By Any Other Name

DVD, Star Trek S2 (By Any Other Name)

I was not expecting this to be much of an episode. From what I remembered it was just some human-like aliens taking over the ship, or mooching about on some set, sorry, planet. To begin with it does seem like standard fare, with boringly dressed aliens and no makeup or interesting planetary features, but early promise comes in the paralysis weapons, the back references to Spock's last mind suggestion technique to escape ('The Armageddon Factor'), and his self-induced coma ('The Apple'?), and the very good effect when Rojan reduces two of the crew to small polygonal shapes, proceeds to crush one, and bring the other back. It's the female yeoman who's the goner, and she had been made especially doe-eyed and puppy-like. Plus the other crewman was a redshirt and it seems even more harsh against her. I guess even if you're female, red is not the colour to be seen in on 'Star Trek'!

The episode is slow to take off until they literally take off and begin the 300 year journey to another galaxy. Good concepts are again central to the story, so that though the budget can't afford a massively complex setting, or elaborate makeup, the ideas carry the story, and your imagination goes into overdrive to come up with the rest. The huge distances involved, and the idea of generational ships is fascinating, but add to that the true form of the Kelvans being many-tentacled and probably a lot bigger, their restrained behaviour makes for even more dramatic tension.

Another reference and a return to the barrier at the edge of our galaxy as seen in 'Where No Man Has Gone Before', make for some good visuals, but my favourite is the shot of the Enterprise shooting off towards the distant galaxy, imagining it growing slowly larger over decades. I love the way each of the main characters goes off and works on one of the Kelvans to spread discord and distraction (they eat the same coloured blobs we've seen before, such as in 'Journey To Babel'). But the resolution is a great ending. It sounds a bit corny and simplistic written down, but Kirk convinces them they are more human now than Kelvan and they should become friends of the Federation and settle down on the planet they were rescued from.

So the story comes full circle and is appropriate to leave it there, in fact the episode would then play in reverse since they were going back to the planet to drop off these people. Maybe the only Trek episode to be a palindrome. The minor characters aren't used as well, and Sulu is missing even now.

At one point Kirk sees a corridor filled with 'crystallised' crewmembers lying on the floor, and I half expected him to go along bundling them up in his arms. Then maybe taking them back to his quarters to put in a basket and brood over! In the same scene he turns suddenly and I thought he might stand on one. That would have been a bit distasteful, not to mention embarrassing - the same on the bridge, if someone had sat on one of the ones on a chair!

Poor old Nurse Chapel, she's never left in on anything. McCoy asks her for something odd to inject Spock with who isn't really ill, and she was probably more concerned because it was him. The drunk scene must be one of Scotty's best ever, a bit like the bulkhead scene from Star Trek V!

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