Star Trek (TOS): Episode By Episode Thread

Better pipes than the Shat....!:

 

This is probably my favorite episode. Or at least it's in the top 3. But you've covered it so well, I don't have anything to add at the moment....

 

Darryl

 

This thread is rekindling my interest in a show that once obsessed me-- only now I can buy it! Any recommendations of which set to own (2004 DVD or later DVD/BR)? I see the older set is more expensive-- is it better in any way?

 

The Blu-Ray is the ONLY way to fly on this one. The remastered images are beautiful, and it has the new effects. But better yet, it lets you "toggle" between the old and new effects, so you can watch the episodes however you want!

 

Great, thank you! Can't believe how little it's going for ($75)

 

I haven't re-viewed "Assignment:Earth" in many years, but it always used to be one of favorite episodes. I really liked the Gary Seven character and would have gladly watched that series had it materialized. I also liked Teri Garr and her miniskirt. I always think of Teri Garr as "that girl dressed as a creamsicle on that Star Trek episode." The only glaring stupidity I can remember was the implicit jealousy that Roberta displayed toward Seven's cat. I mean, was it too much to depict a boss/secretary relationship that didn't immediately plunge into some implicit romantic entanglement? "I've been hanging out with this guy for several hours in a tense situation, therefore he's mine, and all alien cat ladies better back off!"

 

Great episode, I watched it again recently. The scenario is not without problems, but it clearly depicts the Kirk method of captain-ing. You can bet this was his idea: set up the situation so that the prize is an undetectable cloaking device (and a restoration of the balance of power between the Federation and its enemies) and the maximum risk is only to Kirk himself. Kirk is literally gambling his life to cheat the Romulans out of a military advantage. Now, of course the hole in this plot is that he also gambles either the Romulans getting the Enterprise intact (a big score for them), or the lives of his entire crew, as Scotty surely would have made good on his threat to destroy the Enterprise rather than have it fall into Romulan hands. Nevertheless, this is a great example of Kirk's self-sacrificing approach to leadership.

Oh, though I have to point out that giving Kirk a Romulan cosmetic makeover was pretty stupid. Couldn't they have at least one other person on board qualified to perform espionage?

 

In the class I'm going to try to teach on Trek, this is one the episodes I've selected. One of the themes in the course would be how political issues of the time are refashioned into a science fiction scenario. For this episode, the notes from Memory Alpha are useful:

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/The_Enterprise_Incident_(episode)

• D.C. Fontana's initial inspiration for this story and its title was the Pueblo incident which involved the capture of an American patrol boat, the USS Pueblo (AGER-2), by North Korean forces during the Vietnam War. The incident occurred January 23, 1968, just two months before Fontana completed her first draft story outline. [1]
• Fontana noted, "It was really based on the Pueblo Incident, in the sense that here's this ship caught spying and they have to find a justification for their being there. Kirk's sanity is put on the line in terms of why they're there. Then, of course, they have to get out safely, preferably with the information they came for. Now that's not what happened with the Pueblo, but the Pueblo Incident kicked off this line of thinking in my mind." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages)

 

Introduced my 8 year old son to the magic of TOS last week with "Doomsday Machine" and "The Changeling". Tonight we watched "Where No Man Has Gone Before". He is the third generation of men in my family now hooked. Can't wait to watch an episode or two with him and my Dad when he visits us this spring!

 

How nice for your son that the magic is truly timeless...and you are able to share that magic with him as well as with your Dad!...

Very cool!

 

I have been able to catch most of the remastered/w/ new effects episodes on Me TV. My only complaint is the horrible way that they have been edited by Me TV to allow for more commercials. A lot of the best scenes and dialog snipped away. But that of course, is a modern day reality.

I do have to say...and this is as a long long time fan who saw his first episode in syndication in 1971..that the new special effects are very tastefully done and mirror the original shots to an incredible degree. These new shots were obviously done by folks who have a true appreciation and respect for the original series.

I was upset that anyone would even think of tampering with TOS but I do have to admit that they did a wonderful job of updating the special effects for the CGI generation...

 

The Enterprise Incident is almost the last episode that would make my list of top ten episodes. Of course, my list of top ten episodes would probably change a little each time I tried to do it, but here's today's list....(Hope others will add some lists too?)

1. The Enterprise Incident
2. Journey to Babel
3. City on the Edge of Forever
4. Amok Time
5. The Menagerie I & II
6. Mirror, Mirror
7. The Doomsday Machine
8. The Immunity Syndrome
9. The Tholian Web
10. Arena

It's probably not a coincidence that my top two episodes were written by Dorothy Catherine ("D.C.") Fontana. At her best, I guess she was my favorite writer for the series, combining deep knowledge of the main characters, well-rounded new characters, exciting plots, and thought-provoking themes. The women in her shows tended to be more complicated than in some Star Trek episodes imho.

 

The top 6 of each season I posted here:
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...ching-it-again-right-now.302351/#post-8277562
still goes, though putting them into one list would be tricky, let alone cutting it to 10. I can add 2 easily to make that list 20: A Piece of the Action and All Our Yesterdays.

Looking at the list of TOS episodes, I'm struck at how memorable and evocative it is for me. Some things have more of a pull for me in memory than watching the actual episode, y'know?

It has a good deal in common with The Twilight Zone in that no matter how much more advanced, explicit and more richly produced other subsequent series may be, despite its being dated, stagey, clumsy or whatever, by watching it you would still have a more vivid and memorable example of the essence of what entertainment oriented scifi offers than most if not all others.

 

This is going back quite a bit, but here's some interesting info on the classic first season episode Balance of Terror, including deleted scenes that were shot for it. I'm planning to try to teach a little college course on Trek (mainly focused on TOS and TNG, but with some on Into Darkness, DS9, and Voyager), and for now have chosen this one as the first episode to show, discuss, and analyze. For me, part of the interest in this episode is the parallel between the "Neutral Zone" of the 23rd century and the Iron Curtain of the 1960s. But it also has World War II parallels.

There were some interesting deleted scenes from Balance of Terror, which are detailed with illustrations at the link below.

http://www.startrekhistory.com/DS3.html

And here's some good background from Memory Alpha.

• The plot of this episode is based on the 1957 movie The Enemy Below, with the Enterprise taking the part of the American destroyer and the Bird-of-Prey with its cloaking device taking the part of the submarine. (The Star Trek Compendium 4th ed., p. 40) Director Vincent McEveety had seen the film but only noticed the differences later, when this was pointed out to him. He commented, "Obviously, it's the same story." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 34)
• Star Trek: The Original Series 365 suggests that Schneider may have also been inspired by another submarine film, Run Silent, Run Deep. The authors note that the film contains a similar plot thread of an officer longing for vengeance, as well as the tactic of releasing wreckage and bodies from a damaged vessel in order to mislead the opposing ship. (p. 063). The Star Trek Compendium also mentions this film as the inspiration along with The Enemy Below. (5th edition, p. 40)
• 
  
• Production

• The music featured during the opening scenes of the wedding ceremony is the 19th century English tune "Long, Long Ago."
• Although phasers are used throughout the episode, the visual effect seen is that which later became used for photon torpedo launches, probably because the term "photon torpedo" was not invented until later in the season, in "Arena". Kirk orders the phasers to be "set for proximity blast"; each phaser blast acts like a Navy depth charge.
• Continuing Trek's "progressive" cultural presentations, an almost unnoticed bit of staging might indicate that Angela Martine was Catholic, as she is seen genuflecting before the altar in the ship's chapel during her aborted wedding ceremony. While hardly controversial today, for the 1960s it was a fairly bold thing to show, considering the prejudice against Catholics that was still common in the United States in those days. (Note, however, that this is not exclusively a Roman Catholic practice. Some Episcopalians, for example, also genuflect in front of the altar.)

Cast

• Two of the actors playing Romulans in this episode would later play Vulcan characters, namely Mark Lenard (Sarek) and Lawrence Montaigne (Stonn).

Costumes

• The Romulan helmets shown aboard the Romulan bridge were designed to cover the ears of the actors. This saved the additional cost of creating prosthetic ear-points for each of the supporting actors. They were reused in "Amok Time" (on Vulcans) and "The Enterprise Incident" for the same reason. (Star Trek: The Original Series 365, p. 173)

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Balance_of_Terror_(episode)

 

Interesting list and mine has some of those as well. I will have to think about it a bit and get back to you.

I was thinking about showing my son "The Immunity Syndrome" or "City on the Edge of Forever" next, but your writeup on "Balance of Terror" convinced me that it has to be next!

"Mirror, Mirror" and "The Menagerie" might be my two favorites overall, but he won't appreciate those episodes as much now as he would after getting to know the characters better first.

 

How true!

My opinion is that this 'feeling' is primarily due to a strong story and giving the actors engaging dialog to carry it - not CGI, blood & gore, and plot contrivances to wrap up an episode.

 

It's good to hear that you are watching Trek with your 8-year old son. I started watched at around that age with my son, and he's now 17--and taller than I am! We've had about a decade of watching the various Star Treks off and on together, and when my daughter got to be about 6, she started joining us as well.

There's something about Star Trek that's missing from most TV these days. I guess it's an optimism, an acceptance of diversity and difference, and a can-do attitude about solving problems. There's obviously a lot more to it than that, but these days most dramas are grim, violent, have a fair amount of sexual content, and are filled with "magic" to drive the plot. Star Trek's technology and aliens with magic powers aren't that much different than magic, but somehow they tried to create at least a slightly more consistent world than something like, say, Fringe....

 

Is it just me or did anyone else get reminded of Doctor Who while they were watching "Assignment: Earth" ?

 

I actually slightly prefer Gene Coon. Here is a list of the episodes they each wrote or helped write.

Coon: Arena, Space Seed, A Taste of Armageddon, Devil in the Dark, Errand of Mercy, The Apple, Metamorphosis, A Piece of the Action, Bread and Circuses, Spock's Brain, Spectre of the Gun, Wink of an Eye, Let That Be Your Last Battlefield

Fontana: Charlie X, Tomorrow is Yesterday, This Side of Paradise, Journey to Babel, Friday's Child, By Any Other Name, The Ultimate Computer, Enterprise Incident

I don't know who I like the most after those two. Probably Jerome Bixby (Mirror, Mirror, Day of the Dove). But those two are in a class of their own.

 

Nice connection.

 

Buy the Blu rays--great image and sound quality AND uncut with no commercials. Or get the DVD's

 

I've always watched the various ST shows with my father. When a new episode aired, we would discuss it during the commercials.
After he passed in 1998 I would be watching a new episode, at the commercial I turned to discuss what happened in the episode, but his chair was empty.
Caught myself doing this more than once after he passed.

Darryl

 

#58: The Paradise Syndrome

Original Air Date: 10/4/68

Stardate: 4842.6

Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down to a planet that is in the path of an oncoming asteroid. They find an idyllic world that is very similar to Earth, and whose population is virtually identical to Native Americans. Before they can return to the ship, Kirk disappears and loses his memory in an accident, forcing Spock to take command of the Enterprise and leave him behind. On the planet, Kirk is treated like a god, while the crew of the Enterprise struggles to stop the fast-approaching asteroid.

"I am KIROK!" Indeed you are Captain. I have never liked the setting of The Paradise Syndrome. I do not like societies that parallel our own, and I do not really enjoy Captain Kirk in a straight love story. But, this episode is well done. They handle the Captain's memory loss well, and I enjoy the ship scenes with the asteroid. At the end, I truly believe that Captain Kirk loves Miramanee, which sells the entire episode. I think he loves her as much, if not more than Edith Keeler. So, my personal qualms about the setting aside, this is a quality episode.

Note the interesting similarities between this episode and ST:TNG "The Inner Light". Both captain's are rendered unconscious and lose their memories. Both captain's assimilate onto a new planet, and have a new life and family completely separate from their real lives. Both are plagued by vague memories of their other life. Their new planets are on the verge of annihilation. Both have their previous lives fully restored, but will always be changed and live with the memories of their other life.

Personal Rating: 3 Stars

 

Trivia:

Paradise Syndrome - though not officially recognized as a mental condition by psychologists - is a term conferred upon those who feel dissatisfied despite having achieved all their dreams. (Here it is used merely to describe someone who is overworked and needing a break - whether ostensibly Captain Kirk or obliquely series creator Gene Roddenberry.)

This is the only episode of Season 3 that contains extensive location shooting due to budget cuts. Only one other episode contained any at all (All Of Our Yesterdays).