The Tholian Web

DVD, Star Trek S3 (The Tholian Web)

It promised much, but only partially delivered. The teaser is one of the better ones. There's nothing so creepy, and easy to achieve budget-wise, as an empty ship. And one filled with Starfleet corpses that have killed each other takes it up another level. Having Chekov along was a nice touch (and a visual link to Star Trek II) - he had a good go of it this time, getting to act crazy, sending Spock reeling and attacking Sulu, not to mention screaming on a medical bed!

The beautiful effects of this episode begin with the green-tinged shimmering of the unstable Defiant, and continue with the phasing appearance of people and equipment. If there's something worse than a ship full of dead officers that killed each other, it's being on one that's about to disappear. I remembered this as a child as being a rather boring episode, and I was partially right; there are a lot of slow conversations. I also thought Mr. Spock was there on the bridge seeing Kirk disappear in front of his eyes... In between the slow moments are some good scenes, especially for the other players. Season Three in general has given each a bit more, since the last few episodes of S2 began to focus almost exclusively on the big three (or even two).

Uhura had a good scene where she thinks she may be going mad, seeing the phasing Kirk in her mirror - an apt visual, considering the results of the 'Enterprise' two-parter that deals with what happened to the Defiant! Knowing of those episodes with their Tholian views, makes this one even more interesting. The Defiant's vanishing is not a major plot point here, it's Kirk that really matters, and the ship's importance, get this, fades as the episode draws on! But it is good to know that almost forty years apart they could link two series', two stories so cleverly without ruining continuity (mark that JJ Abrams!).

The real mystery is why the Tholians took so long to make a comeback. Okay they were mentioned now and again, but they were so enigmatic and completely fascinating from their appearance and ships, that it's safe to say there was never another race similar. Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse for newly-minted Captain Spock, along come their arrow-shaped ships to weave a web.

There are some logic problems (perhaps greater than those facing Spock!) in this story, starting with the role reversal of Spock and McCoy. Usually it's the doc who decries abandoning someone, but this time he urges Spock to save the ship, while the Vulcan would most often take the logical approach of the needs of the many, yet seems reticent to assume the worst, and command. It makes me wonder if he had a touch of the Riker syndrome - serving on this ship under this Captain fulfils him so much he doesn't wish for any other way.

The memorial service is very brief, but very dignified and befitting the good Captain. Scotty's order to attention and short personal thoughts of the available crewmembers is very realistic. What isn't so real is the lack of tension. They had so many great opportunities, and there were moments, but they were sparing. You can argue that it makes a situation more tense when you don't know who's going to pop next and start attacking you, and this worked great with McCoy's orderly (director Senensky using the same wide-angle lense technique from 'Is There In Truth No Beauty?') going for him, or the other moments of random outburst. But despite these events you never get a sense of rising tension that was evident in such episodes as 'Balance of Terror'. Events happen, people talk, and by the end everything falls into place comfortably (we skip through the web, Checkov's gonna be fine, we just need to pick up the Captain and we're done). The pay off to Kirk's return is very mild.

I like the humourous ending, and the bond between the three it implies through their talk, but you can imagine one of the modern series would milk the Captain's return from death, to... pardon it, death. And you even have Scotty making a bit of a joke as McCoy gives out the antidote, asking if it goes with scotch, and grabbing the flask, when a few moments before he said he only had twenty minutes to perform important tasks! Tension is sacrificed for humour, leaving the episode disjointed.

For all that it is a special episode, with effects worthy of the Emmy it won, a new race, new ship, good scenes every few minutes, and a true ensemble feel. Yes, the pace lags, and some scenes were unnecessary, and the space suits look like typical silver sci-fi garb (I love them, they look somehow real, and dramatic!), but ultimately it stands as a good episode all told, made even more special by the 'Enterprise' tribute.

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