#66 (3-7): Day of the Dove

THE PLOT

The Enterprise responds to a distress call from a human colony under attack. They arrive to discover no signs of life - not even bodies or wreckage. As Kirk wonders what could have wiped this world out so completely, he receives a message from Spock. There is a heavily damaged Klingon ship in the vicinity. When Kang (Michael Ansara), the Klingon captain, beams down and takes Kirk's landing party hostage, Kirk is sure that he's found his answer.

Kirk manages to turn the tables, and he beams back to the Enterprise with Kang as his prisoner. But the situation is far from resolved. Spock reports that Kang and his Klingons could not possibly have destroyed the colony. The Enterprise is unable to contact Starfleet. Then the engines suddenly go to maximum warp and the emergency bulkheads shut the bulk of the crew in the lower sections. Kirk is left with only a handful of redshirts, against an equal mass of Klingons.

Do the Klingons have some new weapon, some horrifying technology that can explain this? Or is something entirely more alien at work here?


CHARACTERS

Capt. Ham: Shatner gets to do some very amusing "angry" acting in this episode, right from the pre-credit sequence when he kneels down and picks up a handful of dirt while gritting, "An entire human colony. 100 men. Women. Children. Gone!" He also gets to deliver more of his patented sentence fragement delivery when he realizes, of the alien, that "it feeds. On the hate. Of others." The good actor who thoughtfully underplayed much of the first season is becoming an increasingly distant memory.

For all of that, Shatner is never less than watchable. Kirk's ability to turn defeat into victory shows itself when he tricks the Klingons early in the episode, not only saving the landing party but turning his captors into captives. Once he realizes the nature of the alien, he takes the first steps toward showing trust for the Klingons, making the eventual truce possible.

Spock: When he succumbs to the alien's influence in a confrontation with Scotty, some of his buried frustration at dealing with irrational human crewmates surfaces. Really, with McCoy calling him a green blooded hobgoblin and the like on a regular basis, who can blame him for having a bit of buried resentment? With that one exception, Spock retains his control. He acts as the voice of reason, keeping Kirk focused on dealing with the alien rather than fighting the Klingons.

Chekov: Walter Koenig gets to go even more over-the-top than Shatner, as Chekhov is instantly influenced into imagining that he once had a brother murdered by the Klingons. He spends the entire episode in a delusional rage, lurking in corridors with a sword, looking for Klingons to ambush. In a particular disturbing moment, he is ready to rape Mara (Susan Howard), the wife of the Klingon captain. "You don't die... yet," he leers, followed by the sound of clothing tearing as he places a hand over the terrified woman's mouth.

Hot Alien Space Babe of the Week: What is interesting about Mara (Susan Howard) is how instantly frightened she is of the Federation humans. We learn, through her, that the Klingon government has happily spread propaganda to its citizens to make them believe that the humans are savage devils. One senses that when Chekhov is about to rape Mara, this is the treatment she expects at human hands. When Kirk saves her from that, and then doesn't fulfill his bluff to kill her, that is the surprise - and the tipping point toward her actually trusting Kirk.

Villain(-ish) of the Week: Kang (Michael Ansara) is an excellent warrior. He shows tactical excellence in his takeover of engineering, and in his shutting down of the rest of the ship's power and life support thereafter. I enjoyed Ansara's nonverbal beats, such as when he was standing next to the communicator, listening to Kirk trying to contact him. He doesn't speak but just stands there, sword at the ready, listening intently. With Ansara's considerable screen presence as an asset, Kang becomes the most multi-layered Klingon commander since John Colicos' Kor.

THOUGHTS

Jerome Bixby, who wrote the superb Mirror, Mirror and the enjoyable By Any Other Name, returns for this engaging episode. Bixby promplty re-uses one of his Mirror, Mirror concepts, as Kang has Chekhov tortured using... an agonizer! In fairness, there were a lot of similarities between the Empire in the mirror verse and the Klingon Empire, and it's the sort of device the Klingons would invent, so it's more an amusing thing to spot than a legitimate nit-pick.

Though the Klingons would not truly emerge into a fully-fledged culture until The Next Generation, Bixby's script deserves credit for presenting them in a more three-dimensional manner than most TOS episodes. Bixby sticks with the Soviet parallels of the Season Two episodes. But he also expands the parallel in interesting ways. Just as the Soviet citizenry was fed propaganda about the West during the Communist rule, here we learn that the Klingons have been subject to propaganda demonizing the Federation. It's an interesting beat, a touch of shading that turns these Klingons into characters for the first time since Season One.

The script does provide too many opportunities for overacting. I've already mentioned Shatner and Walter Koenig. We also get DeForest Kelly, raging full-throttle until you expect him to have an anyeurism, and James Doohan's Scotty becoming momentarily psychotic. Even Nichelle Nichols gets in on the act, throwing a (not very convincing) hissy-fit on the bridge. Who'd have thought there'd be a Klingon episode in which the actors playing the Klingons were the restrained ones?

It all ends a bit too easily. The creature's powers are so extensive it can create a false brother for Chekhov, devolve McCoy and Scotty into raving psychopaths, take control of the Enterprise engines, transmute matter... and yet it can do nothing against the hamtastic power of Kirk making a speech at it. Surely all this creature, with the power to bend the human (and Klingon) mind, needs to do is to tinker with the memories of Kirk and his bridge crew so that they forget it exists? But no - Kirk makes a speech at it, he and Kang laugh at it a bit, and it runs off whimpering. We then get no tag at all, creating one of the series' more abrupt endings.

Still, it's a well-structured episode with a strong villain in Kang, an interesting monster in the "Hate Creature," and TOS' most multilayered depiction of the Klingons. A good episode, despite my issues with the ending.


Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky

Next Episode: Plato's Stepchildren

Search Amazon.com for Star Trek

Review Index

To receive new review updates, follow me:

On Twitter:

Follow @RandomMusings09

On Threads:

Follow@randommusings09 on Threads

#57 (3-13): Elaan of Troyius.

THE PLOT

The Enterprise is assigned to a peace mission in a turbulent star system whose two inhabited worlds, Elas and Troyius, have been at war for generations. With their technology having now reached the point where they can surely destroy each other, the two planets have reached an agreement to take a step toward peace, by uniting the leader of Troyius and Elaan (France Nuyen), the Dohlman of Elas, in marriage.

Unfortunately, a marriage agreement doesn't in itself erase generations of hatred. The warrior-like Dolman refuses to accept instruction in Troyian customs from the Troyian ambassador, leaving Kirk to take on her instruction in his own, unique style. Kirk appears to be making headway... until Elaan's tears touch Kirk's skin, creating a biochemical bond that forces Kirk to fall in love with her!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Kirk: Kirk's sense of duty is key to his actions throughout this episode. In the early part of the show, he is determined to see to it that Elaan learns some form of civilized behavior by the time they reach Troyius. He quickly sizes her up and determines that diplomacy is the exact wrong approach. His instinctive, Taming of the Shrew-like approach has some positive results. After he becomes infected with Elaan's tears, he is shaken from his course. But a crisis involving the Klingons arrives just in time to help him focus on his duty once more... meaning that the Klingons ironically do him a considerable favor.

Spock: Leonard Nimoy gets to show his facility for demonstrating both annoyance and amusement at Elaan's behavior, all while remaining externally impassive. We are also reminded how seamlessly Spock acts as Kirk's support, smoothly catching his lapses after the "infection" without drawing the bridge crew's attention to them. Spock is still mindful of what he said way back in The Enemy Within, that the captain must be perceived as invincible, and he does all he can to maintain that illusion.

Hot Alien Space Babe of the Week: "Captain, that ancient Earth custom called spanking. What is it?" I wonder how many innocent kids were confused when their moms and dads started snickering at this point...

France Nuyen is Elaan, the arrogant, impatient, violent Dohlman who is anything but pleased to be offered up "as a bribe" to obtain peace. With an outfit that's a cross between Cleopatra and She-Ra, it's initially difficult-to-impossible to take Elaan seriously. However, Nuyen does a good job with what she's given, particularly when Elaan's temperament becomes a bit less over-the-top in the second half, and ends up creating a halfway believable character out of a Shakespearian plot trope.

Villain of the Week: The Klingons rear their heads again. This is a fairly effective use of the Klingons as a plot device.  We don't have to contend with some sneering, over-the-top "Klingon warrior" fencing with Kirk. For most of the episode, all we have is their ship, following the Enterprise silently, its exact intentions unclear. Even when the Klingon captain does communicate with Kirk, it's simply a flat demand for an unconditional surrender, followed by repeated attacks when Kirk refuses.


ZAP THE REDSHIRT!

Redshirt count: One. As the villainous Kryton (no relation to Farscape's Crichton) does some unauthorized tinkering in Engineering, the single redshirt actually in Engineering decides that, rather than calling for help, he'll yell "Hey!" at the saboteur. Sure enough, he gets his neck snapped for his trouble. Kirk really should be doing something about internal ship's security by this point...


THOUGHTS

When France Nuyen beamed aboard with a Cleopatra hairdo in She-Ra's bikini and adult diapers, I felt my heart sink to my stomach, with the certainty that this really was going to be a crappy episode. Kirk being a poor man's Petruchio in a thinly-veiled remake of Taming of the Shrew did not raise my hopes. Then, after the groundwork is laid for the effects of Elasian women's tears, Elaan's tears touch Kirk's hand... and the episode becomes halfway interesting.

Though not in any way subdued or subtle, Shatner's performance is always interesting when Kirk is torn between an "obsession of the week" and his duty to his ship. Also, as the Klingon subplot gains momentum, the episode builds up a bit of tension. By the time Kirk is using every tactic at his disposal - bluffs, shifting of the ship's position to take more hammering than the ship should be able to, stalling for time, and taking a gamble - this has actually become a fairly good character piece for the captain. The theme of people in positions of responsibility having to prioritize their duty over their own personal wishes is reasonably effective.

So... despite an extremely unpromising start, Elaan of Troyius ends up becoming an entertaining piece. There have been better episodes, certainly, but there have been far worse as well.


Rating: 6/10.

Previous Episode: The Spectre of the Gun
Next Episode: The Paradise Syndrome

Search Amazon.com for Star Trek

Review Index

To receive new review updates, follow me:

On Twitter:

Follow @RandomMusings09

On Threads:

Follow@randommusings09 on Threads

#45 (2-19): A Private Little War

THE PLOT

When the Enterprise is given a scientific mission to a primitive planet, Kirk is enthusiastic about returning to the site of his very first planetary survey, 13 years earlier. He remembers a peaceful world, where the inhabitants use their very basic weapons only for hunting and never for fighting. But he soon discovers that this ideal world has changed over the past decade. The people from the village are now armed with flint-locks, which should be impossible. When Kirk sees the villagers preparing to ambush a party of the Native American-like hill people, led by Kirk's old friend Tyree (Michael Witney), he intervenes - and Spock is shot.

While Spock is treated on Enterprise, Kirk and McCoy learn that the villagers have been supplied these weapons by Klingons, who hope to install the villagers as puppet rulers of the planet. Tyree refuses to fight under any circumstances, while his ambitious wife Nona (Nancy Kovack) wants the advanced Starfleet weapons that Kirk has access to in order to claim absolute power over the villagers.  Kirk now must find a way to re-establish an equal technological footing among the planet's people, hopefully while keeping his old friend alive!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Kirk: Though not immune to Nona's influence, the extent to which he prizes the Prime Directive keeps him from agreeing to her demands, even under the influence of her "spells." He does agree to provide weapons once he realizes that the Klingons are behind the villagers' development of flint-locks. But his solution is one that appalls McCoy, as his plan is to match the Klingons' weapons advances for the villagers exactly, and to continue exactly matching weapons development. In effect, Kirk creates an ongoing civil war. He counters McCoy's outrage by observing that this maintains the spirit of the Prime Directive, with Starfleet interfering only to exactly balance out the Klingon interference.  He adds that while "war isn't much of a life... (at least) it's a life," as opposed to the slaughter the hill people will suffer otherwise.

That Vulcan Voodoo You Do: Shot by a primitive flintlock, Spock is in very serious condition, with the ship suffering from a lack of Vulcan biological stores to treat him. Fortunately, one of the ship's doctors, Dr. M'Benga (Booker Bradshaw) has experience treating Vulcans. When Spock orders Nurse Chapel to strike him repeatedly, using the pain to return himself to full consciousness, M'Benga recognizes that this is actually appropriate and acts to forestall interference from Scotty. Once Spock has regained full consciousness, he allows himself no time for recuperation, immediately returning to the bridge to see the situation to its conclusion.

Dr. McCoy: When Kirk is attacked by a Mugatu, a native creature with poisonous fangs, McCoy uses his medical knowledge to keep Kirk alive until Tyree's wife can cure him. He gets a particularly strong scene in which he argues against Kirk's solution to the Klingon interference. McCoy observes that Kirk's idea of supplying Tyree's people with the same weaponry as the villagers, and advancing those weapons to match every advance the Klingons provide, will result in a civil war that will go on for "year after year, massacre after massacre!" DeForest Kelly excels at playing McCoy's outrage at the thought of such a protracted and bloody war.

Hot Alien Space Babe of the Week: Nona (Nancy Kovacks) is ambitious and ruthless. What she wants most is power for herself. She probably married Tyree in the first place because she saw his status among the Hill People as her best path to power. When she sees McCoy using his phaser to heat the rocks to keep Kirk warm, she pounces on the idea of Tyree's men having those weapons. As Kirk persists in refusing to give her what she wants, she eventually abandons the idea of loyalty to Tyree.  She first attempts to seduce Kirk into doing as she wishes, then steals his phaser and offers it (and, presumably, herself) to the leader of the villagers so that she can rule once they win the conflict. Kovacks provides a very good performance, emphasizing both the character's sensual nature and her ruthlessness. She effectively is Lady Macbeth, only with more sex and less conscience.

The Klingons: In Errand of Mercy, the Klingons were simply conquerors, fighting their enemies directly while ruling their conquered lands with brutality. Here, we see a refinement of the (ineffective) use they were put to in Friday's Child. They are working covertly to set up puppet governments, picking a side in a civil war and making sure that their side wins, while not giving their side a level of technology that would actually make them troublesome to the Klingons. The Klingons actually aren't much seen, they are more memorable here than they were with "Inept Klingon!" in Friday's Child.

THOUGHTS

OK, Nona's "cure" for Kirk has to be commented upon. With her undoing his shirt, then thrashing around over him while moaning out her incantations, it was impossible for me to keep a straight face during that scene. As close to a sex scene as 1960's Trek could have come, complete with Nona having an apparent orgasm at the end of the "treatment."

A few adolescent giggles aside, this is a thoughtful and interesting episode. The parallels with the then-escalating Vietnam War are quite obvious, but Kirk states his case for matching one puppet army with another - essentially fighting a human/Klingon war by proxy - in such a way that it's persuasive. Of course, the situation is deliberately loaded. The Klingons have clearly interfered before Kirk ever got here, and the hill people are obviously doomed without assistance. But it's still a compelling presentation of a situation not dissimilar to that which would come to dominate too much of foreign policy (for East and West alike) for far too long a time.

Tyree, the pacificist who must be made to see the necessity of war, could be a compelling character. Unfortunately, the actor is bland and he is given very little interesting material. His final scene, in which he picks up the gun and determines to use it, renders his pacifism a fairly shallow value, a position to be abandoned the instant someone dear to him is killed. Making him into a true, Gandhi-like figure might make his story more tragic and compelling, if even at the end he refuses to fight and is clearly doomed to be an early casualty. As it stands, he's a straw man, arguing foolishly against a necessary conflict, his arguments there only to be toppled by The Wisdom of Kirk.

The blandness of Tyree keeps the episode from being all it could be. But there are some truly memorable scenes: the Spock/Chapel slapping scene, the Kirk/McCoy argument, and Kirk's sadness at a solution that he knows is far from perfect, all make this an episode that lingers in the mind. Marc Daniels proves again why he was Trek's best director, and the script is well-paced and intelligent. Not one of Trek's greats, as it might have been, but still very good.


Rating: 8/10.

Previous Episode: Journey to Babel
Next Episode: The Gamesters of Triskelion

Search Amazon.com for Star Trek

Review Index

To receive new review updates, follow me:

On Twitter:

Follow @RandomMusings09

On Threads:

Follow@randommusings09 on Threads

#42 (2-15): The Trouble with Tribbles

Kirk is buried in tribbles.  And troubles, for that matter.

THE PLOT

The Enterprise receives an emergency signal sending them to Space Station K-7, a station in close proximity to a planet claimed by both the Federation and the Klingon Empire. With the Organians having made a military dispute impossible, the planet will go to whichever of the two sides can better develop it. Baris (William Schallert), a high-ranking Federation official, is storing a grain that he believes will clinch it for the Federation - and he's called Kirk to the station to act as guard for the grain.

Kirk is outraged at what he sees as a trivial use of the emergency signal, but he does see one silver lining: the station provides an ideal site for some much-needed R & R. Matters are complicated when a Klingon ship arrives at the station, ostensibly also to use its facilities for rest. Now Kirk must protect the grain while keeping his crew from getting involved in any "incidents" with the Klingons.

And then there's the small matter of the tribbles...


CHARACTERS

Capt. Kirk: Takes an instant dislike to Baris, antagonizing the (admittedly annoying) official to a genuinely unproductive extent. Baris and Kirk seem to bring out the worst in each other throughout the episode, which might make for interesting character interplay if Baris were a more interesting character. William Shatner seems to enjoy the lighter touch called for in this episode, giving some wonderfully bemused vocal and facial reactions to some of the turns in the script. I also enjoyed seeing Kirk's ego bruised when he finds out the reason for the barroom brawl was not the insults directed at him, but rather those directed at the Enterprise.

Spock: Kirk's irritation at Baris nearly causes the captain to ignore the genuine security concern that does exist.  Spock has to step in to remind the captain that the grain actually is important. Nimoy is terrific in the deadpan comedy moments of the script, his stone-faced delivery of several lines a perfect counterpoint to the flustered Baris or the eternally weary Kirk.

Chekov: David Gerrold's script makes good use of Chekov's status as a young ensign. The teaser delivers an expositional infodump in a way that works, by having Chekov's knowledge of the situation tested by Kirk and Spock. Chekov's enthusiasm and love of Starfleet is made into a potential negative when he is provoked by the Klingons on the space station - which gives a wonderful moment to Scotty. On the minus side, Gerrold seriously overdoes the already-overdone running joke of Chekov crediting everything to Russians. By 15 minutes in, we'd had variations on this joke at least three times, which is at least two too many.

Dr. McCoy: Gets the line fluff of the episode when he refers to the Tribbles as "bisexual." I don't think that word means what you think it means, Bones.

Annoying Space Beauracrat of the Week: It's hard to see how Baris (William Schallert) achieved his position, given that he doesn't appear to play well with others. He could likely have made a direct request to Kirk for help in protecting the grain, or even a request to Starfleet to send a ship to protect it. Instead, he throws around his authority at every turn, alienating people whom he would be better-served making his allies.  Schallert, a very good actor, manages to ground this cartoon in some reality.  He finds moments in which Baris attempts to take a more human tact with Kirk. In his first scene, there's a wonderful bit when Baris drops his officiousness and actually starts to reason with Kirk - only to have Kirk steamroll over him, giving Baris motivation to return to his previous bearing.

Villain of the Week: William Campbell is Koloth, captain of the Klingon ship that visits Station K-7. Campbell's Koloth lacks the strong presence of John Colicos' complex Kor, and seems like a relative lightweight - hardly a worthy adversary for Kirk.  Still, he is an improvement over the Klingon in Friday's Child. He at least seems to have a sharp mind, and an ability to use the specifics of the peace treaty in his favor.  In this respect, I suppose Koloth ends up being the series' first-ever Klingon beauracrat.


THOUGHTS

The second comedy Trek in a row, in terms of production order. A potential cause for concern, if the series had continued on this track. An occasional comedy episode is a nice relief, but they are best left as the exception and not the rule. It is good that they pulled back on such episodes after this point.

Given that it did remain the exception, I am delighted to enjoy The Trouble with Tribbles for what it is - the best comedy episode Star Trek ever made. It's one of the best "pure comedy" episodes of any science fiction series I've seen,thanks to writer David Gerrold's keen grasp not only of humor, but of structure. Gerrold hasn't just written a series of amusing bits and strung them together. He's created a solidly conceived, expertly structured story.

Take the Tribbles themselves. Title aside, they seem to be a minor subplot in the first half of the episode. They are introduced, we see that they start to breed... but the situation with the Klingons and Baris takes up far more of Kirk's (and our) attention than the Tribbles do. Then, after an amusing gag in which the long-suffering K-7 bartender shows trader Cyrano Jones exactly why he's not interested in any more Tribbles thank you, they start to be more and more central to the story. By the end, the spread of the Tribbles is both a complication to the plot, creating a third act crisis, and ultimately the plot's solution. It's wonderful structure, as the Tribbles move from a background element to the foreground, their story merging effortlessly with the other threads.

The use of music is key to the episode's effectiveness. Look at the barroom brawl sequence. There's a nice touch by David Gerrold, as a fairly standard barroom brawl is enhanced by Cyrano using the chaos to help himself to free drinks. But the score tips the scene over into greatness.  The incidentals start in such a way as to support the action of the brawl. Then they move into a jauntier beat as Cyrano starts helping himself. As Cyrano weaves about the combatants with two drinks in hand, dodging them while keeping his balance, the jaunty beat takes over completely. The gag is capped by a wonderful visual double punchline, fading even as the screen itself fades to black for commercial. Wonderful directing, good writing... and given just the right tone by a perfectly-judged incidental score.

My own tastes my leave me preferring the more dramatic episodes, such as Amok Time, Balance of Terror, and The City on the Edge of Forever.  But in terms of story, structure, and execution, this is every bit as good an episode as those were.  The best Trek of its type by far, and entirely deserving of full marks.


Rating: 10/10.

Previous Episode: I, Mudd
Next Episode: Bread and Circuses

Search Amazon.com for Star Trek

Review Index

To receive new review updates, follow me:

On Twitter:

Follow @RandomMusings09

On Threads:

Follow@randommusings09 on Threads

#32 (2-11): Friday's Child

THE PLOT

The Enterprise comes to Capella IV, a planet that is a major source of an otherwise rare McGuffin. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to the planet to secure a mining agreement with the warrior-like inhabitants. To their shock, the Klingons have beat them there, and seem to be but one step away from an agreement with the ambitious Maab (Michael Dante). When Maab makes his move, assassinating the ruling Teer and assuming the throne himself, Kirk and company find themselves on the run with Eleen (Julie Newmar), the pregnant wife of the murdered ruler.

Now hunted by Klingons and Capellans alike, and carrying a significant handicap to their mobility in the form of Eleen, it is up to Kirk and Spock to find a way to not only survive the situation, but to somehow still secure the mining rights. Meanwhile, McCoy finds himself stuck with an urgent delivery to make...


CHARACTERS

Capt. Kirk: Still determined to do his duty, and still resourceful in finding ways to turn defeat into victory when he becomes a hunted man. Beyond that, nothing new here, though Shatner's easy interplay with Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelly is always fun to watch.

Dr. McCoy: Gets a fair amount of focus in this episode, which may be the best thing about the episode. DeForest Kelly is terrific.  Whether playing with McCoy's familiarity with the Capellan culture (McCoy artfully calling Kras a liar is a rare highlight), or mixing sternness with compassion in his treatment of Eleen, Kelly brings the various parts of McCoy's character to life.

Hot Alien Space Babe of the Week: Julie Newmar is Eleen, pregnant wife of the old Teer, now under sentence of death. Eleen is very much a product of her culture. She accepts that she must die in order for Maab to secure his position, and clings very tightly to rules and taboos - such as that, as wife of a Teer, no man may touch her. She is extremely uncooperative when Kirk and Spock rescue her, but forms a bond with McCoy, probably because McCoy shows "strength" by ignoring those very taboos as soon as they get in the way of him doing his job as a doctor.

Villains of the Week: Michael Dante is Maab, the ambitious Capellan who murders his ruler in order to assume the throne himself. He desires power and wealth, and has no qualms about murdering Eleen, or Kirk and company, to secure his position. At the same time, he has the same respect for his own culture and customs that Eleen has, making him something other than a black & white villain.

That role is fulfilled by Kras (Tige Andrews), the Klingon who has managed to gain Maab's trust. Kras oozes evil in his every scene. Kras enters rooms evilly, delivers all lines evilly, and probably even snores evilly, while dreaming evil dreams of evil. After John Colicos' splendid, multi-dimensional Kor, Kras is a big comedown - a one note, comic book villain. You can practically hear "boo's" and hisses every time he slithers on-screen. He also appears to be quite stupid, given the manner in which he suicidally shows his "true colors" at the end.


ZAP THE REDSHIRT!

The landing party is Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Grant. You can pretty well fill in the blanks from there. Grant pulls his gun when he sees the Klingon answer to Snidely Whiplash. A Capellan instantly throws a plastic knife with a funny sci-fi name at him, killing him instantly and providing the opening teaser with a "dramatic moment" to lead us to credits.


THOUGHTS

Season Three's supposed to be the crappy one, right? I'm just checking because, thus far, Season Two is so far below the standard of Season One that the difference is staggering. None of the episodes has been actively incompetent yet, and I'm admittedly only three episodes into Season Two. But so far, it's been one dull, half-written mishmash after another. With the Season One episodes, I approached the DVD set with great confidence, knowing that I would probably see something good, and at the very least get a reliable 50 minutes' entertainment. With Season Two, thus far, I'm half-forcing myself to watch the episodes. I'm hoping for an upturn in quality soon.

Not that Friday's Child is a complete loss. Once the episode stumbles its way through a very contrived set-up, we get the always-reliable Most Dangerous Game riff. This creates some tension, as Kirk and Spock puzzle out how to evade and defend against both the Capellans and the Klingons, while McCoy works to save the not-terribly-cooperate Eleen. Also, any episode that gives DeForest Kelly a turn in the spotlight can't be all bad. Some of his scenes with Eleen are actually quite amusing ("Say, 'The child is mine.' " "Yes, the child is yours"). But even at its best, the episode feels like a by-the-numbers exercise.

Oh, and the Capellans' outfits are strikingly stupid-looking. Was I the only one listening for carnival music when they first appeared onscreen? As warriors, the outfits are presumably designed to put enemies off their guard. Our multi-colored, hooded warriors can murder foes by the score while their hapless foes are still paralyzed, doubled-over in laughter.


Rating: 4/10.

Previous Episode: Metamorphosis
Next Episode: Who Mourns for Adonais?

Search Amazon.com for Star Trek

Review Index

To receive new review updates, follow me:

On Twitter:

Follow @RandomMusings09

On Threads:

Follow@randommusings09 on Threads

#27 (1-26): Errand of Mercy

Introducing... the Klingons!


THE PLOT

Negotatiations have failed.  The Federation is once again at war with the savage Klingon Empire. Enterprise is dispatched to Organia, the only Class M planet in the disputed territory between the two powers. Kirk and Spock urge the peaceful, primitive Organians to let them help defend them from the Klingons. The Council of Elders refuses all offers of protection, insisting that there is no need.

The Klingons arrive before Kirk has a chance to finish his negotiations.  Kirk and Spock are left stranded on the planet, doing their best to blend in as a pair of traders. When the Klingon occupation party, led by Commander Kor (John Colicos), arrives, Kirk is still unable to get the Organians to act in their own defense. Kirk and Spock decide that they must mount as much of a resistance as they can, whether the Organians want one or not, while out in space both fleets converge in the star system around the planet...


CHARACTERS

Capt. Kirk: He has seen what Klingon occupations do to worlds firsthand, and is quite genuine in wanting to save Organia from such a fate. However, he is first frustrated, then enraged, by the passivity of the Organians. When Kor sneers at the Council, dubbing them "cowards," it is quite clear that Kirk agrees with him. Kirk wants to preserve peace, but is every bit as furious as Kor when an end to this war is forced upon him.

That Vulcan Voodoo You Do: Spock is able to resist the Klingon mind-probe, using his Vulcan powers of Script Convenience. Not that this seems likely to save him for long. Once Kor identifies Kirk and Spock, he orders Spock dissected in order to find out how the Vulcan resisted the mind probe. He is entirely supportive of Kirk's resistance efforts, though he is more accepting of the Organians' forced peace than either of the commanders are.

Villain of the Week: John Colicos is Kor, the Klingon commander named governor of Organia. Kor is very much Kirk's mirror-image among the Klingons.  Note their equal scorn of the Organians, their mutual respect, and their equal indignation at the Organians' intervention at the end. Kor has been raised to relish the honor and glory of combat, and despises being assigned to oversee what he views as a planet of sheep. He bonds with Kirk as much a TOS Klingon can bond with a human even before he knows who the captain is, simply because Kirk isn't willing to accept the occupation. He will not tolerate resistance, of course.  But he respects it, and despises the Organians for their passive acceptance of his rule. When he does learn Kirk's identity, his first impulse is to have a drink with the man and express his personal respect, all the while regretfully acknowledging that he will execute Kirk.


THOUGHTS

Both the Romulans and the Klingons were fortunate, in that both races were introduced in genuinely classic episodes. I slightly prefer Balance of Terror to Errand of Mercy, because I enjoyed watching Kirk and the Romulan commander try to out-think each other, and I appreciated that the situation was resolved without any external plot devices spiriting away the conflict. But as a child, I preferred Errand of Mercy, simply because it had a lot more action.

There are a lot of similarities between the two episodes. Both feature a strong opposite number for Kirk to work against. Kor isn't as instantly sympathetic as Mark Lenard's Romulan Commander, but he is honorable on his own terms.  I suspect much of the spinoffs' characterization of honor-obsessed Klingons stems from Kor. He and Kirk share mutual respect, and Kor even seems to have a certain fondness for Kirk. Both episodes see Kirk and his opposite maneuvering against each other. It's just here, Kirk's resistance is more overt - blowing things up, invading a fortress - and Kor's responses (i. e., execute hostages) are blunter than the Romulan commander's were.

The Kor/Kirk parallels are the episode's most interesting feature, but it's a good episode throughout. Even the intervention at the end does not come across as a deux ex machina, because it is quite well set-up. Early scenes, before the Klingon arrival, establish that this is a world where nothing has advanced for centuries, even millennia - a seeming sociological and anthropological impossibility. The Organians' insistence that they need no protection, and their bland acceptance of Kor's brutality, all are things that build toward the revelation at the end. The very things that Kirk and Kor see as signs of weakness are actually anything but.

I'm not quite giving full marks, simply because I like to be very sparing with my "10's." The episode is exciting, but a bit of a blunt instrument compared with the more cerebral tension created in Balance of Terror.  Also, some of the Enterprise crew overact horribly - and hilariously - when unable to use their instruments near the end. Still, this is a very fine episode, a genuine sci-fi television classic.


Rating: 9/10

Previous Episode: The Devil in the Dark
Next Episode: The City on the Edge of Forever

Search Amazon.com for Star Trek

Review Index

To receive new review updates, follow me:

On Twitter:

Follow @RandomMusings09

On Threads:

Follow@randommusings09 on Threads