Requiem For Methuselah

DVD, Star Trek S3 (Requiem For Methuselah)

Not one of the best episodes, not one of the worst episodes, this falls somewhere in the middle ground, yet with those unexplainable somethings that make it, still, an enjoyable watch. It is one of those that is laid back, relaxed, not pummeling your mind, but oozing something indefinable. The lavish home of Flint, the secret laboratory, the android who thinks she's human... these are all things that have been done before. But they do make an interesting little mystery, with a tragic (if easily guessed) conclusion. Importantly, the triumvirate of Kirk, Spock and McCoy are together (to the detriment of the rest of the crew, it's true), with the Doctor having a meaningful role after being almost forgotten in the last few episodes.

M4 has the look of Nomad about it, and could be the same technology as M5 - Flint clearly has expertise in all areas. That is a great idea, that he is one of many famous historical figures, although his newfound ability to self-heal and live forever came from an unlikely arrow through the heart. How or why he could have these powers among all those normal humans is never elaborated on. You could speculate he had alien blood somewhere in his ancestry, except Spock confirms he's wholly human. Also it would have been good to hear at what point he abandoned Earth for his sojourn to the stars, and how he came to be on the planet. Kirk mentions it was bought something like thirty years ago, so this could be him, but it's another question left unanswered.

Also, was Rayna (or Reena as the credits have it) a true android, or was she organically created, because usually these creatures show their inner workings or a hatch opens to reveal inhumanness. And I'm guessing the versions with numbers are the different versions, not Rayna's age! The Rigelians are mentioned (this is the plague the Enterprise crew are suffering from), which is apt since the Rigelian castle from Pike's flashback in 'The Cage' is reused as Flint's place! Other oddities is the Enterprise getting shrunk (happened in 'Catspaw'), and if you pay attention, the scene where Kirk looks in on the bridge (although he shouldn't be able to see anything as it's not a two-way window, unlike 'Star Trek XI'!), one shot has Hadley mid-stride approaching Chekov's station from the right, then a cut to the viewscreen has him sitting in Sulu's seat, and on the bridge view can be seen some other blue uniformed crewmember sitting there.

This is one of the few not to have Sulu or Chekov, but in fairness they were both featured last episode. The most surprising moment was Spock's "forget" moment with Kirk as this is the very opposite of the moment in 'Star Trek II', and I never knew it had a precedent in an episode!

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