Air Date: January 12, 1967
Mom Title: “Trelane”
The story begins with a
new coffee Yeoman delivering the Styrofoam cups that apparently will remain in
use for hundreds of years. In another
dazzling display of total disregard for safety most of the bridge crew leaves
their uncovered coffee cups atop their slanted, electronics covered control
panels for much of the episode. No wonder those consoles explode so easily.
In our relationship
watch, we can see Uhura grinning over her coffee as she observes Spock’s banter,
though always maintaining professionalism when addressing him on the job. She also watches over her Vulcan during the
ending scene on the bridge, and answers his puzzlement with his all too human
captain with a special smile.
The rest of the crew is
as nationally diverse as the bridge crew, as we meet a token Frenchman and
German.
Many comparisons have
been made between Trelane and Q, and Peter David established the Squire was a
young member of the Q Continuum in an expanded universe novel.
However, in attempting
to view Star Trek in order from the beginning, with no outside influences,
there’s another character that Trelane is similar to.
Let’s see: an apparent human
with reality altering powers that is being watched over by non corporal
superior beings.
Charlie Evans could also
be described as a “very strange, small boy.”
Perhaps this is his next
level of education from his “parents,” where the technology behind the mirror
is helping him control and understand his powers to let him move beyond his
body.
Kirk, once again, stares
down and slaps an all powerful “war god.”
And once again, he’s
“Captain’s Logging” in an environment with no recording devices; it’s somewhere
between self affirmations and the crazy homeless guy talking to nobody.
In general the conflict
with Trelane is a fun romp, which never manages to lose the seriousness of the
threat to the ship and crew.
Some interesting
character defining moments:
Kirk has absolutely no
trouble being convincing about the fun of killing, because that’s the kind of
guy he is.
Spock details the
specifics of “Fascinating” and explains why it isn’t the catch all it is
usually portrayed as, with specific comparison to “Interesting.” Although he still visibly enjoys snarking in
this story, which means he may be yanking McCoy’s chain.
Uhura is thrilled to
learn to play a new instrument (Spock looks pleased for her as well) despite
the fact that an unknown alien altered her brain to make it happen…
That’s an artist for ya.
Final thought: Why
not bring Trelane back in the rebooted Star Trek movies. No one could truly recreate William Campbell’s
role, but there’s another actor with that surname who would make an awesome
Trelane:
BRUCE CAMPBELL!
Air Date: December 19, 1967
Mom Title: “Gorn”
Oh, I have a warm spot
in my heart for the Gorn.
When we started playing
Starfleet Battles, there were three race assignments that required no thought,
planning or discussion:
The guy who bought the
game, a bigger Trek fan than I (yes, amazingly that is possible), was the
Federation.
The guy who we knew
would have no qualms about accidently placing his ships on a hex border to
allow him to choose the most advantageous location for them was the Klingons.
(Klingon ship counters
were black to make this cheat easier, indicating the game designers knew what
type of individual would be drawn to this race.)
And I was given the nine
foot lizard men with ships named after dinosaurs said to use “Push hard till it
moves” engineering.
We have a real Redshirt
sighting in this one, as two of the three poor suckers who beam down to Cestus
III with Kirk, Spock and McCoy get blown to smithereens by a “disruptor.” Disruptor sounds much cooler than “energy
mortar.” Plus I guess saying “mortar” would be too much foreshadowing for
Kirk’s upcoming, on the fly science project.
First appearance of
Photon Torpedoes!
YAY! (Says the Starfleet
Battles geek)
They’re readied below,
but fired by Sulu, indicating some improvements in weapons control from “Balance
of Terror.”
Also, first time
establishing Warp 6 as maximum safe cruising speed.
No doubt set to let us
know when things have gotten mega serious the multiple times the Enterprise
exceeds it later on.
Nearly the first half of
the episode is a straight military conflict.
Even a tricorder gets turned into an explosive weapon by the unseen
enemy.
For context, that would
be like someone sending a text to your tablet that suddenly made it capable of
blowing up your house.
Kirk charges in assuming
it’s an invasion. Even though Spock states it isn’t the only option, he agrees
that the foe must be destroyed if possible. In other words, Kirk has no time for regards
for sentient life when his people have been attacked.
This is why, even though
the writers don’t bludgeon the audience over the head with the messages, the
lessons come off as stronger in the Original Series. Seeing an overly military mind learn that
violence and warfare is not always the answer holds much more power than when
it’s figured out by pajama wearing space hippies.
OK, basically what Kirk
really says is he won’t kill for others, only for himself alone, but, it’s
something.
Or are there?
What if they’re all the
same ones?
I think this is another
insane theory we’ll have to track.
Kirk’s fighting style
needs a little thought as well. Granted
using professional wrestling moves usually works for him (including the
inevitable foreign object) but he’s outstandingly lucky that boxing the ears of
an adversary that doesn’t have ears worked at all.
Uhura’s still shooting
glances at Spock, and comes up to lean on the Captain’s chair when he occupies
it in a far more familiar way than when Kirk is seated in it.
January 29, 1967
Mom Title: “Captain Kirk
Meets Officer Kirk in the Past”
The Enterprise travels
back in time accidentally for the second time.
This makes much more sense when one realizes it was supposed to directly
follow “The Naked Time.”
It’s interesting that
they can travel both forwards and backwards in time by going wicked fast. Even Flash’s cosmic treadmill has a
directional setting dial. It must have something to do with Warp Drive
Mechanics, I guess, who cares the new effects are amazing!
When everyone gets
knocked over, Spock very coldly lifts up Uhura.
If there was any doubt that they are in a relationship, her shooting him
“the look” for that action should dispel them.
Also, the two are hanging around together on the bridge when Captain
Christopher enters.
They certainly treat the
time stream much more cavalierly than they will when they meet Joan Collins later,
don’t they? Again, they are new at this,
which explains beaming down to the 20th century in full uniform with
no cover story or outfit changes. The
Enterprise costume collection hadn’t been demonstrated yet.
They cover all these
failings up by returning everyone to the moment they left, thus removing all
memories of the abductions.
WHAT!?!?
Obviously they’re wrong
about this, as the Starfleet Technical
Manual I’ve owned since age five clearly states Franz Joseph Designs received all
the information in it from the events of this episode.
The defense rests.
Character note:
Kirk’s quarters has been
shown to have “old style” books in it since day one. Some cool things were
there from the start.
I’m not going to mention
the flirting, romantic voiced computer, as it’s pretty baffling, and the show
itself wisely never referenced it again…dear.
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2 comments:
My God, man, you are brilliant! I have not enjoyed TOS so much since seeing it first run!
Wow! Many thanx, for reading and posting. You have no idea how much it means.
I've been having a major bit of writer's block lately.
Your comment is inspiring me to push through it.
Thank you again.
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