completely negate aging, in opposition to CGP Grey. And along those lines, how can you completely prevent criminal behavior or insanity? Does Vaal detect the seeds of imperfection and immediately kill those who could escape his control? Wouldn't you need a "replacement" in that case?

MARTHA: You know, if it weren't for Vaal this place would be a paradise.

Wait for the Nitpicker's Guide entry on this line later.

SPOCK: If we do what it seems we must, in my opinion it will be in direct violation of the non-interference directive.
KIRK: These are people, not robots. They should have the opportunity of choice. We owe it to them to interfere.

Again, why are our heroes here in the first place?

KIRK: You'll learn to care for yourselves, with our help.

Yikes. Haven't you poked enough holes in the Prime Directive already today? Even if this culture wasn't evolving, even if you presume that Vaal was an external influence that needs removal according to the PD, now there's no influence except for you, Kirk! Get out of here!

The Fiver

Spock: Underground vibrations in all directions.
McCoy: Jim, I told you to be more careful when you walk.

Ah, Shatner's weight jokes. Why do those seem a little more tasteless than toupee jokes?

Akuta: Behold Vaal.
Spock: Tricorder scans indicate that Vaal is a machine made from a compound consisting of glue and paper.
McCoy: Papier maché?
Kirk: Nice name for a girl -- let's go meet her. I haven't had a chance this week.

Okay, Vaal was probably made of fiberglass, but how do you get from fiberglass to papier mache?

Memory Alpha

* FOUR redshirt deaths. FOUR! What were four redshirts doing on this mission anyway?
* First appearance of Koenig in his own hair and not the pseudo-Beatles wig.

Nitpicker's Guide

* Phil points out that this is hardly paradise, because even without Vaal there are poisonous dart plants and exploding rocks. Or are you going to tell me that Vaal made those to ensure that the villagers don't wander too far? You'd certainly need "replacements" if that happened!
* Spock is certainly tougher than a human. In one day he got hit by poison darts, hit by lightning, and ran into a forcefield without injury or complaint.