Thoughts on Season Two

My main thought about Season Two is very similar to my main thought about Season One: That this is a series of impressively high quality. If some of the production values look a bit clunky, then that is hardly surprising when viewing 45-year-old episodes. The storytelling is what's important, and many of the stories remain excellent.

Highs and Lows

I don't think the quality's as consistently high as in Season One. In production order, Season Two takes several episodes to find its footing, with an initial production run of watchable, but relatively weak, fare such as Catspaw, Metamorphosis, and Friday's Child. Even once the season gets up to speed, there is inconsistency, with the series' first truly bad episodes coming in the form of The Apple and The Gamesters of Triskelion.

On the other hand, there are more highs in Season Two, as well. I tend to be very stingy about awarding episodes perfect "10's," something that's been commented on by a few people following these reviews. For me to give an episode full marks, I have to find it to be something special within the overall context of the series. This season saw me give two perfect "10's" in a row, with Amok Time followed by The Doomsday Machine.

Several other episodes this season also qualify among the series' greats: Mirror Mirror and The Trouble with Tribbles, with at least Honorable Mentions going to The Ultimate Computer and The Immunity Syndrome. When almost a quarter of the season ranks among the series' best episodes, it tends to indicate that, in the words of Frank Sinatra, "It was a very good year."


Of Parallel Earths and Shifts in Tone

Parallel Earths are to Season Two what superbeings were to Season One. Though most of the episodes in question are of pretty good quality, there are simply far too many of them. By the time the season takes us to The Planet of the Chicago Gangsters followed by The Nazi Planet, I find myself just desperately wanting to get away from planets that are "just like Earth."

That aside, the season's quality is tremendously high. However, there is a distinct shift in tone from Season One. The first season was fairly serious, with the Enterprise crew generally depicted in a manner convincing for a tight-knit military crew: They work well together, there are close friendships among the crew, but there is also a firm chain of command. They are not "family."

Season Two is where the more familiar "Enterprise family" feel that most people associate with TOS becomes prominent. With the notable exceptions of The Doomsday Machine and The Immunity Syndrome, Season One's disciplined military atmosphere has receded so far into the background as to barely even be present. The warmer atmosphere probably contributed to the show's enduring appeal, and it's very much the tone that the TOS movies would strive to emulate. But I have to admit, I personally preferred the crisper Season One atmosphere, and I do think that in making the Star Trek universe a warmer and friendlier place, something interesting was lost.

Speaking of shifting tones, Season Two sees the first real signs of "camp" in William Shatner's performance. His acting, very disciplined and occasionally even subtle through most of Season One, starts to tilt toward ham here, as Kirk begins to "emote" to sometimes comical effect. He's still good - at least, most of the time. But the hammier tendencies do emerge. Occasionally, they even start to detract - notably in Return to Tomorrow, in which Kirk's justly famous "Risk is our business" speech is oversold by Shatner to a degree that makes it impossible for me to watch with a straight face.


Season Three Wish List

I do hope Season Three sees an end to the "parallel Earth" episodes, just as Season Two has largely seen an end to the "superbeing" episodes. Both of these concepts have been thoroughly played out, and the series would be stronger just telling good, tight stories within the universe its created.

Other than that, most of my wishes are small. I'd like to see Shatner on a tighter reign in Season Three. Not too tight, mind you - much of the time, the Shatner!Ham! actually increases the series' entertainment value. But somebody needs to be on hand to tell him when it's time to dial it down a notch.

My single biggest wish, though, is just for the series to keep up the good work. For two seasons now, Star Trek has held up far better than most of its contemporaries in terms of quality storytelling. Season Two might have seen the show's first truly bad episodes, but bad episodes are still very rare exceptions to a series whose quality generally stands strong 45 years later.


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#52 (2-21): Patterns of Force

Kirk and Spock vs. The Planet of the Nazis! Can't you just see that as a title for a Grade B 1950's sci fi flick? Possibly directed by Ed Wood?


THE PLOT

When historian John Gill, assigned to the planet Ekos as a cultural observer, fails to report for an extended period, the Enterprise is sent to investigate. Kirk and Spock beam down to the planet's surface... and discover that Ekos has remade itself in the image of Nazi Germany, and is launching a campaign of terror and extermination against the Zeons, people from their neighboring world.

And their Fuhrer? John Gill.


CHARACTERS

Capt. Kirk: As with Bread and Circuses, this episode demonstrates the level of responsibility Kirk feels to uphold the Prime Directive. Contrary to the character's reputation, the reality in the series is that Kirk has - at least, up to this point - generally wrestled to find a way to reconcile that rule with his beliefs about right and wrong. Different aspects of this have been seen in Bread and Circuses, A Private Little War, and again here. This time, he discovers that the Directive has been breached by someone he knows and respects.  He feels personally responsible to find out what happened and to find a way to repair the damage. No evidence of "Captain Ham" here, though "Captain Beefcake" makes an appearance when the Nazis capture him and strip him and Spock to the waist in order to subject them to a very fake-looking flogging.

Spock: Some evidence of his human side here, as he confesses late in the episode to feeling some of the exhileration of beating the odds when they manage a risky infiltration of Nazi headquarters. Nimoy's facial expressions, when a Nazi "expert" evaluates his genetics and determines him to be a member of "an inferior race" with features denoting "stupidity," are priceless.

Hot Space Babe of the Week: Valora Noland is Daras, a woman who has been named a "hero to the Fatherland" after turning her father in for disloyalty to the Fuhrer. We learn that she actually did this in order to infiltrate the Nazi inner circle, and that she is secretly working with the Zeon resistance. Daras is furious over the damage done to her world by the rise of the Nazis, and more resourceful and quick-thinking than the average Trek "Space Babe." Noland gives a reasonably strong performance, while also being very pleasing to the eyes.

Villain of the Week: Although we are given a specific villain, in the form an opportunistic Nazi (Skip Homeier), the real villain is the Nazi Party itself. In an episode made at a time when a reasonable proportion of the show's audience either remembered the Nazis or had parents who would have remembered and spoken about the war, the imagery on display here would have been all-but-guaranteed to arrest viewer attention. Unfortunately, these Nazis are almost equal parts Hogan's Heroes bumblers as they are a serious threat, with none of the stormtroopers displaying much in the way of intelligence. They also have a remarkable tendency in this episode to think that one or two guards are sufficient to safeguard vital areas.


THOUGHTS

Another of Season Two's many "parallel Earth" episodes. We've had the planet of the Romans and the planet of the gangsters.  Now we get the planet of the Nazis. What next? The Planet of the Pastry Chefs?

It shouldn't be too much of a mystery as to why these episodes were so popular. Paramount could dig into its vaults for Nazi costumes, or gangster costumes, or even Roman costumes, relatively easily.  Studio lots could be redressed to much more convincingly portray Nazi Germany than to portray a genuinely alien world. Also, it should be acknowledged that these episodes were probably easier for viewers to relate to.  Finally, they did bring out the best in the writers. I might grouse about the Roman/gangster/Nazi episodes being too numerous in Season Two. On the other hand, none of these episodes were bad.  In fact, they were all pretty good ones.

That includes this episode. The Nazis might be a touch too buffoonish, and the true horrors of their regime may be kept tactfully off-screen to avoid interfering with the light-hearted Kirk/Spock interplay. Still, this is an easy episode to get caught up in. The pace is brisk, the dialogue is sharp, and it's all thoroughly enjoyable. It's not a breakthrough episode. In its way, it treats its subject matter in just as offhand a manner as A Piece of the Action did Chicago gangsters. But it's fun to watch, and I can't imagine many Trek viewers being at all bored.


Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: Return to Tomorrow
Next Episode: The Ultimate Computer

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#49 (2-17): A Piece of the Action

THE PLOT

The Enterprise makes a follow-up visit to a world last contacted 100 years previously by an Earth ship known as the Horizon - before the Prime Directive went into effect. Upon beaming down to the planet's surface, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy discover that the planet has taken a book left as a gift by the previous ship, and modeled their entire society after that book. The book in question? A reference book on Chicago gangsters of the 1920's.

Now the Enterprise crew must find a way to undo the damage done to this society, and turn a world of rivaling mob bosses into a peaceful system. The challenge may well be staying alive long enough to do it!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Ham: For the first half of this episode, Shatner gives his usual, enthusiastic but reasonable performance. He's having fun with comedy pastische elements, but it's fairly low-key. That is, until Kirk finally gets the upper hand. Once the script has Kirk imitating gangster lingo, Shatner hams it up relentlessly, delivering every line in a bad Chicago gangster accent that was making me cringe in my seat. I would rate this as the first episode to actually be made less enjoyable due to Shatner's hammier tendencies.

Spock-Logic: Which, in this instance, bears no resemblance whatever to real logic. "The first time we trusted Bela, we ended up his prisoners. We escaped, and now Bela wants us to trust him again. Therefore, it is logical that we should walk into the same trap twice." An "I-told-you-so" look from Bones turns an iffy script turn into a good comic moment, but this has to be one of the more tortuous examples of Spock's bizarre logic turns. Nimoy does have fun with the general scenario, though, and manages to do so in a way that's genuinely funny - neatly upstaging Shatner even though he has less than half as much dialogue. His explaining that he will cut the gangsters in for "a miniscule piece" is particularly fun.


THOUGHTS

One of the contrasts between the series' first season and its second is that the second season has seen several episodes that have indulged the series' lighter side. The Trouble with Tribbles is the most famous example, but there are several other Season Two episodes that veer far more toward comedy than drama.

A Piece of the Action is a comedy pastische of 1930's gangster films. Like those films, it is set in a world that bears no resemblance to any reality that ever actually existed. It's set in a world in which the most powerful men alive are the "bosses," each of whom has a squeaky-voiced moll ready to perch on his lap. The two main rivals even seem to extend that rivalry to their molls; Oxymx has a (very pretty) brunette, while Krako prefers blondes. "Hits" are a daily occurrence, and police are effectively nonexistent. There's even a scene featuring a Dead End Kids-style urchin. All you'd need to do is throw in a trusty Irish priest, and you'd have the model for half of James Cagney's 1930's filmography.

Taken on this level, it's fun. It moves quickly, the guest performances are generally strong, and the production design is vastly above the series' usual standards. Bonus points for a bit of metahumor when one of the gang bosses (a young Vic Tayback) is transported up to the Enterprise in order to "put a bag over him" while simultaneously showing him the ship's power. He ultimately fails to be impressed. "All I saw was a room and three guys. Maybe there ain't no more!" In the case of many episodes, he might as well be speaking for the audience.

Minus points for Shatner's performance in the episode's last 20 minutes, though. His ill-advised attempt to be James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, and Paul Muni all rolled into one pitch the comedy a bit too far across the line between amusing and annoying. The joke is funny when the leads' reactions to this world are played straight. It becomes a lot less funny when Shatner is too clearly in on the joke.


Rating: 6/10.

Previous Episode: The Immunity Syndrome
Next Episode: By Any Other Name

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#12 (1-8): Miri

Teenage Miri (Kim Darby) has a crush on Kirk.

Original Airdate: Oct. 27, 1966. Written by: Adrian Spies. Directed by: Vincent McEveety.

A sweet little domestic episode. Janice gets Kirk to look at her legs.  Later, she experiments with bondage, but Kirk turns out to be more interested in practicing a speech for school. Meanwhile, Spock and McCoy play with a new chemistry set.


THE PLOT

The Enterprise discovers a planet that is eerily like Earth. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Janice beam down to the surface, only to find that all the adults on the planet have died of a horrible degenerative disease. They are befriended by a teen girl, Miri (Kim Darby), who fills in some background: the adults ("grups") become ill, then they became violent. After they died, the children ("Onlies") were left to take care of themselves.

It isn't long before the members of the landing party discover that they have become infected. McCoy discovers that the disease was an unexpected side effect of a grab at immortality, and he uses the original research to try to find a cure. But when the other "Onlies" decide to play a "foolie" on them by stealing their communicators, cutting off contact with the Enterprise, they are left with only the resources they have on-hand to try to save themselves.


CHARACTERS

Capt. Ham: "NO! NO... BLAH-BLAH-BLAH!!!" In absolute fairness to William Shatner, lines such as this and his impassioned speech to the "Onlies" pretty much demand a hammy delivery, and he still brings conviction to it. But this is the first significant time in the series (not counting doppelgangers) in which he really starts to let go of his inner bacon. "LOOK AT MY ARMS! That's... what's going to happen to YOU!"

Dr. McCoy: Well, I suppose if one needs an explanation for how McCoy lived long enough to be in Encounter at Farpoint, then it rests with this episode: He and the entire landing party were exposed to the disease, one of whose aspects is a significantly prolonged lifespan. Since there's no dialogue indicating that this goes away when the disease is cured, one could reasonably wonder if this means that Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Janice, and the two more-or-less anonymous redshirts will live a long time, barring scaffolding accidents. McCoy finds the cure with remarkable speed and efficiency, which strains credibility but does allow some welcome focus on him as a character. We also see his courage, as he determines to test the cure - which will either save or kill - on himself.

Janice: More of her attraction to Kirk, as she confesses that she has always tried to get him to "look at (her) legs." Until they became all splotchy with the disease, that is. When Miri becomes jealous of her, she uses her compassion for the children to lure her into a trap. Kirk finds her tied up in what used to be a classroom before indulging in his interest in amateur oratory.

Alien Space Crush of the Week: The far-from-teenage Kim Darby does a reasonably effective job as Miri. It's obvious that she's older than the age she's playing, but wardrobe, hair, and the actress pitching her vocal pitch upward all combine to at least suggest the character's young age. Her attraction to Kirk reads convincingly as a teen crush, with hero worship and a desperation to please replaced by fierce, dangerous jealousy when she determines that Janice is a (more realistic) rival for Kirk's affections.

Villain of the Week: Poor Miri - No wonder she has such a strong crush on Kirk, given that her only realistic choice of a mate is the hobgoblin-like Jahn, who's more interested in playing soldier and bonk-bonking people on the head. Michael J. Pollard brings a creepy presence to the leader of the "Onlies," and there is a vague sinister cast when he and the other children start chanting things such as, "Lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey!" at a tied-up and terrified Janice. That said, it's downright painfully obvious that Michael J. Pollard is too old for his role.


THOUGHTS

Erm... What can one really say about an episode that has its hero declare, "No blah-blah-blah!" with no trace of irony? Miri isn't actually bad, but it's one of the weaker episodes the series has offered thus far.

The scenario feels poorly thought-through. Dr. McCoy's miraculous speed-discovery of a cure can be accepted as a plot necessity. But his ingested cure doesn't banish the life-prolonging disease, it simply makes it work the way it apparently was intended to. Given that the disease is obviously airborne, this could be taken as making our three leads effectively immortal, which I am certain was not the intent. I guess one can argue that they only received limited exposure.

Also, once Kirk's logs are read back at Starfleet, won't someone note that the Enterprise has effectively discovered the fountain of youth? Armed with McCoy's cure, I would think tons of ships would be descending on that planet to breathe in its chemical-tainted atmosphere and the centuries-long lifespans that will go with it. But apparently, we're to believe that Starfleet and the Federation are above such things.

Finally, at the resolution, Kirk leaves a bunch of children to continue fending for themselves, aging at such a slow rate that it will be centuries before even the oldest - Miri and Jann - are mentally adults. Yes, to address comments made for an earlier version of this review, we are told that teachers and advisors will be coming. But Kirk doesn't wait for them to arrive, warping out while leaving only a small medical team behind. I suppose after enduring "blah-blah-blah," "lovey-dovey," and "bonk-bonk on the head," he just couldn't wait to get out of there. In fairness, I can't entirely blame him for that.

There are good things in the episode, and it's quite watchable. Some of the desperation as Kirk, Spock, and McCoy hunt for a cure is well-played, and the actors do a good job of becoming increasingly irritable and irrational as the disease takes hold. DeForest Kelly is particularly good here. Credit also to the makeup department: the "disease" makeup does a good job of suggesting a horrible, degenerative illness without blotching the actors to such an extent that their physical performances are impeded.

But then the episode shifts focus to the "Onlies," ending in a schoolhouse, where Kirk and Janice are menaced by children who want to "bonk-bonk on the head - Bonk, bonk, bonk!" At this point, anything that had been gripping drops away, replaced by MST3K fodder.


Rating: 5/10.

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