“Friday’s
Child”
December
1, 1967
Mom
Title: “Leonard James Akaar”
What D.C Fontana did for
Spock in the last episode, she does for Bones in this adventure.
In any case, this time
around, McCoy is the one with previous contact experience and expertise on the
culture. While the three of them always
function as equal part friends and a highly effective military combination,
Bones gets most of the awesome moments on Capella.
“I’m a Doctor, that’s
how I know.”
To work with this
warlike culture, the good Doctor displays the perfect combination of toughness
and compassion. He even managed to
succeed in a situation where he thought he failed. After Eleen bashes him in the head he
dejectedly claims,
“I guess I'll forget
psychiatry, stick with surgery. I really thought she'd learned to want it.”
What he doesn’t see is
her lying when she turns herself in to the new Teer, claiming she had killed
them all, and wanted to be taken to her tent to die. Bones did convince her to love the child, whom
she protected according to her cultural mindset by sacrificing herself and
leaving the baby in the care of those she knew would care for him.
It must have been a
major let down to male audiences when the actress who made a skin tight cat
suit famous on another Bat-Channel during that time showed up in highly
conservative attire. Considering the microscopic costumes Bill Theiss designed
for most female guest stars, it seems like a lost opportunity.
Since it was Julie Newmar, she was still a
knockout in a full cover up gown and pregnancy make up anyway.
The Captain once more
displays excellent leadership skills. Kirk basically taunts McCoy into succeeding
at delivering a baby, as well as getting his First Officer to do the impossible…
Again.
Yeah, he’s crass
alright. Kras doesn’t even earn enough respect to be called anything but
“Klingon” until his name is in the closing credits. He
fell down and twisted his ankle walking on a rocky path. That’s not a ship captain, that’s the victim
in a cheap horror movie.
It makes sense that he’s
pretty much useless. The planet has a
mineral used for non-combat purposes, and the enemy vessel the Enterprise
encounters is a scout ship, not a battle cruiser. If the Empire sent one of
their real honorable starship commanders and warriors to Capella, the violent
yet noble culture would have signed on in a minute.
Hey, why was the
Redshirt able to pull a phaser and Kirk and company able to fight hand to hand
with Kras? The Organians were taking a
nap, maybe? See kids, this is why it’s
a bad idea to “magically” prevent all contact with the main antagonists of the
series. Continuity crumbles in the face
of storytelling. Either that or the
Organians lied and are part of the vast energy being conspiracy invading from
another galaxy.
“I think you're both
going to be insufferably pleased with yourselves for at least a month. Sir.”
Oochie Woochie Coochie Coo indeed.
“The
Deadly Years”
Air
Date: December 8, 1967
Mom
Title: “Old Age”
This little trip to
Gamma Hydra IV is a rare one. The reason
for its rareness is that it’s an episode that causes me to say, “I love this
one,” that isn’t a comedy. It’s simply
that well done.
Sure there is what looks
like some standard failure to think moments, but even these are handled better
than most instances. The top four
officers beam down to a planet with no biological protections whatsoever. Since
this is an established colony that made contact an hour before, it makes far
more sense than when they explore a strange new world like that. Granted it
might have been a good idea to institute some sort of quarantine when they came
back after finding the colonists dead or aged.
Good thing it wasn’t contagious…again.
An expendable crewmember
beams down with them, but she wears blue to buck another trend.
Chekov comes too, and screams again, but it
turns out to be useful this time. It’s still unusual, though. You’d think even a junior officer on a space
exploration mission wouldn’t get that rattled by an old dead guy. It’s also one
of the few Second Season outings with both him and Sulu, providing some comic relief
in the darker parts of the story. Yay!
Then there’s Stocker.
Based on performances of other Commodores and Ambassadors, believing him to be
the text book case of the incompetent “chair bound paper-pusher” can be forgiven.
The thing with Commodore
Stocker, however, is he isn’t the typical arrogant butthead who is unworthy of
command. Just about everything he says
is correct, and he even out logics Spock to prove his point about Kirk’s
declining potential. He also knows he
isn’t worthy of Starship command. As the
only choice, his goal is to take the conn only long enough to get them to
Starbase 10 where the suddenly geriatric officers can receive the best
treatment. Kirk’s belief that the
solution required them to be near or on Gamma Hydra IV turns out to be wrong
anyway.
The cast looked to be
having a field day playing older. They
all age much worse in this story than they did in real life. That probably explains why the movies showed a
much more positive look at maturing.
This one focuses more on the tragic side.
Kirk still constantly
speaks in command tones, even when he can’t remember things. That is the tragedy of aging and the most
depressing part when someone starts to lose it that this story illustrates so
well. The other bridge crew members play
the parts of family members having to deal with these issues perfectly. It starts with their gentle but sad reminder
efforts when Kirk Makes mistakes on the bridge.
Even Spock looks completely
crestfallen when the Captain falls asleep in his chair. The culmination comes
at Kirk’s hearing where Sulu and Uhura desperately and heartbreakingly come to
accept that they can’t defend him anymore and he is no longer the man they can
unquestionably follow.
If this episode ended as
a tragedy, or even with, “Whew, that was a lucky medical save, good thing
nothing bad happened,” it would be far too depressing to rank as a favorite.
Honestly, I’m surprised
the attack on the Enterprise didn’t generate enough adrenaline in Kirk to cure
him. That must be why he recovered so
rapidly. When he enters the bridge,
despite being hopelessly surrounded by ten Romulan Birds of Prey, one of which
gave them a heck of a battle last season, the officers are all grinning like
they hit the lottery.
There are a couple
fantastic moments when the Captain starts transmitting about Corbomite over the
broken Code II. He and Spock lock eyes,
and the first officer gives an approving nod. Meanwhile, over at the helm and
navigation station, Sulu’s grin gets impossibly bigger, and he shoots the newly
arrived Chekov an undeniable, “Watch this!” look. Yes, this is further proof that all
explanations for Khan knowing Chekov don’t work, but it’s cool so it’s OK.
“Obsession”
Air
Date: December 15, 1967
Mom
Title: “Vampire Cloud”
For the second time in a
row, Spock and Bones talk about relieving Kirk of command. This time it isn’t because he’s losing his
faculties, but because he seems to be acting like Commodore Decker did
recently. The big difference here is
Captain Kirk is both correct and awesome. In other words, this time during, “Moby Dick in Space,” Ahab wins.
This episode has a
little bit of everything that makes Second Season Trek great: planet side scenes, The Enterprise chasing an
enemy through space, the Big Three leaning on each other to pull through a
crisis, character moments for the other
command crew members, and a parade of Redshirts getting mowed down.
Watching the Big Three
at odds illustrates the workings of their relationship. When the Captain shuts himself off from the
valuable input of the other two, he doesn’t function properly. Similarly, they
are far less effective without him acting as a mediator. Instead of directly
asking for McCoy’s advice, Spock pretends he “doesn’t understand human
emotion.” Meanwhile, the Vulcan went to talk to Garrovick on his own, showing he
understands emotion just fine.
Bones has the opposite
of one of Spock’s “Jim Moments” during the Captains antics. Calling Kirk, “Commander” illustrates he’s
speaking as the Chief Medical Officer of a military vessel, and not as a friend
at that point.
Kirk pulls himself back
together using his normal methods. Besides the “Captain’s Log” he’s also
maintaining a “Personal Log.”
Basically, “Dear Diary, Am I crazy?”
Usually asking the
question means no, but pushing the Enterprise to above Warp 8 made it
questionable. Dropping it back to
Maximum Safe Cruising Speed (Warp 6, for those that haven’t memorized the
ship’s stats…for shame.) before Scotty has an aneurysm tipped the needle back
to the sane side.
The Enterprise being
directly threatened by the cloud fully snapped the Captain back to being his
normal supreme commander and father figure.
Once they all synch up
again, the Big Three work properly. Spock’s explanation why an idea was
impossible gave Kirk the plan of how to defeat it. Of course the Captain wasn’t going to
sacrifice himself to blow up the cloud, he doesn’t believe in the “No Win
Scenario.”
Interesting Character
Notes:
While Kirk is more
lenient towards enemies that are like him, he is far more critical of
underlings who share his traits.
Garrovick has the same headstrong nature, fueled by caring about the
safety of the other crew men. Also, though he is security, the 3D Chess set in
his room illustrates he is more than dumb muscle.
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