Star Trek (TOS): Episode By Episode Thread

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

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  1. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Shame about the wigs, but A Private Little War has long been a particular favorite episode of mine, and without doubt my favorite 60's pop culture commentary on Vietnam. I like the fact that this episode, alone of every other episode in the series, closes on a foreboding note. The fact that there really is no comfortable resolution is a much more realistic and sophisticated take on the issue, whereas most antiwar postures of the time seemed to suggest that if everyone just stuck flowers in the barrels of guns then all the problems would magically go away.
     
  2. JeffMo

    JeffMo Format Agnostic

    Location:
    New England
    What is interesting growing up in the 70s is that our local channel would seemingly not show all 79 episodes in syndication - there were certain ones aired more than others so I recall in the 80s on VHS and again in the 90s on DVD being suprised at how fresh several of them were to me.
     
  3. JeffMo

    JeffMo Format Agnostic

    Location:
    New England
    Well since you brought that up Michelle, I will say that I love how the original movies like Wrath of Kahn built on and stay continuous with TOS, and I hate how the latest movies are messing with things. But at age 45 I'm well aware that I'm not their target audience!

    Harry, it is cool that you were there for the original broadcasts on tv and it must have been something else to be a kid during the atual moon landing.

    To move back on topic, I just ordered some of the remastered versions of TOS from my library. I've seen the original dvds many, many times and only a couple of episodes with the new special effects. Great thread!
     
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  4. HGN2001

    HGN2001 Mystery picture member

    Yeah, there always seem to be non-favorite episodes that feel very fresh when viewed after a lot of years. The most recent entry being discussed here is "A Private Little War", and that one's never been a favorite of mine. Individual scenes and lines are fun, but overall, it really falls flat for me, and as a result, I haven't intentionally watched it in probably a couple of decades - and I'm not all that eager to screen it on my Blu-ray set either, but will possibly make the time.

    Harry
     
  5. Luke The Drifter

    Luke The Drifter Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    #49: Return To Tomorrow

    Original Air Date: 2/9/68

    Stardate: 4768.3

    The Enterprise investigates a planet that has been lifeless for countless years. After being contacted telepathically, a landing party beams inside the planet. It is there that the landing party meets three beings that reside in spheres as pure energy. Kirk, Spock and astro-biologist Mulhall agree to allow the beings to possess their bodies while they construct replacement mechanical bodies. The crew is soon betrayed, and now face loss of control and loss of life.

    Return To Tomorrow explores themes we have seen before (What Are Little Girls Made Of), but it is presented in a fresh way. The episode does a nice job of building tension, as the audience correctly predicts the mistake made by Captain and crew in allowing the aliens to use their bodies. Then you have the conspiracy, which endangers Kirk's body, and the imminent danger to Mr. Spock. What adds particular weight to this episode, is a twist ending that comes off very well. The only negative to this episode, is that Shatner does not handle his "possessed" character very well. I think "overacting" (from Shatner? Surely not) would be the appropriate word here. It still ranks as one of the better episodes of season 2.

    Personal Rating: 4 Stars
     
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  6. Luke The Drifter

    Luke The Drifter Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
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    Sargon_crew.jpg

    Trivia:

    The voice of Sargon was played by James Doohan. Sargon of Akkad was a Mesopotamian king, who by most accounts, began ruling around 2269 B.C. In the show the year is around 2268 A.D.

    In Kirk's speech on risk, he states "Do you wish that the first Apollo mission hadn't reached the moon?" At the time of the original airing, only one year after the launch pad fire that killed the Apollo 1 crew, reaching the moon was far from certain and the risks were enormous.

    First Star Trek appearance of Diana Muldaur. She would also appear in the episode Star Trek: Is There in Truth No Beauty? (1968), as well as appear as the 2nd Season regular character of Dr. Kathryn Pulaski on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987).

    Thalassa is a Greek name for the sea. Henoch is a variation of the Hebrew name Enoch, who in the Book of Genesis was a man taken bodily to Heaven without dying.
     
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  7. wayne66

    wayne66 Forum Resident

    Kirk's "Risk is our business" is one of his finest speeches from the show. I love the chance that the writers took in predicting that the Apollo mission would reach the moon. A fine episode. Also good to see Diana Muldaur in her first appearance on Star Trek.
     
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  8. Michelle66

    Michelle66 Senior Member

    Have no fear....Sargon is here! :goodie:

     
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  9. Luke The Drifter

    Luke The Drifter Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
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    Agreed. Those are two of many wonderful features of this episode. It is just that scenes where Kirk represents Sargon in his body that come off as over-the-top.
     
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  10. JeffMo

    JeffMo Format Agnostic

    Location:
    New England
    Thanks for posting that - I've been laughing about it all day!
     
  11. benjaminhuf

    benjaminhuf Forum Resident

    Not one of my top episodes, but I like it well enough. The ending is somewhat poignant as the aliens die:
    "Oblivion together does not frighten me, beloved. Promise we'll be together."
    "I promise, beloved."- Thalassa and Sargon, inside Mulhall's and Kirk's bodies for the final time.

    And Kirk's "Risk is Our Business" Speech is good:
    "They used to say if man could fly, he'd have wings... but he did fly. He discovered he had to. Do you wish that the first Apollo mission hadn't reached the moon, or that we hadn't gone on to Mars or the nearest star? That's like saying you wish that you still operated with scalpels and sewed your patients up with catgut like your great-great-great-great-grandfather used to. I'm in command. I could order this. But I'm not... because... Dr. McCoy is right in pointing out the enormous danger potential in any contact with life and intelligence as fantastically advanced as this. But I must point out that the possibilities, the potential for knowledge and advancement is equally great. Risk... risk is our business! That's what this starship is all about... that's why we're aboard her!"- Kirk, convincing Spock, McCoy, Scott and Mulhall to accept Sargon's offer
     
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  12. Physically impossible in that time frame. I don't care HOW advanced their science is.
     
  13. I don't care for Shatner's delivery of this bit. It reminds me too much of this:

     
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  14. greelywinger

    greelywinger Osmondia

    Location:
    Dayton, Ohio USA
    RE A Private Little War...

    If slapping a Vulcan is necessary when they go unconscious...why didn't McCoy slap Sarek in "Jounrey to Babel"?

    Darryl
     
  15. apileocole

    apileocole Lush Life Gort

    Because Amanda did it for him.

    (option #2)

    He didn't really want another Babeling Vulcan.
     
  16. Michelle66

    Michelle66 Senior Member

    Shatner got quite a bit "overly dramatic" during a number of episodes towards the end of season two.

    There's the "danger is our business" speech above, the "ANTIBODIES!" revelation (when he repeatedly slaps McCoy's face) in "The Immunity Syndrome", and the flag-waving extravaganza at the climax of "The Omega Glory".

    Don't get me wrong, I love Shatner's Kirk. It's just that his speechifyin' in some episodes makes me roll my eyes a bit.

     
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  17. Michelle66

    Michelle66 Senior Member

  18. benjaminhuf

    benjaminhuf Forum Resident

    Shatner's over-the-top Kirk is, as others have said, totally part of the original Trek. Without that it's not the same. It's so bad it's good imho.
     
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  19. Meng

    Meng Forum Resident

    The last 10 minutes or so of The Omega Glory is hideously embarrassing.

    But I love the "risk is our business" speech.
     
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  20. benjaminhuf

    benjaminhuf Forum Resident

    The Omega Glory is one of the worst speeches in all of history, on tv or anywhere else, but I think that potentially gives it a weird entertainment value if you're in the right mood for it: "EEEE Plebneeesta!....Not just for the Yangs! Not just for the Comms! But for ALL the PEOPLE!"

    I think only Shatner can act with an exclamation point at the end of every phrase or even word. For example: "Still! Old! Friend! You've managed to kill just about everyone else! But like a poor marksman, you keep! missing! the! target!"
     
  21. greelywinger

    greelywinger Osmondia

    Location:
    Dayton, Ohio USA
  22. The Omega Glory was a dog. The teaser was brilliant though and the idea that they were infected by some sort of virus that would turn them into their basic chemical structure was also quite innovative at the time.

    Curiously, this was the first episode of "Star Trek" that I remember being released as part of the View Master 3D series. Why they didn't select "City on the Edge of Forever" or one of the stronger episodes is beyond me but, I suspect, Roddenberry was asked and he chose this one because he would get additional writers residuals from it somehow.
     
  23. Luke The Drifter

    Luke The Drifter Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    #50: Patterns Of Force

    Original Air Date: 2/16/68

    Stardate: 2534.0

    The Enterprise tracks the missing Federation's cultural observer, Professor John Gill, to the reportedly primitive and peaceful planet of Ekos. When Kirk and Spock beam down, they find the Ekosians have turned into a Nazi society, with Gill as its Fuhrer, and are at war with the peaceful people of neighboring planet Zeon. They steal uniforms to enter the headquarters; but when Spock is forced to remove his helmet, his ears betray them and they are led straight to the torture chamber. After a flogging as 'Zeon spies,' they manage to escape with the Zeon prisoner Isak, who takes them to the Zeon resistance. The resistance tests them, and plots with an Ekosian defector to get to Gill, posing as a Nazi propaganda film crew. Inside they discover things are not quite as they appear.

    I must preface this by saying, I am a history teacher, and World War II is my favorite historical subject. This fact has always made me biased toward this episode, as combining Star Trek with Nazis was bound to peak my interest. The earth parallel episodes are a running theme in seasons 2 & 3 of ST:TOS. I can not think of one of these episodes that would rank as top episodes of the series. I do like how this particular parallel emerged, as a professor blatantly violated the Prime Directive with his twisted views on earth history (the Nazis were not very efficient, btw). I enjoy the military score to this episode, but the actual plot, acting and ending solution come off a little flat. But, because the topic interests me...

    Personal Rating: 3 Stars
     
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  24. Luke The Drifter

    Luke The Drifter Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
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    PatternsOfForce0447.jpg

    Trivia:

    The character Eneg (Patrick Horgan) is Gene Roddenberry's first name, spelled backwards.

    This episode was filmed on the 25th anniversary of the Holocaust. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, both being of Jewish backgrounds, felt compelled that Kirk (disguised as an S.S. Kommadatur) and Spock (disguised as a Gestapo) should defeat the Nazi Reich on planets Ekos and Zeon.

    The name of the planet Zeon is a variation of the word "Zion", a Hebrew term, as in Mount Zion, near the city of Jerusalem. The names of the zeons: Isak, Davod and Abrom are obvious references to Isaac, David, and Abraham traditional Hebrew biblical names.

    The "leader principle" Kirk mentions at the end of the episode was a foundation of the leadership in Nazi Germany. Known in German as "Führerprinzip", it essentially can be described as a state of law in which there are no laws above those of the Führer, and that the government must obey and enforce such laws.

    The Schulberg Building (formerly, the Directors Building) and the Lubitsch Building (formerly, the Producers Building), both located on the Paramount Studios lot, were used for the exterior shots of the Ekosian Nazi headquarters complex.

    The second occasion, after Star Trek: The City on the Edge of Forever (1967), where Vulcans are shown to have body hair, with Spock fully removing his shirt to show a full front torso covered in hair.
     
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  25. Luke The Drifter

    Luke The Drifter Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    United States
    Apparently you "Zeon pigs" have been rounded up.
     
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