Star Trek (TOS): Episode-by-Episode Thread (Part Two)

You're going to throw fruits at me, but as you can see above The Way To Eden actually makes my top ten for the weak third season. In spite of all the cringeworthy stuff that Luke mentions, to me there are some good things in this one.

First, Spock grants respect to their beliefs and their search for an eden. This is IDIC in action, as far as I'm concerned, and shows what for me is a very good side of Spock and Star Trek—the respect for different ways of life and beliefs.

When the space hippies chant "Herbert! Herbert! Herbert!" at Spock, he calmly repies, "I am *not* 'Herbert.'" For me, that always gets a laugh, but there's something deeper about it too.

Adam says something like, "You're not Herbert. We 'reach' man!" Spock in this is not just saying that his name isn't Herbert, but that he's much deeper than just a figure of authority. Spock's a figure of authenticity. And he's going to try to help them find what they are looking for.

But that doesn't stop Spock from recognizing with chilling certainty that Dr. Sevrin is insane. Spock tries to warn Adam, since they've made a connection, but can't get through. To me, all of that worked better as drama than Requiem.

And the idea that a sterile civilization itself could produce a killer disease seems more accurate and disturbing than many of the made-up things on Star Trek. Hospitals are now environments for generating killer bacteria that are almost immune to all antibiotics, as we all know.

Finally, there is a genuine moment of almost horror, imho, when Spock looks down on Adam's twitching body with the bite out of the weird fruit, and says in the way only Spock can: "His name was Adam." No exclamation point, perhaps, but very heavy with irony.

There, that's most of why I like parts of what for some is the most hated or worst episode in all of TOS.

 

Forgot: Requiem for Methuselah rating: 2 nondescript Tribbles.

They lost the plot on The Way to Eden and it is more cringe-worthy than most other things in TOS sometimes reputed as such. A 1-Tribble rating from me. But Ben's post above is a great example of disagreement or debate that I enjoy seeing. The insight and perspective can enhance one's appreciation.

In spite of my overall disdain for The Way to Eden, I solidly disagree with the quote in a post above, that: "If anyone wishes that Star Trek had one additional season, they should watch this episode."

Perhaps the proliferation of subsequent Star Trek productions has made some blase, but it should also serve to point up how unique the original series was. There have been new series or movies titled Star Trek, with and without the original cast. Some may even be objectively 'better'. But the styles and sensibilities of all the personnel (composers, make up artists, engineers, etc) and of the times can only be imitated based upon what exists if that's even tried; there hasn't been and won't ever be more with the qualities and character, good or bad, of the original Star Trek.

Should it be assumed that a 4th season would have been the same or worse than the 3rd season when that season wasn't the same as the previous? We just don't know. But I think it's more certain at least some portion of a 4th season would have inspired imaginations as all 3 seasons before had and would still be enjoyed, reminisced and debated today. Seems to me that would be more than worth whatever "embarrassment" some of it may or may not cause.

 

I know that The Way to Eden is a very poor Star Trek episode. I still enjoy it like I enjoy Spock's Brain. It is not boring to me, unlike Requiem for Methuselah. I do take that back. Methuselah has grown on me. I can see its positive elements. Truly cringeworthy moments for me are included in the episode Plato's Stepchildren where Kirk and Spock are forced to do embarrassing things for the amusement of the Platonians.
I agree that the 4th season would have had its ups and downs if they filmed it. Yet I would have found something to enjoy in even the most difficult episodes. The original Star Trek was a very special series to me. I grew up on it and it still remains wonderful after nearly 50 years. I still want to see the Animated Series get expanded and reanimated along with the computer game episodes to create the final two years of its original 5 year mission.

 

#76: The Cloud Minders

Original Air Date: 2/28/69

Stardate: 5818.4

Kirk and the Enterprise arrive at the planet Ardana to collect a supply of zenite, needed to combat a botanical plague. The Stratosians live in a city suspended in the clouds, far above the planet. They are highly intelligent and devote most of their time to art and intellectual pursuits. On the planet however live the Troglites, a primitive people who work in the mines. The Stratosians face a rebellion from the planet's populace by a group of Troglites known as the Disruptors. In the city above, one particular Stratosian, the beautiful Droxine, takes a particular interest in Mr. Spock. Kirk soon realizes that the Disruptors may have legitimate complaints and is forced to deal with them when they steal the zenite shipment. They also discover there may be an explanation for the Troglites' limited intellectual capacity.

The subject matter for this episode reaches the lofty standards of Star Trek, as the eternal question of class inequality is explored. It is a perfect representation of this conflict as the privileged class lives literally in the clouds, and the underclass below ground. Intrigue is added to the plot, as an infiltrator is afoot in the cloud city. Action sequences abound as a mild rebellion takes place, with Kirk caught in the middle.

Everything I just said sounds like a great episode, and I do believe a great episode is hiding here somewhere. However, the final product comes up short. I do not even know if I can put my finger on what all the problems are. Some things are obvious, like the mask that is a key plot device and looks ridiculous. Also, the story needed to take more chances. The solution to the inequality does not take an ambitious stand. The writer of the original story (David Gerrold - writer of The Trouble With Tribbles) was not happy with the final script due to this point. He cuts to the heart of the problem with this scathing quote, "And if we can just get them troglytes to wear gas masks, then they'll be happy little darkies and they'll pick all the cotton we need." In the end, one feels this episode could have been much more.

Personal Rating: 2.5 Stars

 

Trivia:

Fred Williamson: as Vanna's ally Anka. This was one of the first TV roles for football star Williamson, who later became a prolific film actor.

This episode contains a unique sequence with Spock giving an internal monologue which contained clips recapping the events up to that point.

The image of the planet river, seen from the Cloud City balcony, is the Hadramawt Plateau dry river basin in southern Yemen, taken by astronauts on the Gemini IV orbital mission in 1965. For the remastered effect, the distant mountains on the horizon are based on a different photo taken by astronauts on the International Space Station.

It has been said that Star Trek was not allowed to show women's navels, but the navels of both women guest stars -Diana Ewing and Charlene Polite - are visible.

Star Trek: Enterprise Executive Producer Manny Coto has mentioned on several occasions that if the series had gone on to a fifth season, they would have done a prequel episode to "The Cloud Minders" which would have featured the city of Stratos.

 

I think one can look to the brief animated series that followed to see what a possible 4th year would have looked like. It had some of the same writers, and the same "talent." Based on that, I don't think a 4th season would've been any worse than the third, and may have been an improvement.

 

I thought some of the original creative team that left Season 3 of Trek returned for ST:TAS. I assume that the team that was in charge of Season 3 would have done a Season 4, and would not expect the results to be as strong as ST:TAS.

Assuming I understand the production of both series correctly.

 

Who can really say?

 

If season 3 producer Fred Freiburger(sp) was replaced for our mythical season 4 with somebody who understood Star Trek better I think the results would have been a return to form. I think Keim is correct in that the animated series was an improvement over season 3. If the animated series was produced as a live action series than I think many more people would have a higher opinion of it. Gene Roddenberry was involved in the series, many of the writers including Dorothy Fontana were also involved as well as most of the main cast.

 

Requiem for Methuselah

The word ryetalin sounds too much like ritalin.
Rayna always seem to act in a robotic manner
Even before you knew she was one.

Darryl

 

The Way To Eden

It's funny to see Charles Napier in this,
When I mostly know him from The Blues Brothers.



Darryl

 

Considering it's from the Third Season, I'd say The Cloud Minders is a fairly good episode. I guess I'd give it a B-. As Luke says, there's something a little off or missing about it, but I'd need to watch it again to try to identify what it is.

The cloud city idea is a popular one in sci fi. Didn't Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon have one? And then, of course, there's The Empire Strikes Back, which looks much better in the redone version.

 

Regarding The Cloud Minders, I always liked actor Jeff Corey. He was good in almost everything he did. I always liked the idea of a city in the clouds. Cool concept. Still, I think about the man who was being interrogated and who chose to jump to his death. I wondered how many people who lived there accidentally fell out of the buildings and died. It seems like they should have some pretty high guard rails for the more accident prone. Good late series episode.

 

I've read a lot of posts on the subject of ST: TAS, and one of the common themes is the idea of redoing the animation while utilizing the original soundtrack with the original TOS actors. One of the problems I have with that is that the actors in the TAS episodes tend to have a quiet, reading-lines-in-a-sound-booth quality to them. Everything sounds kind of low-key. In the original series, these actors would emote their lines and the sets had certain acoustic properties that sounded more natural than the booth-like readings in TAS.

Never much cared for either of these last three episodes in the thread. "The Way To Eden" always seemed too far a stretch. Space-hippies indeed - sounds like a plot from LOST IN SPACE. Oh wait - they did it too!

"Requiem For Methusaleh" I liked a bit better. James Daly was always a classy guest star in whatever TV role he was given. I didn't mind the fact that Flint was all of the great minds and artists of history. That was kind of a neat idea, but the android plot got in the way, I thought. One thing I *did* like was the final moment of Spock allowing Kirk to "forget." That was maybe one of the most memorable and classy moments in all of STAR TREK.

"The Cloud Minders" - nice idea of a cloud city. Spock going all gooey for the female of the week was a bit contrived. I've not seen the remastered versions of any of these, so I'll have that to look forward to whenever I do get around to checking out the Blu-rays.

Harry

 

One big problem with "The Cloud Minders" is how freely Spock speaks of the Vulcan mating practices...to a woman he just met.

In "Amok Time", Spock seems like he'd rather die than to discuss the topic with non-Vulcans.

At this point in the third season, the actors seem to just be going through the motions...

 

We reach!

 

You beat me to it as that is EXACTLY how this episode looks and feels like to me. The visual feel of the space hippies is very LIS IMO.

In the jam session, one of the hippie musicians is actually playing a bicycle rim!

That is so indicative of the now classic Irwin Allen "no one will notice and even if they do...so what?" aesthetic that I have to laugh every time I see it.

Is this the lowest of the low? Maybe not but it is really really close... for me any way.

 

Exactly. I could not agree more on both points ...

 

Years behind on this thread, but last night I watched "The Conscience of a King" and thought it was a really interesting episode. It was interesting how they assumed that the (presumably young) audience would get the Shakespeare allusions, and the plot was interesting in that it was basically a psychological plot like Macbeth, i.e., nothing really "happens" other than the psychological unraveling of the daughter (was there ever any doubt that the actor was in fact Kodos?). Unlike the next chronological episode, "Balance of Terror," there are no outer-space phaser duels or much, if any, "action." Indeed, as I think someone noted in the now-closed first part of this thread, there is no real sci-fi element to the story at all. It could have just as easily been set in the then-present of the 1960s.

Kudos to the writers for slipping the line past the censors where the daughter refers to the Enterprise's "powerful, throbbing" engines and then asks Kirk if he is "like that."

 

#77: The Savage Curtain

Original Air Date: 3/7/69

Stardate: 5906.4

The Enterprise's sensor readings indicate a planet unsuitable for life. Suddenly they get an apparition in space from someone who looks like and claims to be Abraham Lincoln. He insists Kirk and Spock beam to a small area of the planet's surface (which has suddenly developed a perfect atmosphere for humans). There they meet Surak, the greatest Vulcan of all time, equally convincing. The quartet is greeted by a creature consisting of molten rock who presents them to notorious historical villains Ghengis Khan, Colonel Green, Zora and the Klingon Kahless the Unforgettable. They're told the teams must battle to the death against each other to teach the creature the concept of good vs. evil. When Kirk refuses to continue, the creature ups the stakes by causing a power disaster which will blow up the Enterprise in four hours unless they win.

Although Season 3 is the weakest of ST:TOS, it did go out with a bang. The final run begins with The Savage Curtain. One of my absolute favorite episodes as a kid, it has mystery and adventure a plenty, and even some social commentary. This episode contains one of the greatest setups of the series, as the crew first meets an apparition of Abraham Lincoln (played wonderfully by Lee Bergere), and then greets him in full dress . But, the greatest strength of this episode is the cast of characters that are introduced into the Star Trek universe. The rock creature gives us a non-humanoid alien, which was always a treat. And the forces of good and evil it conjures are better yet. Surak is a wonderful character, but I always enjoyed the "Legion of Doom" more. The introduction scene of these evil characters is one of my favorite scenes of the series. The conclusion to the battle is a little disappointing, and the spears are laughable, but it is still a great deal of fun. Gene Roddenberry wrote this episode, and it seems his presence took everything up a notch.

Personal Rating: 4 Stars

 

Trivia:

Colonel Green's uniform was recycled into the spacesuit worn by Mork in his appearances on Happy Days (1974) and Mork & Mindy (1978).

The characters of Zora and Genghis Khan have no lines. This is probably due to budget constraints, as actors with speaking parts were paid significantly more than background actors.

Tiburon, homeland of the cruel scientist Zora, is named after the Spanish word for shark, and was also the homeland of Doctor Sevrin, the villain-of-the-week of Star Trek: The Way to Eden (1969).

Star Trek The Original Series was notoriously inconsistent in its clues as to when it takes place. This one contains two contradictory statements within itself. Early on, Scotty says that Abraham Lincoln has been dead for 3 centuries, suggesting that they are in the middle of the 22nd century. Later, Colonel Phillip Green is said to be from the 21st century and that his treachery happened "centuries ago." The plural reference to centuries since the 21st suggests they're past the 22nd and into at least the 23rd.

Kahless is seen here in the Klingon style typical of TOS. It would seem to contradict the explanation given in ENT: "Divergence" for the change in physical appearance of the Klingons, since Kahless lived long before those events. However, since the image of Kahless was drawn from Kirk's and Spock's minds, not from "fact", this is not necessarily a contradiction.

This is the second and final mention in a TOS episode that it may be possible to separate the nacelles from the ship, in this case by specifically jettisoning them.

This is the final episode of the series to feature the entire ensemble cast of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu and Chekov. As a result, this episode also marks the final appearance of Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) in the series.

The first choice for the role of Lincoln was none other than Mark Lenard, but prior commitments prohibited him from taking the part. As Lenard explained it, “I was doing a series at the time called Here Come the Brides in which I played Aaron Stemple, the resident bad guy/rich man. The Lincoln segment came up about Christmas time when we had a slight hiatus, and I thought I could work it in. I had already played two roles on Star Trek and they were well received. But it turned out we just couldn’t work it in. I think we went back to work on the other series too soon, and instead of having the six or seven days I would have needed to do the role, I only had three or four days.”

 

Never knew about Mark Lenard being offered the role of Lincoln. Would have been cool, even though Bergere does a fine turn.

Somehow, I always found this episode a notch below my favorites of the season. I think the individual parts of the episode don't quite make up a whole. But it's still one of the better ones of the third season.

Harry

 

It is interesting to see how the Klingon Kahless is portrayed as evil and sinister on TOS, while on Star Trek TNG he is portrayed as a much more sympathetic character. When I am in a goofy mood I do my impression of Kahless when he is imitating Surak to lure Spock over "Help me Spock, Help me"

 

My favorite bit from "The Savage Curtain" is when Shatner splits his pants in the butt while fighting...!

 

I had forgotten which episode that was.

Darryl