Star Trek (TOS): Episode By Episode Thread

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Luke The Drifter, Jan 18, 2013.

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  1. greelywinger

    greelywinger Osmondia

    Location:
    Dayton, Ohio USA
    Love Spock's half-hearted nazi salute.
    It was like he was thinking (whatever).

    "Yes, I shall...see to it"

    Darryl
     
  2. Luke The Drifter

    Luke The Drifter Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    #51: By Any Other Name

    Original Air Date: 2/23/68

    Stardate: 4657.5

    Kirk, Spock, McCoy and a couple of red shirts beam down to the surface of a planet in answer to a fake distress call. There they are overpowered by a small group of human-looking aliens from the Andromeda galaxy, led by Rojan. Their galaxy will be uninhabitable within a few thousand years, so they intend to conquer ours, to give themselves a new home. The aliens' spacecraft had been damaged by the energy barrier around the galaxy, and they need the Enterprise to return home, enhancing its engines so that the journey will "only" take 300 years. They take over the Enterprise using their two main weapons - a paralyzing beam, and a ray that can reduce a person to a gray block of material - revival only being possible if the block is not damaged. After successfully negotiating the energy barrier, the aliens reduce all the crew into the gray blocks, with the exception of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scott, who must somehow overcome the aliens, revive the crew and return home.

    ***Plot Spoiler Alert***

    The great D.C. Fontana gets a co-writing credit for this episode, but it is hard to believe she had much to do with it. I like only one feature of this episode. The reducing of the crew to small blocks of chemicals. The scene where the crewman is killed by Rojan is very powerful. However, the method by which they are transformed (belts) is comical, and hints at the episodes other major problems. The biggest difficulties with this episode revolve around the crew's solution to the problem. The crew "Humanizes" the aliens so they become disgusted with themselves and agree to return to the very planet they were marooned on and hate. That makes no sense at all. Not to mention the manner in which this is accomplished (getting one drunk, McCoy drugging another, and Kirk kissing the girl) is laughable. Also, these light-hearted scenes are jarring, because they follow very dramatic ones. Overall, this is has to be one of the weaker episodes of ST:TOS.

    Personal Rating: 1 Star
     
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  3. Luke The Drifter

    Luke The Drifter Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
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    stevensrip-1.jpg

    Trivia:

    This is the second appearance of the Galactic Barrier at the edge of the galaxy.

    The title is a fragment of a quote from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet."

    A three-dimensional chess set is often seen in the series, but a three-dimensional checkers set can be seen in the rec room in this episode. It is later destroyed in a fight.

    Yeoman Leslie Thompson has the dubious distinction of being the only female "redshirt" to die during an episode of Star Trek (1966) the Original Series.
     
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  4. benjaminhuf

    benjaminhuf Forum Resident

    This episode truly does have all of the problems that Luke points out, and yet I like it a bit better than he does. I'd probably give it about a "B-" grade. The idea of dehydrating a human down to a little shape of white was, for some reason, haunting to me as a boy an young teenager. Kelinda was a little bit haunting too! It's silly in many ways, but I found the comic battle at the end to be amusing and funny at times.
     
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  5. gloomrider

    gloomrider Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Hollywood, CA, USA
    Lezlie Dalton (Drea) just doesn't get the love she should. She only got a few seconds of screen time, but I remember wanting to see more of her at the time. :love:

    Drea.jpg
     
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  6. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    I should have watched this one again before reading your review, now I know I won't be able to "unsee" it! :laugh:
     
  7. Luke The Drifter

    Luke The Drifter Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    I actually don't mind watching this episode, but it is hard to defend it when tasked with writing a review.
     
  8. jriems

    jriems Audio Ojiisan

    I have to go back to Patterns Of Force for a minute, and just say that it's one of my faves simply due to how cool Kirk, Spock and McCoy look in their Nazi uniforms.

    Carry on...
     
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  9. jriems

    jriems Audio Ojiisan

    I don't mind the Scotty drinking scene in By Any Other Name. I love the way Scotty mournfully gives up his prized beverages - like he's sacrificing an old friend for the greater good.
     
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  10. apileocole

    apileocole Lush Life Gort

  11. tkl7

    tkl7 Agent Provocateur

    Location:
    Lewis Center, OH
    I enjoyed this episode as a kid. The idea of them reducing people to the base chemicals was especially frightening, and effective when the female crew member was killed. I never felt that the episode was weak in itself, but I could see it being a little idealistic and clumsy in the resolution. The fact that it followed the Nazi episode, which is pretty iconic, probably didn't help it.
     
  12. Michelle66

    Michelle66 Senior Member

    One interesting aspect of "By Any Other Name" that makes no sense when you think about it (because Starfleet obviously never did), is that the superior modifications the Kelvans made to the ship were forgotten by the next episode.

    The aliens tricked out the Enterprise so it could make the journey to another galaxy in only a couple of hundred years.

    That was faster than anything Starfleet could do in Kirk's time, and probably faster than what the Borg were doing in Picard's time.

    But, whoops! The episode ends with Kirk victorious and it looks like Starfleet merely ripped the technology out of the ship and didn't attempt to learn from it.

    Oh, well....
     
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  13. apileocole

    apileocole Lush Life Gort

    Well... Scotty would have been suffering from a hangover at the time. :D

    Yeah they definitely hit the big red reset button after that one.
     
  14. Luke The Drifter

    Luke The Drifter Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    Reminiscent of Uhura having her memory completely wiped in an earlier episode, and then showing no ill after effects.
     
  15. greelywinger

    greelywinger Osmondia

    Location:
    Dayton, Ohio USA
    Stewart Moss who plays Hanar was also seen in 'The Naked Time' as Lieutenant Joseph Tormolen.

    Get off me! You don't rank me and you don't have pointed ears, so just get off my neck!

    Darryl
     
  16. apileocole

    apileocole Lush Life Gort

    I'd suggest it wasn't intended to present Gill's views as twisted, but rather to present, as TOS often did, a scifi morality play using a (then common) perception that the Nazi were efficient and advanced to present the story's premise that no matter how well meaning the intent, one cannot make a just and good society from a morally flawed ideology (Nazi fascism). Or, as they quote the proverb, "absolute power corrupts absolutely." Gill's intentions of course contrast with those of Hitler even as their situations increasingly parallel.

    Strange, I thought I'd written about Patterns of Force before, yet I can't find any trace. Patterns of memory loss... The episode is a memorable one though. IMH it plays on too few set pieces; it sure spends plenty of time in the jail set and more importantly, showing more of the society could have given it a lot more power. As it is, a lot of the power depends on revealing the tragedy of Gill, to the point it could almost be titled The Rise and Fall of Herr Gill. Which does have surprising potency, considering we didn't know him.

    Patterns of Force - 3 1/2 Tribbles.
    By Any Other Name - 2 Tribbles.

    :agree: Can't say I cared for the other two though. Or most of the episode.
     
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  17. greelywinger

    greelywinger Osmondia

    Location:
    Dayton, Ohio USA


    Darryl
     
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  18. Anthology123

    Anthology123 Senior Member

    Going back to Patterns of Force, I remember seeing commercials for Star Trek back in the early days, and they used the scene of Spock burning the lock on the jail cell with the light bulb.
     
  19. apileocole

    apileocole Lush Life Gort

    A few more random thoughts:

    The titles of those two - Patterns of Force and By Any Other Name - could be reversed and work at least as well.

    Another positive for By Any Other Name: Kirk's reactions to the murder of Leslie Thompson was well expressed.

    Of course Patterns of Force sees Kirk resorting to familiar "patterns of force" in trying to rouse Gill with the old fashioned "slap his face off!" at one point. Yeah that'll help... Patrick Horgan reminds me of a sinister Gene Kelly and Valora Noland (Daras) reminds me of Caroline John (Liz Shaw in Doctor Who). Or... visa versa.
     
  20. Michelle66

    Michelle66 Senior Member

    That was just an excuse to show a bare-chested Leonard Nimoy! :love:
     
  21. Erik Tracy

    Erik Tracy Meet me at the Green Dragon for an ale

    Location:
    San Diego, CA, USA
    Quick comment on "By Any Other Name" -

    I understand the dislike of the plot 'solution' by humanizing the protagonists - but this line of thought does touch on one of the aspects of interstellar space travel and the vast distances involved where the species that begins a multigenerational trip may not be the same as those who arrive at the destination.

    It is a real issue that pesters discussions of space travel today - so in hindsight this was actually quite astute...imo.
     
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  22. Luke The Drifter

    Luke The Drifter Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    #52: The Omega Glory

    Original Air Date: 3/1/68

    Stardate: Unknown

    As the Enterprise approaches planet Omega IV, they find another starship, the U.S.S. Exeter, in orbit. Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam aboard to find the ship abandoned but strewn with uniforms and crystals. The last log entry from the ship's surgeon tells them they have been infected with a deadly virus brought aboard from a returning landing party. Kirk's party beams down to the planet's surface and finds there is one Exeter survivor: Captain Ron Tracey. He has apparently ignored the Prime Directive and has taken sides in a local dispute supporting the Kohms against their arch-rivals, the Yangs. As McCoy tries to find a cure for the virus, Spock and Kirk try to make sense of the situation. They eventually realize there is an odd parallel with Earth's own history.

    The Omega Glory was one of the original scripts put forth for the 2nd pilot, so it had been around for awhile. Gene Roddenberry receives the writing credit for it, and one wonders if it was not a pet project for him. Most of the episode is good, if not great. I love seeing other starships, and the abandoned Exeter is a spooky image. The disintegrated crewmen adds to that image, and hearkens back to the "human blocks" from the previous week's episode. It gets better, as Morgan Woodward plays an excellent character in Captain Tracey. One of my favorite bits is when they find the emptied phaser packs, which leaves a LOT to the imagination. The confrontation between Kirk and Tracey (and Mr. Sulu's excellent command sequence) are also strong.

    It is at this point the wheels come flying off. Even if earth parallels are believable, this one does not play well at all. I understand that Roddenberry was pushing for a U.S./communism angle, but usually when Trek does this, it is subtle. Here, we are beaten over the head with it (and I am a patriotic person). Shatner's reading of his final speech, may be the most unfortunate in all of Trek. I think a nice challenge for this episode, is how would you have ended it differently? As is, the ending ruins an otherwise solid episode.

    Personal Rating: 2 Stars
     
  23. Luke The Drifter

    Luke The Drifter Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    omega-glory.jpg

    Trivia:

    This was one of three scripts submitted to NBC (along with Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before (1966) and Star Trek: Mudd's Women (1966) when they were seeking to do a second pilot for the series. They ultimately chose to kickstart the series with "Where No Man Has Gone Before".

    Scenes from The Omega Glory were featured in a set of View Master (3-D) slides.

    Morgan Woodward had appeared in the season 1 episode “Dagger of the Mind” as Dr. van Gelder.
     
  24. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    The Omega Glory starts out so good, with such an appearance of mystery surrounding the disappearance of the crew of the Exeter, and then it descends into such execrable silliness. I don't know what's worse - the whole parallel-planet-where-the-commies-win scenario or the fact that Kirk has to prove his political philosophy points by defeating Tracey in a punch-up. It still astounds me that THIS is one of the rare Roddenberry-penned episodes. I suppose I need to watch this one again to make sure that I'm not missing something, but it's hard to think of this as anything other than a very failed attempt at something.
     
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  25. gloomrider

    gloomrider Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Hollywood, CA, USA
    Agreed. E pleb neesta indeed. :wtf:
     
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