#78 (3-23): All Our Yesterdays

THE PLOT

The planet Sarpeidon, home to a thriving civilization, has a sun that's about to go nova. When the Enterprise arrives, there is no sign of life on the planet. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to The Library in hopes of learning what happened to the population.

They are met by Atoz (Ian Wolfe), the librarian, who fusses that the three are "very late" and must make their "selection" as quickly as possible. He directs them to viewers with different data tapes showing different parts of the planet's history. Kirk is viewing a tape set in the equivalent of American colonial times when he hears a woman scream. Not thinking, he runs out, following the scream...

...And finds himself in the very scene shown in the viewer. Spock and McCoy run after him. But McCoy was viewing a tape showing the planet's ice age, and he and Spock find themselves in a mountainous region in sub-zero temperatures. They have all been propelled into the planet's past, with no apparent way back. With Kirk accused of witchcraft, and Spock and McCoy in the middle of a blizzard, the first challenge they face is their own survival!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Kirk: Very much the decisive man of action - which is what gets the crew into trouble in the first place! Kirk's impulsive run through the portal feels like a plot contrivance, necessary to get the action started. Kirk takes charge in his new surroundings efficiently, escaping from imprisonment and gaining the information needed to get back to the Library, and eventually to get Spock and McCoy back as well.

Spock: Through the power of Plot Contrivance, going back into the past unwinds Spock's Vulcan reserve. Step by step, he is returned to the savagery of his ancestors. This doesn't really hold up to scrutiny, but it does give Leonard Nimoy his best episode since The Tholian Web. At first, there's just an unusual harshness in his voice. He becomes more "human" in his gestures and postures. All of this builds to the point at which he lashes out at McCoy, responding to one of McCoy's typical barbs with a violent, "I don't like that. I don't think I ever did!"

Dr. McCoy: After Spock's violent outburst, it doesn't take him long to figure out what is happening. He takes a considerable personal risk to provoke Spock in order to snap him out of it. I'm assuming that his overt hostility to Zarabeth is more an approach to directly provoke Spock than honest outrage, given that he is quite charming to her in their only previous scene.  Either way, he does have enough insight to realize that she may not be telling them the whole truth.

Hot Alien Space Babe of the WeeK: Zarabeth (Mariette Hartley) is the lovely exile, a victim of a brutal regime from a point in the planet's history at which time travel was already a possibility. She has been alone for what must have been years, and latches onto Spock with desperation. Apparently, among the necessities of survival she was allowed were a complete cosmetics set and a salon - but given that Mariette Hartley, circa 1969, was nothing short of stunning, I'm certainly not going to complain that she looks too good for her situation. Hartley, a consistently reliable actress, manages to invest more in Zarabeth than is there on the page, and her presence alone elevates this episode.


THOUGHTS

As was the case with Requiem for Methuselah, it's immediately apparent that more care has gone into the making of this episode than has been the case with most of the late Season Three offerings. The setup in the teaser is both intriguing and entertaining. I particularly enjoyed the way in which the library is run, with duplicate librarians alternating between anxious hand-wringing and offers of assistance. "Reference services are available at the desk," an Atoz duplicate tells the three when they ask for recent history. The way in which this is phrased and delivered makes me think that the writer spent a fair amount of time at a large library.

Production values are very much above average, particularly for Season Three. The mountains on which Spock and McCoy find themselves are an obvious set, but not a bad one. The fake snow is well-used, and goes a long way toward selling it. The cave in which they take shelter is one of the series' most convincing cave sets, and some thought has gone into the lighting of it.

There are two main strands, one following Kirk's adventures in the 17th century, the other following Spock and McCoy. The Kirk strand is entertaining, and William Shatner gives one of his better recent performances. But the Spock/McCoy material is the real focus of interest, with Leonard Nimoy giving his best performance of the season. Spock's regression creates a genuinely strong dramatic situation, and Zarabeth's plight - a hopeless injustice which is refreshingly allowed to remain hopeless - is effective.

If everything came together, this would be the best episode of the season and might even be the only Season Three episode to win full marks from me. Unfortunately, there are some ragged bits of scriptwriting. Kirk's impulsive dash through the portal can be excused, though Kirk normally isn't that stupidly rash. I can even twist my brain to justify that his jail just happens to be run by someone who's been through the portal, even if that seems overly convenient and dramatically unnecessary.

There are a couple of big issues that I can't overlook, though, simply because they are so central to the episode. First, there's Mr. Atoz. Exactly why, if everyone on the planet has already gone through the portal, is he still there? Wouldn't he have made his escape already? The episode would work just as well if the real Atoz had already escaped, and all that remained were the robot duplicates. In fact, it would make more sense of Atoz's refusal to listen to Kirk in the second half of the episode. A real person should pick up, from Kirk talking to Scotty about "warping out of there," that the captain just might not be from around these here parts, but a robot would simply follow its programming.

The other issue that keeps this from being a "great" episode is one that's central to the show's best material: Why does Spock regress? If traveling so far back in time by this method should have this effect, then shouldn't McCoy be jumping around making chimp noises while trying to pick fleas off Spock? The answer is, of course, that it's good drama for Spock to lose his Vulcan logic while McCoy is the same as he usually is. But it simply isn't justified in the script. It doesn't stop me from enjoying some excellent scenes. But I wish at least some attempt was made to address this fairly obvious issue.

Even with these problems, All Our Yesterdays is a very good episode, a reminder of the quality this series used to regularly turn out. A part of me wishes this had been the series finale, as I have a feeling it would be a far more fitting finish than Turnabout Intruder is likely to provide.


Rating: 8/10.

Previous Episode: The Savage Curtain

Next Episode: Turnabout Intruder

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#55 (2-26): Assignment - Earth

THE PLOT

The Enterprise is on a particularly sensitive historical assignment. The slingshot time-travel technique they discovered accidentally is now being applied deliberately, in order for the Enterprise to record some critical moments from Earth's history.  They are sent back in time to study the late 1960's, with the nuclear arms race at its peak.

The crew are completing their assignment when they detect a transporter beam from the other side of the galaxy. They intercept the beam, and a figure materializes: Gary Seven (Robert Lansing) a human who claims to be of this time period, and claims to have been living on a planet whose inhabitants will remain unknown even in Kirk's time. He insists that Kirk must let him go, or he will be interfering with history. When Kirk refuses to take the chance that Seven is either an alien or an agent from the future, Seven escapes. Still uncertain whether doing so is actually the best course of action, Kirk and Spock feel constrained to pursue him.

It soon becomes apparent that Seven's mission is connected to the launch of an American rocket carrying a nuclear weapons platform into orbit. The agent sabotages the rocket so that he can take control of it once it is in flight. He claims that his interference is necessary to prevent World War III. But is he there to stop a catastrophe or create one?


CHARACTERS

Capt. Kirk: The arrival of Gary Seven provides quite a dilemma for Kirk.  Either decision he makes - hold Seven or release him - will have devastating consequences if he's wrong. Lacking any evidence one way or the other, Kirk relies on protocol. He holds Seven prisoner to make sure that he does not interfere with history. When the agent escapes, he and Spock pursue. At the end, when it seems apparent that a catastrophe almost certainly will happen without Seven's intervention, he relies on his gut instinct and allows Gary Seven to complete his mission.

Spock: "Without facts, the decision cannot be made logically," Spock observes, when Kirk is faced with uncertainty over whether or not to trust Seven. He plays devil's advocate to Kirk early in the episode, taking pains to point out that it is entirely possible that Gary Seven is telling the truth. But he does not argue for releasing Seven, and he fully backs up Kirk in pursuing him.

Gary Seven: Robert Lansing is Gary Seven, intergalactic secret agent. The role seems virtually tailor-made for Lansing, who had played a moderately similar role (minus the science fiction elements) in Twelve O'Clock High and would go on in the 1980's to play a near-identical role in The Equalizer. He provides a solid screen presence to anchor the episode, which is needed since he is effectively the star. As in other roles, he has a mercurial presence that makes it easy to be uncertain as to whether or not he is trustworthy... though that aspect of the show is all but thrown away at the midpoint, when he receives his briefing from his office computer.

Cute Earth Babe of the Week: Teri Garr is Roberta Lincoln, the ditzy temp who gets pulled into Seven's mission. Like Kirk, she wavers between trusting Seven and being suspicious of him. When he tells her he is with the CIA, she initially believes him. But the more she sees, the more certain she is that his equipment is beyond even the CIA's abilities. Garr is both appealing and likable, though her characterization is perhaps hampered by a script that seems to self-consciously be writing down to her character, as if the writer was forcing himself to write "young people" dialogue.


THOUGHTS

Very nearly the last episode of Star Trek broadcast... and it's basically a pilot for an entirely different show, with Kirk and his crew tacked onto The Adventures of Gary Seven. Enterprise viewers found it disrespectful to end that series with a glorified Next Generation episode... making it somewhat amusing to me that, more than 30 years earlier, Gene Roddenberry came pretty close to doing the same thing with the original series. Thankfully, the network gave the show one more season - though if memories hold true, what ended up being the finale wasn't exactly an improvement.

For all that it's a bit odd that Star Trek almost ended with it, Assignment: Earth is really not bad. In a way, it almost feels appropriate to end a season that's been overstuffed with "parallel Earth" episodes with a visit to the genuine article. The episode's production values benefit from the "modern Earth" setting, which allows for genuine exteriors, clothes instead of costumes, and interiors (such as offices and mission control centers) that set dressers had plenty of experience in making authentic. Much like A Piece of the Action, the Earthbound setting results in one of the season's best-looking episodes.

Assignment: Earth is not one of Trek's shining hours, though. The "backdoor pilot" aspect gives it a bit of a split personality. As a Star Trek episode, it feels lacking in that there really isn't much for Kirk and Spock to do except observe. As a pilot for a show about Gary Seven, we are kept too much at arm's length from our prospective hero by the constant cutaways to Kirk and Spock. As a result, it isn't fully successful as either one thing or the other, which can be frustrating.

It is entertaining, though, with strong production values and good performances. The script makes a misstep, in my opinion, by letting us in on Seven definitely being a "good guy" far too early. I would have preferred to have been left as uncertain of him as Kirk was, right up to the climax. As it is, halfway through we know he's a good guy - which saps the ending scenes of a lot of potential tension.

Still, it's good fun and very well-made. For my rating, I'm wavering between a "6" and a "7," but I think I'll be generous and award it:


Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: The Omega Glory
Next Episode: Spectre of the Gun

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#28 (1-28): The City on the Edge of Forever

THE PLOT

Turbulence aboard the Enterprise results in Dr. McCoy accidentally injecting himself with a high dose of a volatile drug. Rendered paranoid and delusional, McCoy becomes convinced that the crew are trying to kill him.  He races for the transporter, beaming himself to the nearest planet.

The planet turns out not only to be habitable, but to be the home of The Guardian of Forever, a portal that allows people to travel into the past. Kirk, Spock, and a landing party arrive just before a crazed McCoy jumps through the portal. History is altered... and the Enterprise, indeed the galaxy as they know it, ceases to exist.

Now Kirk and Spock must travel through the portal to prevent McCoy's interference. Arriving in the United States during The Great Depression, Kirk finds himself drawn to Edith Keeler (Joan Collins), a woman who runs a shelter for the many people made homeless by the Depression. Kirk declares that he is in love with Edith... but Spock discovers evidence that Edith is the focus of McCoy's change. Did McCoy, in a paranoid state, cause her death? Worse: did he prevent it? Is the cost of setting history to rights Edith Keeler's life?


CHARACTERS

Capt. Kirk: Fits into Depression-era society with startling ease. He and Edith make a natural match, and the agony of Kirk's ending choice is written all over Shatner's face. As in most of the other episodes in the first season, Shatner is anything but the ham he's been made out to be. He gives a fine, restrained performance, playing equally well opposite Nimoy as opposite Joan Collins.

Spock: Through his amazing powers of Plot Device, Spock is able to use Depression-era spare parts to study the images the tricorder made of the Guardian's display. This allows him to unlock the two possible futures, the one in which Edith lives, versus the one in which Edith dies, and to figure out which future is the "correct" one. Spock's ruthless logic - the same logic that determined that Gary Mitchell must die - leads him to an inescapable conclusion. However, his friendship with Kirk is quite genuine, as observed by the softer tones Nimoy uses when delivering his verdict to Kirk, or when answering McCoy's outraged question at the end.

Dr. McCoy: The script cleverly uses McCoy's best trait, his boundless compassion, against him. The value McCoy places on life is what leads him to the act which changes everything, and he is outraged when Kirk doesn't allow him to repeat his "mistake" at the episode's finale.

Hot Historical Babe of the Week: Joan Collins is Edith Keeler, the young woman who runs a mission to help people left peniless by the Depression. This is a character who is made perhaps just a touch too good. She is kind-hearted, but just tough enough that she won't allow those she helps to take advantage of her. She is far-seeing, able to size up Kirk and Spock as natural companions in an instant, and able to predict with an eerie accuracy some of the terrifying advances humanity would make within the next decade. In fanfiction, she'd be dismissed as a Mary Sue. That she works as well as she does on-screen is a testament to Collins' easy chemistry opposite Shatner, and the on-screen reactions of particularly Kirk and McCoy toward her. Still, I confess that I'd prefer the episode if she was just a bit less perfect.


NO REDSHIRTS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS EPISODE

Depression-era hobos, however, are not so lucky. A downtrodden bum, upon finding McCoy's phaser, promptly vaporizes himself with it. Given that the timeline is still restored at the episode's end, we are forced to conclude that his death is apparently of no importance to the timeline whatever. When you travel to the past, watch out for butterflies... but hobos are fair game!


THOUGHTS

Regularly cited as the best Trek episode ever. If pressed, I think I prefer Balance of Terror, just of the ones I've already reviewed, but this is certainly in the Top 5. This is a show where all the disparate pieces just come together perfectly. The characters are spot-on, and Shatner and Nimoy give particularly fine performances. The period detail is well-observed, and the dialogue has a sparkle to it that elevates it above the mere functionality of many episodes' exchanges.

For an episode that I always remember as being basically bleak and something of a downer, it is surprising how much humor there actually is. From Kirk trying to explain away Spock's strange appearance ("Well, my friend here's obviously Chinese"), to Spock's blunt assessment of his task at deciphering the tricorder as "creating a mnemonic memory device out of stone knives and bearskins," there are several amusing bits. All of which makes the inevitability of the finale so much more effective. By making the episode full of life and vitality, the tragedy hits home so much more - to the point where it ends up being the moment that the entire episode is remembered for.

The script does very well at making the tragedy appear inevitable. Compare this with The Alternative Factor, in which Lazarus' horrific fate seems unnecessary (just kill one Lazarus; you solve the problem and both Lazaruses end up better off). Here, Kirk's bitterly hard decision actually feels earned. 

Thankfully, writers Harlan Ellison and Gene Roddenberry (who performed substantial rewrites, much to Ellison's ire) manage to avoid falling into the common trap of ending the episode with a comedy "tag." Kirk's "Let's get the hell out of here," while no one else even can speak, is the perfect cap on an excellent hour of television.


Rating: 10/10.

Previous Episode: Errand of Mercy
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#21 (1-19): Tomorrow Is Yesterday.

THE PLOT

A near miss with a black hole sends the Enterprise hurtling back in time to the 20th century, where they are sighted by the U. S. Air Force as a UFO. When Air Force pilot John Christopher (Roger Perry) prepares to engage the Enterprise, Kirk orders a tractor beam to disable the plane - then has to beam Christopher aboard when the beam destroys the man's plane.

The Enterprise crew now finds itself faced with three problems. One: How do they erase the record of Christopher's sighting of the ship? Two: What do they do with Christopher, who cannot be taken back to the future with them, but who also cannot be returned with knowledge of what he's seen? Finally, Three: Even if they solve the first two problems, and keep history on track, how do they get themselves back home?


CHARACTERS

Capt. Kirk: Identifies with Christopher, and feels sympathy for his situation, but accepts Spock's initial conclusion that Christopher cannot be returned. Puts responsibility for keeping history on-course above all other concerns, including his ship's safety, showing more respect for non-interference than he's generally credited with.

Spock: This is yet another episode showcasing Spock's ability to make cold calculations. Spock's initial research into Christopher leads him to conclude that the man made no important contributions, and that the course of least interference would be to simply "pluck him out of time" rather than return him with knowledge of the future. Anticipates Christopher's actions in the base, thwarting an escape attempt. Calculated what would become a commonly-used "slingshot effect" to travel back to their own time, making this another episode where Spock effectively saves the day.

Guest Star of the Week: Roger Perry's Captain Christopher is essentially Kirk from the 1960's (am I cruel to be amused that Kirk's 1960's counterpart makes no significant historical contribution?), behaving much as Kirk himself would do in this situation. He is interested in the future, and perfectly cordial with his captors. However, he takes every opportunity to escape, and considers it his duty to report everything he has seen to his superiors... even if that means making himself look insane.


THOUGHTS

An interesting facet of first-season Trek is that we consistently see duty being prioritized above the personal.  This is the exact opposite of most modern series. Kirk's duty to keep history on track is prioritized above the welfare of his ship and crew.  Christopher's duty to report to his superiors is prioritized above his own welfare (he knows full well that a complete report will make him look like a loony).

The entire Kirk/Christopher conflict boils down to two very good men, both of whom want to do their duty, whose duties happen to conflict with each other. Each man fully understands the other's position, and even sympathizes. But neither can allow the other to fulfill that duty, not if it's in his power to prevent it. This is an interesting central dynamic, in that Christopher is essentially the villain of the story - he's the man Kirk and crew constantly have to thwart - and yet he is a very likable character.

This is the first episode to really use time travel as a plot element, rather than a throwaway.  It's refreshing to see the Enterprise crew actually being thrown by their trip to the past, given how routine such trips would later become. The episode does utilize a lot of comedy, probably to keep the story feeling sprightly in the lack of an Evil Villain, but the comedy elements are well-integrated into the script. The base commander may be a bit too buffoonish, but his interrogation of Kirk is an amusing scene.  The scene may be played for laughs, but there is an undercurrent of this being a serious problem, given that any of the obvious ways to rescue Kirk from this dilemma would pose a severe threat to history.

The remastered version of this episode spruces up several effects. Notable improvements are the Enterprise in the earth's atmosphere at the beginning, which now looks a great deal more convincing than on original transmission and features a much wider variety of shots; and the slingshot at the end, which places the Enterprise in-shot with the sun - greatly increasing the sense of danger at pulling off this maneuver for the first time ever.


Rating: 8/10. Hugely entertaining.

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