Threads

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S8 (Threads)

A surprise feature-length episode that could easily have finished out the season (or even the series in many ways - it almost feels like a short notice series finale would have given us), but which is really the third part of the 'Reckoning' two-parter, yet is more epic and momentous than either of those. It deals with big themes, important passings, as well as little personal details, that it's really a dramatic conclusion without being one. In the best tradition of the series, it's weird! At first I groaned inwardly at the word 'Excerpts' in the opening post-credits, as I couldn't believe this was going to be a dreaded clips show. But it wasn't, that was merely referring to the opening montage that brings us up to date on various themes that would be dealt with by the episode. What it becomes is a huge question mark over SG-1: is this to be the breaking up of the team after all these years? We have O'Neill getting involved with Ms. Johnson of the CIA, then there's the issue of Teal'c's involvement with the 'Free Jaffa Nation,' Bra'tac putting him under pressure to give up his place with the Earth people, after they've been awarded the highest honour of 'blood kin to all Jaffa,' Daniel's trapped in a kind of Purgatory between death and ascension (that reminded me very much of the way the Q portrayed their existence to small-minded humans on Trek), and Carter's trapped in a seemingly inevitable tumble into a marriage she doesn't really want. What is to be left of SG-1?

By the end, things are about as good for them as can be: Anubis has been dealt with (in a manner not dissimilar to the solution of Lazarus on 'Star Trek,' who chooses to hold his opposite self in eternal battle to save the Universe), things are somewhat resolved, and all the gang are back together again, sitting by O'Neill's pond, enjoying some fishing. It feels like we've gone through the wringer in the course of the episode, despite nothing much physically happening - it was all questions and ponderings, yet it was more interesting than ten big battles might have been. Political wranglings suggest this would have been just as well titled 'The Aftermath,' since there's so much to be done following the Jaffa's hard fought battle for Dakara and their freedom from oppression. Anubis hadn't been defeated, just momentarily held back: Baal himself says that the Jaffa cannot be trusted anymore. They can't even trust each other, which is why it's so important to Bra'tac that they unite in common quest to strike at Anubis' forces while he's on the back foot. The old regime has crumbled, the galaxy-destroying weapon is in the hands of the 'good guys,' but that's the Jaffa, not humans or Tok'ra, and neither are happy about it, causing friction.

While all these allegiances are working themselves out, more crucial character moments play, with Jacob admitting to Sam that Selmak, his symbiote, is about to die, taking him with it. I'd completely forgotten that he died, and maybe they could have wrung a little more emotional juice out of it, considering how long the character had been in the series, but despite the sixty-three minute running time, it was difficult enough to cram in all there was. Mainly due to Daniel's trials in an ethereal diner, the white-glowing haze and choral music denoting an out of body experience. It flips back and forth to this spot perhaps a little overmuch, but at the same time that long period spent there was necessary to drive home the shocking truth: big 'Jim,' the only one of 'The Others' in this waiting area (a couple of which are actually Ancients), who is willing to talk to Daniel, along with the real Oma, is revealed to be Oma's personal mess, the whole galactic struggle a result of her mistake in helping a devious Anubis to ascend, and for which she has been paying penance ever since, forced to keep from interfering while the nasty villain does his worst on our galaxy, and it's Jim, the man himself! What a great twist, and the first time Anubis has been a character more than a concept. We learn so much about the reasoning behind Oma and why Daniel chose not to ascend last time. The big weapon at Dakara is apparently responsible for creating life in the galaxy (or recreating it after 'the plague thing,' whatever that was), and so it will be possible for Anubis to use it in an ultimate, destructive way.

Oma chooses to permanently fight Anubis, which, while not killing him will, will keep him firmly occupied. Of course, with Anubis out of the picture, Baal (having had to face his dark master's knowledge of his betrayal and sentenced to see his galaxy annihilated, in quite a calm way for a System Lord), can now take command of the Kull army, so it's not going to get any easier, just less simple in that the galaxy isn't due for a wiping out! We don't get any explanation of how Daniel turns up back at the SGC at the end, but I suppose that's not really important, what is, is that the team are back together, for now. The political ill will is resolved by the realisation by the Jaffa that the weapon must be destroyed before anyone else gets their claws on it, Bra'tac lives to fight another day (I thought they might be wiping the slate clean and killing off the major recurring characters, what with Jacob buying it), and the Tok'ra (or some of them), pay their last respects to the dying Jacob. But most integral to the series, certainly as a running theme of recent seasons is the situation regarding Jack and Sam.

Her Dad knows the real layout of how things stand, and so does Ms. Johnson (a one-off character, just here to show that O'Neill has moved on from Carter, knowing things will never work out since she was just about to marry Pete). I just knew that Johnson was going to come out of the house right at the moment Sam was about to spill her guts to Jack, and it was so. Pete gets let down as lightly as he could, which is to say she doesn't make a lot of sense, but I suppose such things are never pleasant. At least she did what Dad said, and didn't give up on what she really wanted. For a while there it looked like it might be the worst day of her life: cancelling a planned marriage to a devoted husband who doted on her, then her Father dying out of the blue. But O'Neill and her other friends are there for her to lean on, and it's such a peaceful, charming and serene final shot of the episode, and perfectly played with the line about "There are no fish in this pond, are there?" from Carter! O'Neill had been trying to get her to go there for years, and now they're there, all of them, the big challenges and major galactic events forgotten for a moment where our team can rest, relax and recoup. It's a great ending. Just a shame we haven't reached the end of the season yet, as who knows what is still to come?

***

The Man Trap

DVD, Star Trek S1 (The Man Trap)

A doppelgänger roams the decks of the Enterprise and all are not whom they seem… Hang on, that sounds familiar, we just had a duplicate of Kirk rattling the peace aboard the good ship Enterprise, and now it's McCoy's turn to be the double preying on the crew. Except this time it's no Transporter accident, but a malevolent creature bent on sucking the salt out of its victims; a terrible salt vampire. Or is it the misunderstood last of its kind, a trapped, ravenous victim of its own desires, only doing what natural instinct calls it to do? Not the last one, if the evil smirk on fake Green's face was anything to go by, or by its indiscriminate killing to sate its salty lust for the crystalline substance of seasoning, whether that be Professor Crater, its companion and protector for many years, or any of the redshirts (which were all either blue or gold shirts, strangely enough, in the same episode that Uhura first wore red, making sure not to take away from her moment, maybe?). There is a romantic bent to the story, and I'm not talking about Dr. McCoy's long lost love for the creature in Nancy Crater's form (or her calling him 'Plum'!), but in the idea of a being that is the last of its species, its race having withered and is no more, forced for companionship's sake to spend it with a lonely human, in a false guise to please him, and never having enough of that silly salt!

The crux of the episode is the creature, and everything is measured comparatively to that (presumably a she, though just because it took Nancy's form after killing her, doesn't necessarily mean it was a female of the species, if they even have gender). It's sad that we don't get to learn much about it, or even what it's called, going down in Trek lore only as 'The Salt Vampire,' or the more scientifically monickered 'M-113 Creature' (though Morlock wouldn't have been too far from the mark). It's a brilliant design (except perhaps the fluffy body which does look a bit fake when it lies dead on the floor, a bit like a monkey suit), with another iconic Trek alien to add to the growing number. It's green, an ugly shade, it has deep ruts in its face, making it look sad rather than malevolent (though as the episode teaches, appearances can be deceiving), and a weirdness to its straggly old woman hair and long, suckered fingers, but you're in no doubt that its circular mouth, the teeth protruding in the shadow of menace, is that of a deadly predator. We never really learn what it feels, beyond its fear at being caught, and an apparent enjoyment in luring the men to their dooms like a Siren - as Nancy, she even sings, though oddly she's not moving her lips when we see her walking towards camera. I thought this was a fault of editing (and it probably was), but now that I think more about it, it could be the first indication of its telepathic powers.

For we're not dealing merely with a dangerous monster from a nightmare, but a telepathic being with the power to appear in different forms at will, and even in multiple forms to at the same time to different people, something rather impressive, and which makes you wonder how such a gifted race failed to survive. It also makes you wonder what Mr. Spock was doing that he didn't notice any unusual telepathic energy in Nancy or any of the other people whose appearance it fakes. Was Uhura really a distraction for him as some claim (more on that later)? Was the creature using Crater all along until it could escape the planet, was that planet its home, and why didn't it leave on one of the other annual doctor's checkups that it was stated is a mandatory requirement of all research personnel? Was it genuinely attached to Crater, was it guilty at having killed his wife, and did that guilt wear off over time? So many questions are there for the speculation and it's a real shame this was not a race that could have been explored more, either in other 'TOS' episodes or the spinoffs. Maybe 'Enterprise' Season 5 would have shown us a happy planet of salt vampires, and revealed their name to us, maybe 'Discovery' will? Any time period set before this episode has the potential to explore this fascinating race in further detail if it wished, though in truth, in the context of this episode it was little more than a monster of the week. It just shows Trek's depth that it encourages such speculation about such a monster.

Things do go towards the more fantastical than science fiction, something not entirely in character for the series, but then this was still early in its development. This episode wasn't the first to be produced (that would be 'The Cage'), nor the first to introduce many of the characters ('Where No Man Has Gone Before'), it wasn't even the first regular episode to be filmed after the pilots ('The Corbomite Maneuver'), but it holds a special place on the pedestal of the Trek museum of history, for being the first ever episode of 'Star Trek' to be shown on TV. That's quite an accolade, and I can see why they selected it: it's a fine example of the kind of planet of the week episodes the series planned to portray in its 'Wagon Train To The Stars' concept, the characters were a little more rounded by this time in production, the technology had been determined (we see the first Tricorder on screen with Dr. McCoy's medical example), and there's plenty of alienness and drama. There's a good balance between planet and ship and, while the planet sets are obviously just that rather than location shooting, they've had some work put into them with a mix of scrub, rocks, and the ruins of an ancient civilisation (was it the last vestiges of the salt vampires' society or another species'?).

So why am I not as drawn to this episode as some of the others? There remain some small inconsistencies of character, mainly with Spock, who shows his extreme Vulcan side by not batting a double eyelid at the news that one of the Landing Party has been killed, Uhura challenging him about it because Kirk is the closest thing he has to a friend. But later, when Kirk is in mortal danger of the salt vampire's sting, mesmerised into submission, while McCoy can't bring himself to shoot what appears to him as Nancy, the woman he loved, Spock bursts in shouting for him to shoot, then proceeds to act more like Mr. Worf, charging headlong into a fight with the thing, battering it with the standard double-fisted club punches that Starfleet must teach at the Academy (shockingly, we see Nancy's head snap from side to side with each blow, exhibiting no pain, much like the scene in 'Conspiracy' on 'TNG' when old Admiral Quinn creepily takes heavy blows from either Riker or Worf without reacting). The ending is the best part, and shows the diabolical nature of the creature, that it isn't something to be pitied for its situation, as it uses pity as a weapon. It has the power over minds, which is where it becomes a little fantasy-led. As well as the mesmeric effect it has on prey, the ability to read minds and project the image of a loved one, I also thought it had a soporific effect on McCoy to send him to sleep, except that it was actually his own 'little red pills' that drop him off.

It's actually rather interesting to see some quite different positions for the recurring characters of the crew. We have Spock left in charge, taking the Captain's chair, and in front of him Leslie in red, at Sulu's position of Helm, with Uhura, also in red, at the Navigator's post. Then we get to see the Botany Section where Sulu is apparently off duty since he likes hanging out with the plants (including the infamous Beauregard - when Janice Rand says she's worried one of his plants will reach out and grab her, there's every possibility since Beauregard is a glove puppet!), with Rand bringing him a tray of healthy salad for lunch (either she's having time off from being Yeoman to the Captain after her previous ordeal in 'The Enemy Within,' since we see another Yeoman serve Kirk his brightly coloured lunch on the Bridge, or she's pals with Sulu - she's definitely more informal with him though, not hesitating to tuck in to some of his food on the way!), and we even see the Helmsman at Uhura's station at one point! And with Kirk munching on the Bridge things are all a little relaxed this time. I like that, and I like a lot of the touches, such as Crater, after being stunned by Kirk on the planet, talking in a slurred, deep voice when they question him, and showing signs of dizziness. Maybe it was the lovey-dovey angle, with McCoy an unfortunate (though unusual), target for the creature's false affections. He and Kirk have a slight blow up thanks to McCoy being too dreamy about Nancy, rather than concentrating on the man Kirk's just lost.

Lesser than the sum of its parts is how I'd describe it, so perhaps it was a little slow, and the same thing happens repeatedly (characters meet the alien in whatever guise it picks from their minds, even creating an imaginary man Uhura was thinking about in one case, and it looked as if she might suffer Rand's fate from the previous episode until they're interrupted), and as I said, the characters aren't fully ironed out. Maybe it's the lack of Scotty to round things off? Scenes such as the one on the Bridge where Uhura wants Spock to say sweet things to her and make her feel like woman have been used in defence of their romance in the Kelvin Timeline, but using that logic you may as well say that Rand and Sulu should be an item for the friendly words they share together! I read it as very slim evidence of Spock's interest in her, and Uhura appears to merely be a bit bored with the routine of the day and uses the lull to get to know her alien Commander a bit more, though she doesn't understand him any more than he does her, since she's so shocked by his reaction to the news of a death. I would suggest she could have had the same conversation with any of her male colleagues, and if Sulu or Scotty had been there it might have been them she approached.

I think what does the episode a disservice is that it's all about the twist, and while 'The Enemy Within' is fairly quick to reveal that, and then deals with the aftermath of what it means, the revelation comes at the end, and it's about whether McCoy will shoot or not. When you know what the creature pretending to be Nancy is there's less to draw you in, in spite of all the variety in sets (even if the life sciences department, botany section, as the old fashioned sign on the door states, is a redress of Sickbay), and the little details that interest. My question is why McCoy didn't simply stun the vampire, why did he have to kill it? Or was the Phaser set to stun and its physiology couldn't take energy blasts? It didn't need to be a life and death moment, but for drama's sake they chose it to be. It might have been more interesting if they'd prevented the attack, but that it had lived, as it might have been able to articulate its needs and be provided with salt without killing - I felt if it had been more intelligent, it would have realised that it should go to the galley or mess, wherever Rand's salt shaker came from, and it could gorge to its heart's content. But that's where I feel it may have been more instinctual in its cunning, rather than an intelligent being in the same way as humans are - perhaps the visual projection was also a projection of what humans would expect it to say, and that it wasn't really that intelligent in itself, which would explain why it reacted to different people in ways that suited them (like Darnell being tempted to go after her, or McCoy feeling protective).

At least it was successful in terms of seeming alien beyond its appearance - the actor that played Green was especially good at looking well out of place in the starship, and having an air of intensity about his reactions to everything, as if concentrating and trying to work out what it all meant. So it was more advanced a concept than a simple man in a rubber suit rushing round attacking people, but had the thoughtful approach of older sci-fi like 'Quatermass.' The ending, suitably, is the most sombre tag scene so far. It was gratifying to see a shot on the Bridge featuring Sulu, Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura and Rand all included in camera, but the memorable back and forth between Kirk, Spock and McCoy shows that they'd got the triumvirate down well: Kirk remembers the buffalo, a now extinct animal of Earth, and it's much more introspective than the usual knockabout comedy or wry humour, leading to a bittersweet aftertaste that is as much about the looks they share with each other as what is said. From what I've written it was a good episode, but as I said before, it's the individual parts that are good, and something about the whole doesn't quite stack up.

There are plenty of little morsels to cogitate over or note: when the gooseneck 'desk lamp' monitors from 'The Cage' were phased out I speculated it was because they didn't want to spend valuable time and money on effects to achieve visual communications and would move to audio most of the time, but this episode has plenty of instances of internal ship's comms via monitor, whether it be the Tri-screen in the Briefing Room, or the personal screen that crew have in their quarters, they weren't shy about using them (which was way futuristic back then, but a common occurrence to us now), although I'm pretty sure it drastically reduced as the production rolled on and they realised it was far more cost effective to use audio! Audio that was used effectively in this episode was the mournful background roiling of the planetary music, a signature aural effect that would designate planets as weird and wonderful places, creating the atmosphere far more than the styrofoam boulders and sandy studio floor could ever do: giving it a reality. Sound was used to good effect in the scene where Beauregard screeches at the fake Green (Janice asks him if he's been at the Saurian brandy - she'd know all about that after the previous episode). We do have one noteworthy piece of audio comms: Uhura calls for all doctors and medics to report, our first indication that there are more than one aboard, later confirmed by Dr. M'Benga's presence.

Other trivia includes the use of 'General Quarters 3' in place of Red or Yellow Alert, which is raised to 'General Quarters 4' as the drama demands, when Kirk realises the creature could be anyone. Spock uses Uhura's earpiece when conversing with the Captain over a monitor, though it wasn't to do with that, as Sulu also speaks through a screen without the use of an earpiece. There are some fun little character details such as McCoy showing that his reliance on machines only goes so far, reassuringly, when he chooses to check out Crater's tonsils the old-fashioned way, with his eyes! He's also as big a collector of books as Captain Pike was, to judge by his quarters, though having a Vulcan thrown across them wasn't going to do the collection much good. Spock shows his green blood for the first time, though confusingly it's over a red cut, so which is it? Some leftovers from the pilots reappear, with Crater using the laser gun from 'The Cage,' and a rare shot of a female crewmember in trousers, as well as glimpses of the older style of shirts, both blue and oatmeal. And finally, we have another of Kirk's trusty retrospective Captain's Logs, mentioning the difference in appearances Nancy was pulling off on the Landing Party.

**

Reckoning Part 2

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S8 (Reckoning Part 2)

A Tare, a Tok'ra and a System Lord working together, whatever next? But it had to be done if the Replicators were going to be defeated at last. It would take the cooperation of the three main races that still exist in a state of lesser power (compared to The Ancients or the Asgard, etc), and it was just fortunate that Baal happens to possess a sense of irony rather than pure hatred for all human/Jaffa-kind, as so many of his fellow System Lords would have failed to lower themselves to assist even against a common and overwhelming enemy. This alone tells us that Baal is the worst threat of them all: he's willing to swallow his pride if his long term strategy requires it, he'll walk the tightrope of 'serving' Anubis, yet he's pragmatic enough not to follow the spirit of Anubis' will, which was to get his paws on the galaxy-destroying weapon so as to (in the speculation of Carter), annihilate all life, then repurpose and recreate it as he saw fit, using his Ancient knowledge. Baal doesn't want to be destroyed any more than anyone else, and so he's happy to help Carter and Dad get that terrible weapon working against the Replicators. Even if it turned out to be incredibly easy to find, operate and work out how to adjust!

There were a number of inconsistencies that took me out of the episode a little, not least that a PC laptop was able to interact with this Ancient weapon (I didn't even see what it was plugged into - I'm guessing they didn't use USB back in the Ancient times!). Granted, that's something you usually have to forgive and move on from, and you can argue the case that they've encountered so much alien technology over the years it was inevitable they'd have some kind of program that could interpret their data. And you had Daniel with his Ancient experiences to hone such a program, and O'Neill with his… Which begs the question of why Daniel hasn't got around to creating a translation program for the language of The Ancients for the various teams to use, so they don't have to borrow his notebooks and try and make head or tail of any new inscription that's discovered. And in the first place, why not simply blast through that door instead of wasting time on deciphering the symbols and the locking mechanism? Oh right, it was probably because they didn't want to damage the weapon in case it was behind that door. Except that they're planning to blow it sky high! And that wasn't the best plan they ever came up with, either, because if it truly is a galaxy annihilator, you wouldn't want to set it off by mistake! Surely the safest and most certain way to take it out of action would be to dismantle it and destroy each part separately?

The effects were certainly a high point of the episode, the weapon majestically rumbling into action, every single Stargate in the galaxy being activated simultaneously (something you don't see every day, or ever, in fact), as well as the sight of all those pyramid ships attacking each other, not to mention the onslaught of Replicator vermin covering the floors and walls. I wasn't sold on Teal'c and Bra'tac being in the right place for the battle, however - it looked to me that Bra'tac was nothing but an extra thumb aboard that ship, standing around watching Teal'c and their young pilot. Jaffa need to be in personal pitched battle, not operating machinery and killing from afar, that's how I see it, anyway. At least Bra'tac got to lead an attack team onto Baal's ship in an effort to take him out, I assume (they should have grabbed him as soon as they entered the room, anticipating a sly beam out, but perhaps some were still too awed by his presence?). Again, the team are all split up, and while I like seeing Teal'c and Bra'tac together, and Carter and Joseph, not to mention Daniel playing his part and even O'Neill getting a substantial role back at base, I've said it before, but they work best together, as a team, and that's what I like to see.

With the gang all split up they were able to keep a larger story going, juggling lots of pieces as we zip back and forth, but in consequence there's less focus, and less satisfaction, for all the stakes that are piling up. It was actually a fairly quiet episode up until the end when Jack's forced to activate the base auto-destruct, the pace is picked up then, but it was a bit messy: first they have to evacuate, then they can't, then they have to rescue Siler and some others, then try and escape through the 'gate, but the Replicators are too many… Meanwhile Daniel stands in a tent having a one-to-one with Replicator Carter, and I do admire Amanda Tapping for being able to step into a baddie role so smoothly, without the aid of different makeup or outfit, she's basically the same character, but not human, and she does a good job, altering her tone and body language, her eyes wide and glistening. Daniel tricks her into getting control of her 'brethren' for a brief time, giving their opponents time to sort them out for good, only he gets Terminator-ed by her once his knowledge has been snaffled. Of course he was going to die anyway, since he was aboard a ship made of Replicator, so when every one of them was torn apart by the cunningly modified weapon of armageddon, he's suddenly in space. I can't remember what happens, but I know he's not dead, so I expect some Ancient intervention, maybe Oma, maybe someone else, will have saved him.

I can't say they didn't create a 'big' two-parter, but maybe that's not what I like about the series. Especially when we have a lot inconsistency (the Kull Warriors standing guard in Baal's throne room are offed far too easily; what's the point of having blast doors at the SGC that you can blast open?; how can the weapon's chamber be so heavily shielded Baal's sensors couldn't detect it, yet he can beam in a hologram communication without any difficulty?). The series had perhaps become too big by this season: it already had a spinoff running at the same time, it had built up its mythology to vast proportions with the Jaffa rallying to the cause of their freedom, one great adversary defeated, and Earth almost aware of the programme, what else was there to do? It's the usual problem for a long-running TV series: if you have characters that are in a hierarchy, they need to develop, grow and move up that hierarchy to keep it realistic. And it is realistic that each would be practically a leader of a band, each off doing something separate, but is it realistic that they'd all keep meeting up back at the SGC to team up as SG-1 again? They should each be heads of a team by now, or coordinating other efforts (such as ambassador to the Tok'ra, the Asgard, the Jaffa), and these grand events are happening, but like I said, it means it's no longer about that little SG team that started it all, and that's a shame.

**

The Enemy Within

DVD, TOS S1 (The Enemy Within)

"I'M Captain Kirk! I'M CAPTAIN KIRK!" The most infamous line of this episode (but not the most famous, I'll come to that later), evokes exactly the kind of hammy William Shatner acting some people deride him for. But it's actually well in character for the 'negative' side of Kirk he's playing, much more in character than, say, Mr. Spock's snide Janice Rand-baiting in the final scene where, in place of the usual wry moment between Kirk and others of his officers, Spock appears to try and goad her into admitting she found the bad Kirk attractive in some way! It was way out of tone for the episode, which dealt frighteningly, but seriously with the difficult issue of sexual discrimination in the workplace, Rand clearly unsure of where she stands after Kirk has attacked and forced himself upon her in a most un-Kirk-like manner. We see that she's drawn to the Captain (as Yeomans from the start of the series have been, though before, Rand had been the most businesslike and professional, without a hint of anything else), but reacts in understandable fear and shock when he makes his violent advances in the fraught scene, which could have become much worse if Geological Technician Fisher hadn't happened past the Captain's Quarters at the moment Rand manages to open the door. It's a terrifying ordeal for her, as Kirk has only ever been portrayed as fully in command of himself and his crew, yet here he is dropping any pretence of professionalism and abusing his position in the most abominable way.

What could a lowly Yeoman do if a ship's Captain decided to take advantage of her? It's an uncomfortable question, because its parallel exists in the real world, in any business or situation where someone in authority could abuse it in such a way, leaving the abused without power and wondering if they'll be believed. Rand isn't dismissed, but everyone is bewildered by her tearful statement, and it's an excellent performance from Grace Lee Whitney in the her first starring role, having appeared before as merely a minor part of the story. Her bravery comes through again, and her reaction gives the episode its reality, where we see firsthand what the animal impulses and 'negative' side of the human personality, when not held in check by the gentler, more disciplined half, can be. If it had just been nasty Kirk roaring and raging round the corridors, beating up each crewman that he came across until he was caught, it would have lived up to the melodramatic opening line of this review, but with the personal attack on Janice it brings home in sharp contrast the difference between the two parts of Kirk's mind. All of which doesn't make up for Spock's insensitivity to her at the end when it appears the episode is making light of Rand's horrible experience. To be fair to Spock, he did earlier explain to Kirk that if he appears to be insensitive, it is just the way he is, though I think he meant the appearance of insensitivity, not that he genuinely has no sympathy or understanding of another's pain.

It's just that at this time Spock was still being fleshed out, he hadn't yet been entirely pegged as a character, though he's almost there. There are still the occasional lapses where he almost smiles, or when he was seemingly baiting Rand, he has a kind of grin on his face, and when he's successful in combining the two Kirk's back together in the Transporter, we see a brief expression of relief, something that hadn't earned its moment - when you think of the incredible transformation in bearing he has in 'Amok Time' when he thinks he's killed his Captain, only to discover Kirk alive, that had so much more impact because of his stoic, unemotional exterior. If Spock isn't acting as we'd fully expect him to, and Kirk certainly isn't after being split in two by the Transporter, in our first ever Transporter Accident Story, Dr. McCoy, yet to become the third in the triumvirate, is fully formed and starts to take his rightful position arguing against Spock for the benefit of Kirk. Back to the most famous line: "He's dead, Jim," spoken about the poor alien pooch lying dead on the (nicely carpeted - who says 'TNG' introduced comfortable floor coverings to Trek?), Transporter pad, having its rabid rhino poodle half merged back with the docile half. It was inherently amusing, just like Frieda's cat from 'Peanuts' - especially when Kirk's holding it, it looks so comfortable and relaxed, despite all this alien paraphernalia of spikes and pink perm, I couldn't help chuckling! It gets the first utterance from McCoy that would become a staple of the series.

Talking of staples, that's what the body double, duplicate or doppelgänger story is in TV - name just about any sci-fi series and they'll have at least one episode using this device, obviously inspired by 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.' It wouldn't be the last time we'd see an alternate version of Kirk, culminating in a complete double of the entire ship and crew in Season 2's 'Mirror Mirror,' in turn the genesis of an entire Mirror Universe arc through 'DS9' and 'Enterprise.' Kirk himself would be doubled multiple times (and I'm not talking about the stuntman or stand-in that portrays him, a little obviously, in this episode), split-screen used to great effect when it was used here, though I only noticed it in the Sickbay scene where bad Kirk lies on the biobed with good Kirk gripping his hand, Memory Alpha mentions the nerve pinch moment as using the same technique (the first time Spock performs this simple, but ingenious method of subduing an enemy!). It would be easier to point out which characters in all of Trek had not been doubled in at least one episode, simply due to the prevalence and popularity in the writing of using such a tantalising device. Of course, as tantalising devices go, none more than the Transporter could claim to have had the highest number of malfunction-based episodes (only the Holodeck coming close), so much so that you'd wonder why anyone would use it. At least we have a solid explanation for the bizarre result in this episode, as Fisher goes through with ore-stained overalls after falling down a rocky hill and cutting his hand.

The incident tells us something about the state of Transporter technology of the time, because we hear Scotty tell Fisher to go and decontaminate his uniform, whereas by the 24th Century there were all kinds of bio-filters and failsafes to prevent contamination (even if it didn't stop many other bad things from happening!), and I like that on 'Enterprise' they had a special room just for decon (though not so much the salacious rubbing on of gel, something fortunately absent from 'TOS'!). While Transporter etiquette may not be fully fleshed out, neither are other common Trek staples such as Spock having to announce his presence outside Kirk's quarters with an old-fashioned knock, then calling through the door. It had happened in previous episodes, but it continues to stand out as a surprisingly low-tech, rough around the edges solution when the Enterprise is so streamlined in every other area (witness the cool turning of the Turbolift handle to activate it, with a white light coming on, or the beautifully futuristic coloured rectangles on black that constitute many of the computer input displays - I hope they keep these aesthetics with 'Star Trek Discovery,' as that's one thing that could be used to wonderful effect).

There seems to be a lack of door locks, too, as Kirk walks right into Rand's quarters without any 'security protocol overrides' you'd see on the other series', and she does the same - it makes sense for her to have access to the Captain's Quarters since she has business there, but you'd think there'd be a sign of bypassing a lock or chiming an announcement! I heard the Transporter set creak once when Kirk steps down at the beginning, though that was the only sound that took me out of it (that and Spock's knock - that sounds like a joke: Spock knock. Who's there? Spock. No need to knock again, just come right in), along with a shot of Kirk where his command tunic's zip shows at the neck again! We see the green tunic for the first time, surprisingly early, the best uniform colour on 'TOS' (though it might have been better with a neck piece). I love the Delta Shield chevron as a kind of belt buckle, it's really nice design, as are the gold rank braids that have moved from cuffs to shoulders. I associate it most with episodes like 'The Apple' or 'The Trouble With Tribbles' (mainly for specific photos I have as postcards!), but you can see they introduced it purely as a way to differentiate between the two Kirks, if Rand's face-scratching, the eyeshadow, and bad disposition weren't enough - incidentally, it seemed odd to me that Kirk would have makeup in his quarters ideal for covering scratches! Maybe he suffers from skin complaints from time to time… And since it was so easy to heal Fisher's cut hand, it would be just as easy to do the same to Kirk's scratches, so it wasn't proof at all when good Kirk shows Rand he has nothing on his cheek.

One thing I did notice was the ergonomic, touch-activated dresser in Rand's quarters, hidden from view until she wants it, it swivels round to reveal the mirror and drawers. In the future, furniture is functional, but also doesn't impinge upon the look of a room, especially in the relatively tight quarters of a starship where space is at a premium, such design ethic highly likely, adding  to the impression of being in a future, the style continued and augmented in 'TNG' where things folded away neatly (such as the square stool seats at the back of the Bridge). We also have our first use of the smaller, more compact, and definitely more attractive Communicators. Gone is the wide grille flip-up lid, to be replaced with a slimmer variation (I wonder if they were made by Apple?), the one we know and love. The Phasers continue to be attached to gold belts, which date the early episodes, and the Tricorder remains absent.

The biggest and most exciting addition to the series has to be the Engineering section, an empty, sterile area without any chairs, populated by large pipes and mysterious compartments, as well as the iconic tubes behind a protective grille, evoking the long shape of the nacelles and the cigar-shaped Engineering hull. It feels like it's at the bottom of the ship, a slightly eerie place for its dinginess compared to the bright corridors and areas above, its sparseness, and only the constant, echoey humming of machinery for company, as if much of it is automated. No wonder Scotty prefers Transporter Room or Bridge to hang out! We get to see behind and further in, and it's fantastic that they had the resources to build such a big set. I'm sure the fact it's rather basic was due to the money constraints, but it actually adds to the mood of the place, making it feel like the basement of a large building where nobody goes unless they have to. Plus it's exciting whenever we get to see more of this huge starship, and they make full use of so many sets, being as it is a bottle episode.

The only time we're off the Enterprise is on the planet, the place where Sulu and his men are stuck when the Transporter becomes unreliable (when Kirk says 'we just can't leave those poor men down there,' I was reminded of Sisko and the tragic loss of his wife: 'we just can't leave her here!'). I assume it was because of storms or suchlike that they couldn't take down a shuttle to rescue the Landing Party (nothing to do with not having built one yet!). The scenes on the planet remain closed in and closeup, partially to add to the claustrophobic sense of desperation as the temperature drops, but also to disguise the effect of a basic rocky planet set that nevertheless fulfils its purpose. Two things strike me with this B-story (if it can be called that). One is that it adds a useful ticking clock to Kirk's predicament and forces him to make decisions, and the other is Sulu's brave good humour in the face of adversity, making jokes even in his evident discomfort, but also continuing to do his duty and update the Captain on their status. It's the most important role he's yet had on the series. He also has the distinction of being the first person we see using Phasers to heat rocks, an ingenious use of the device, which in actual fact was more of a tool than a weapon, its versatility one reason why it's such an incredible piece of technology, much like the other Star franchise's lightsaber. We see three beams spray out in a spread, something rare on 'TOS,' although a variety of outputs was seen in the spinoffs. And we find out that the lowest Phaser setting is designated 'base cycle.'

I wonder if Sulu's expanded role and Rand's greater involvement led to Uhura being sidelined? Even lanky Lieutenant Farrell from the previous episode, 'Mudd's Women' gets his moments (and it looked like Leslie was part of the Landing Party). She only gets one line, and that's over the comm system, never seen on screen. If Grace Lee Whitney hadn't been unceremoniously dumped from the series would that have meant Uhura would have receded into the background more, did they only have room for one main female character? We'd find out soon that that wasn't the case as both Uhura and Nurse Chapel, yet to be introduced, both played their part in the series, but the balance between characters in this episode is very good. Take Spock, Kirk and McCoy - for the first time we get a true representation of the trio's function. Kirk is dithering, not wanting to make a decision because he doesn't have the strong emotions of his other half, and both Spock and McCoy have plenty to say and advise. The normal, self-assured Kirk would have been able to weigh up their advice, but this one almost wants to abnegate his responsibility onto them, but as McCoy says, they can't make the choice for him.

Spock is making the logical argument, McCoy the emotional, and it is indeed fascinating to see this familiar facet in early development, possibly the greatest hook they stumbled onto (or purposely wrote, I'm undecided - maybe my 'negative' half has gone walkies?). Spock becomes wrapped up in the scientific and philosophical avenues this problem throws up. It's all about intelligence preventing fear from taking over. I'm not sure how much I agree with the sixties psychology of needing a bad side, it sounds a bit yin-yang to me, but the attitudes of what constitutes the negative is interesting: is anger a negative emotion? It can be righteous, and properly channeled can lead to greater strength. If anything, I wished they'd delved deeper into the concept: Spock brings up the fact that he has two halves himself, which I think is the first time he discusses it properly after hinting at it before, but we don't get a satisfying parallel between his experiences and Kirk's, which could have rounded the episode out into a more fulfilling character story. But it's a little much to ask, and was probably quite advanced for its time - when you think of the other series' on TV then, mostly melodramatic and silly (at least in terms of sci-fi TV), this must have been incredibly grownup and deep, and it's only because we've had many subsequent seasons of Trek to explore the issues in greater complexity that this comes across a little lighter. But it remains an object study of man and what his various sides (divided into two categories), mean for him, as well as what it means if he's without a facet of himself.

It seems McCoy has a reputation for practical jokes, as Kirk is quick to suggest the Doctor's request for Spock to check on the Captain after his bizarre behaviour in Sickbay, was just that. Maybe it's that wry good humour of McCoy, and the fact that you can tell, even this early in their association, the pair of them like to bait each other, so we can surmise that even though we haven't seen much of it as yet on the series, it has been happening in the parts we don't see. Spock's so taken aback with the apparent practical joke, and that the Doctor would waste his time in that way, he doesn't even refute that he is annoyed when Kirk says he'll let McCoy know that he was suitably galled, instead nodding curtly and leaving! Even McCoy isn't that slapdash and inappropriate, but although I often think whenever something weird happens to characters, that they should instantly, or at least quickly, sense that something out of the ordinary is happening, to them it's just a normal day and they have their duties and normal life to get on with, it's just that we're watching this part of that life, and despite strange things seemingly common in space, you can't go through life immediately taking every little odd fact or incongruity as impetus to explore further - you'd never get anything done! Saying that, it's all Scotty's fault in the first place: if he hadn't been so kind to the Captain and walked him to his quarters, but had instead stayed at his post as Kirk wished, the whole situation would have come to a head instantly as he'd have met the second Kirk beaming in!

Scotty does have a heart though, and leaving aside the ridiculously comical interpretation he was given in the 'Kelvin Timeline' films, in which he's merely a genius-level buffoon, he's a dedicated officer and exactly the kind of man you want in any situation, whether that's operating the Transporter or holding down rabid rhino poodles for Spock to sedate, he's a professional space Engineer and the guy that keeps everything running smoothly. Saying that, it was reassuring to have Spock man (Vulcan?), the controls when merging the Kirks together (a scene that reminded me of Dax accepting the Joran part of herself at the end of 'Equilibrium' on 'DS9'), as his quicker alien reactions and deep scientific knowledge might be more dependable in such a bizarre situation. But it's a close one, and if anything, this episode proves that Kirk has a strong team around him. I'd love to know if he handpicked the senior officers or how he came to command them. Who knows, perhaps if 'Discovery' hits its stride it will one day show us the early coming together of the Constitution-class Enterprise, though I imagine that, like Clark Kent becoming Superman, it's an endgame that would signify the end of the series. I'm not sure how I feel about the possibility, since in one respect I'd love to know about this crew's earlier lives and how they formed, but on the other, it would be so easy to retcon something annoying or out of place into these legendary characters, and I still don't like anyone playing the roles apart from the original actors. Still, one of my big problems with 'Star Trek XI' was that it effectively wiped out all chance for us to see the real origins of our beloved crew, and now those chances have improved exponentially!

What stays with me after watching this episode is how absorbing the world is. They continue to build the blocks of this contained universe, long before extraneous additions such as recurring aliens would expand it outwards beyond the starship and its artificial environment. They may not do a lot of exploring space this time, but they do make a good start on exploring the human condition, not to mention the space-borne habitat they inhabit, and these things are what make it remain watchable, and not just some curio from another century of television production. Once again you can't help but admire how much they were able to invent and create a believable future. There are anachronistic things, sure (the cabling in the Phaser-blasted conduit, for example), and their survival procedures leave much to be desired (why not beam down warm clothing, shelters, etc, when they had the chance - they note that heaters they sent down don't work, but that's because they're complicated machinery. Blankets would have been a better bet!), as does their treatment of people (Spock's sneering at Rand; the fact that no one bothers to call the ship for Fisher after he's ordered back aboard to have his lacerated hand repaired - he has to operate the Communicator himself!). And it's out of place to have a one-off retroactive Captain's log telling us that this was a double, but they didn't know it at the time, although that was for the audience's benefit. But it is these inconsistencies that make it such fun to pore over these very old episodes, and to continue to do so, all these years later.

***

Reckoning

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S8 (Reckoning)

Well, the gang's all here, and things have just gone from bad to badder. It's one of those anthology episodes with so many stories going on it's almost hard to keep track, and, as is often the case with two-parters, a lot of it is setup and exposition city. Let me see if I can recap: first we have a mission of the Jaffa resistance for joint attacks all over Baal's domain (Master Bra'tac, yay!), only for Teal'c and Bra'tac's part to be interrupted by the unwanted attentions of the Replicators under 'Replicator Carter,' who beam Daniel away because he's got Ancient knowledge in that there head of his. In response, Baal's forces all over the place have their time taken up with battling this threat to the galaxy, and we find that Baal himself is actually playing second fiddle to a guy in a hooded robe who looks the worse for wear, and you quickly guess must be Anubis (who else would wear a big black hood?), making Baal the Darth Vader to his Emperor, only you can tell he's not exactly thrilled about his master's plans, especially when we learn of an Ancient weapon that can destroy all life in the galaxy. Coincidentally, this weapon oh so happens to be at the Temple of Dakara, the very place which Teal'c urges Bra'tac and the resistance to win back, as it's the most sacred site in Goa'uld existence, the very place where the Jaffa's subjugation began, and the place which would usually be heavily guarded, only it isn't because of the battles with the Replicators taking up all the bad guys' time.

They need a big win to recapture the flagging hearts and minds of the free Jaffa who are going back into Goa'uld service in droves due the unstoppable threat of the Replicators weakening their resolve and turning them back to a 'higher power.' Only, Teal'c and that lot don't know about this weapon. But Baal and Anubis do. And Anubis wants to use it as the only surefire way to exterminate the Replicators. Who also know about it, since bad Carter extracts that info from Daniel's mind, impersonating Oma Desala and giving him the choice to ascend again. Not that he remembers, you understand, just that somehow she pulls it out of him while his mind was open to the possibility and she babbles on in a New Age way to give him a false security. Baal doesn't want to be destroyed any more than anyone else does, so tells General O'Neill about it - he and Jacob, who's acting on his own initiative to bring the Tare some tech which enables a beacon on every Goa'uld ship to be tracked, which in turn shows that the Replicators are wiping out ship after ship after ship. Jacob wants to advise Baal to pull his forces back so that Carter, working with the Asgard Thor, can come up with a way to modify the Ancient weapon (the one they used before, not the new one on Dakara, or I should say the more ancient Ancient weapon!). But this would put Teal'c in danger, the crux of the drama, though it's not milked in the episode, Jacob's just a little put off that O'Neill didn't jump at the chance to pal up with Baal and sort out the problem together.

Okay, did I leave anything out? Well, there are also the System Lords having a meeting at which a representative of Baal urges them to give up and serve him, at which meeting nasty Carter turns up and goes all 'Terminator 2' on Yu, slicing him through the middle with a 'handy' sword. Would Yu believe it? The old man keeps coming back, though, so I suspect, with a bit of sarcophagus time, we haven't seen the last of him. He's about the only recognisable System Lord left, with a meagre remainder of the once great band of enemies. Unless some of them called in sick that day and didn't make it… Being a two-parter of course, the actual solution to everyone's stories doesn't happen in the space of this episode, with everyone about to converge on Dakara, the most popular Temple planet in the galaxy, which, despite musings on the great meaning of it, and the tough battle in store, isn't actually that impressive, nor do we see an epic battle to take it from the Goa'uld, it's more of an afterthought. Perhaps too much was crammed in, too many guest stars and too many other sets and settings drained the enormity of this part of the story? Or perhaps they were anticipating a big battle in Part 2, so didn't undermine it with one in the opening part?

I don't think I left anything out, but there's little to really examine, beyond repeating the events, simply because there aren't that many actual events, it's mostly setting up the pins for the strike. Anubis' surprise return is interesting, and it's great to see so many recurring characters return in the course of a single episode, but it also feels like they squeezed all of half a season's worth (or more), of Goa'uld mythology storytelling into one episode (two, including the second part), as if to brush it under the carpet a little bit, when in the past this was their core focus and the impetus of the series. Not to say it was the best thing about the series, because it wasn't - the Goa'uld were always played as unbelievable, over the top characters, moustache-twirling, with little to no sympathy value. Yet the series is the legacy of its original concept, something which has been woven through recent seasons despite not being the number one source of stories that it once was. So, while I sort of agree that the Goa'uld weren't the best of villains and races in general, I like that we're getting a bit of throwback, especially when it means we get so many familiar faces. I imagine they tended to avoid going into this stuff as much because newer viewers might not be as up to speed, having only watched for a season or two in the transitionary years, perhaps. The series tended towards the impenetrable in general, with lots of characters and races cropping up and continuing past stories, but that's probably one of the things people liked about it, and as long as you kept watching (like 'DS9'), you got what it was about, and if you didn't, you just sat back and enjoyed the interaction of the main characters.

They have some good interactions in this one, it just happens to be with other characters and not each other: so while O'Neill is gleefully annoying Baal with his flippant response to the big man's request for cooperation against the common enemy, as Jacob looks on aghast, Carter's busy with Thor (who has to resort to flying as far away from Earth as possible, since his ship is compromised by Replicators, and, like the Borg, they've adapted to the modifications to the Ancient weapon), Daniel's busy being kidnapped by the other Carter, and Teal'c is off with Bra'tac rallying the resistance. I like it best when the main cast work together, but I can't deny that it makes the story 'bigger' when they're all playing their parts across the galaxy and their roles are certainly integral to all that's happening, so I can't complain. I would hope for a little more integration with the various threads in part 2, however, and more focus. And, if anything, everyone bundling to Dakara should give us just that!

**

Star Trek: 25th Anniversary

DOSBox, Star Trek: 25th Anniversary (1992) game

Probably the closest I've felt to actually being in an episode, part of the crew, and off on a 'Star Trek' adventure, which is saying a lot. Well, it's saying a small amount of a lot, considering I've played very few Trek games in my time, the platforms I've owned over the years having been in short supply of 'Star Trek' - you needed a PC for most of them, and Nintendo's platforms don't seem to have been 'mainstream' enough to warrant Trek's licence, but on the Amiga was this game, '25th Anniversary.' Except I never was able to find it, until now… Technically, I didn't even find it now, since I played it on DOSBox, a DOS emulator program of the PC version, but nevertheless it gave me a fine approximation, minus the disc-swapping and likely superior sound capabilities of the Amiga version. Still, it evokes 'The Original Series' in atmosphere, character, sound, and bright, optimistic style that was prevalent in the TV series and its spinoffs over the last fifty years. Yes, ironically it took me until the 50th Anniversary to play the game of the 25th! What I love about games of that era, the early '90s, are the beauty of pixel graphics. Sure, the sound was much cruder than the visuals (although I did read that a CD version exists with the dialogue recorded by the stars of the series which would be quite an enhancement to the experience, I'm sure), but that detailed configuration of the USS Enterprise's Bridge, and images of the Landing Parties beaming down to planets was what had impressed me back in the day and made me wish to seek it out.

The lovely graphics remain attractive to this day, that pixel aesthetic one of the styles I appreciate most in games (seen beautifully in such titles as the first 'X-Com' game, 'Dune II,' 'Settlers' and so many others). Not photorealistic, they couldn't have done that back then, but with a cartoony, yet real enough quality to it that sucks you in, and was perfect for the bright, colourful world of Trek. It's more than the look of the thing that drew me in, it was the representation of the various characters through their function, and the use of staple Trek tech, such as phasers, photon torpedoes, the Transporter, and the ship's computer. Initially, the computer appears to be nothing more than a fun little interface to see how much of the lore the programmers were able to squeeze into the game, so I was typing in famous names of aliens, people and planets to see what it had to say about them. Though I didn't realise it, I was actually researching this game because it tends to feature mostly topics you'll encounter on the seven missions. But it was more than a fun extra, actually integral to solving some of the game's puzzles, the most difficult of which involved base three mathematics and had me stumped for a while, having to abandon the game in order to brush up (in other words, learn), what base numbers were all about. So, like any good Trek episode, it's a game that makes you think (as it turned out, the answer was in the computer banks, so I didn't need to revise maths to find the answer!).

Mr. Spock is on hand to advise you scientifically, as is the irascible Dr. McCoy, on medical matters. Uhura deals with communications, Scotty with repairs, and Sulu and Chekov are at their customary Helm and Navigation posts. Even Kyle operates the Transporter for you! All is as it should be. Best of all, you can actually beam down for an Away Mission, or Landing Party in the parlance of the period, in control of Kirk, with Spock, McCoy, and a redshirt security guard along for the ride. Surprisingly few of these get killed, so it wasn't all that accurate! Although, if you were working out the percentage of missions a redshirt would die on, perhaps it was reasonably accurate - I refer you to Spock for a precise calculation to the decimal… You do feel like you're leading a team, and while it's not as exciting and immediate as a real mission on the series, being a point and click adventure in the vein of 'Monkey Island' and others of that ilk, you can talk to your fellow officers, glean information from them, and use their skills to benefit the mission and fulfil objectives. The missions are very much in the style of 'TOS' episodes, neatly wrapped up with a moral message and a bit of humour among the main characters on the Bridge, and replayability is enhanced by the awarding of a percentage grade on completion of each mission, so there's the urge to go back and improve your score once you know how to succeed.

You can use phasers, Tricorders, McCoy's medical scanner, and other equipment you find, and it's all rather thrilling to find such options. However, the freedom is limited, as you soon learn - you can't go around phasering whatever you like and it would have been a better game if you could have personally selected which crewmembers beam down, or to have more tasks to do aboard the Enterprise, though this is a churlish complaint as the game is pretty tightly defined, and it works. Where it falls down is something which most of these kinds of games share: the frustration of not knowing what to do or where to go, scouring the scenery for a few pixels to find something you need or might have missed, you don't really get to rely on your crew as much as the real Kirk would have - Spock doesn't tend to give you clues to your predicament when you're stumped, and contacting the Enterprise rarely results in constructive assistance. A hint system for when you get stuck would have been a better idea, to keep you from that demoralising feeling of failure, although it's in keeping with the harder difficulty of games of the time.

The interface is fine, although it was irritating that you have to wait for the dialogue box to highlight for a second or two when cycling through text, when you want to get to a specific piece of information, but that says more about modern patience than about the game's problems! I did find it annoying that you can't save at the very beginning of a mission, you have to wait until all the pertinent mission information has been given to you first, which means if you go back and start again you can't get those details. It's a minor fault (as is the way the game always starts with the first mission so you have to cycle through the dialogue instead of having the option to load a saved game from the title screen), and you can get round it if you sense you're coming to the end of a mission and save just before the new one, but it's just one of those little niggles that could have been smoothed out, and would be, in more modern games. Apart from that I found the interaction with the environment to be perfectly acceptable, and although it took me a while to realise you could only engage with things that lit up your eye icon when searching the screen, and that some things have no relevance and are a blind, I didn't feel too unfairly treated by the game. It could become a clickfest where you're struggling to go through the motions of combining everything you have to find the solution, but it was satisfying to solve the puzzles, and a great relief to complete the game (even if I was awarded a paltry 57% - it made the characters remind each other of the kind of sentiment that to err is human and nobody's perfect!).

The attention to detail, as you'd hope in a Trek game, is very good. While there is the odd missing piece (such as Kyle not having any biographical data on the Enterprise computer, yet Chapel, or Sarek, neither of which feature, do), or mistake (Cyrano Jones was called something else), the Trek atmosphere is recreated expertly, with lots of fun references and guest characters, whether it be Klingons and Romulans, or a young, pre-'Star Trek II' Carol Marcus (long before 'Into Darkness' gave us the same), working on an early version of what appears to be the Genesis device, and scurrilous Harry Mudd, to details from outside 'TOS' (the Romulans sign off with Jolan Tru, a term invented on 'The Next Generation'). It's fantastic to have a rear view of the Bridge, Kirk sitting in the chair, the others at their respective consoles, and battling away with enemy ships isn't a bad test of skill and resources either, as you manually aim phasers and photons, while also keeping track of Scotty's repair priorities. The ship battles get harder, too, so that by the end of the final mission you're taking on a fellow Constitution-class starship and two alien vessels, a real test to overcome.

I was tempted to give the game only two stars for all the frustration it caused, often a trial and error, with emphasis on the trial, making it a relief more than a pleasure to complete. You can see it was aimed at what was considered the intelligent audience that liked Trek so much, and games were generally much tougher in those days than in subsequent decades, so I shouldn't be surprised, but it is a tax on the brain and fingers. And I expected around thirteen or fourteen missions in total, so if it felt like it was dragging it was because I didn't realise how short it would be. For the excellent evocation of the TV series in both graphics and sound, not to mention being a functional, varied game world, I had to upgrade it to three stars. If you want a challenge, then this is the game for you, and it even ends with a nice little tribute to Gene Roddenberry, who would have just died when this game was being made. Now I want to play one in the same style for 'TNG' and 'DS9'!

***

Mudd's Women

DVD, Star Trek S1 (Mudd's Women)

Harry Mudd, the most notorious, and if not famous, the most infamous of the original Trek villains, helped by the fact that he was the only one to appear in more than one episode, even making it to 'The Animated Series' (although that doesn't matter since it's not canon). He made his debut here, taking on the Irish accent and the name of the former Captain of his ship, Leo Walsh, to show exactly what sort of a rogue and charlatan he was. He was also a little bit dangerous, not above risking others' lives if it meant saving his own, although I'm not sure if we can take it that he killed the Captain to take control, or whether Walsh died for other reasons - it's never explored and he seems to be purely accepted as a con artist, his bubble of joie de vivre only punctured by the unremitting truth laser of Majel Barrett's computer voice, cutting through his lies like a knife through butter - technology is shown to be even more advanced in this future than we expected: they don't need fancy lie detector tests, the computer can read Mudd's emotions and probably any other number of signs to detect his untruthfulness, as well as having access to a host of background information, including his criminal record, which, interestingly, also points to how criminality is dealt with in this time (further explored in 'Dagger of The Mind' later in the season), as the computer states that his sentence for petty crimes was psychiatric treatment, though the effectiveness of such was disputed, something you can easily imagine the bluster of Mudd would talk himself out of!

It's good to hear Majel Barrett's first foray into representing the computer voice of starships, something she would do until her death, the final time of which was the eleventh 'Star Trek' film of 2009, released after her death. It's telling that she was the girlfriend or wife of Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, that even after she'd been ousted from the series with her character, Number One, being struck from the crew after 'The Cage,' he still managed to find a surreptitious role for her, even before Nurse Chapel gracefully swanned onto the scene, something that she or Roddenberry could have had no idea would last for over forty years, and, along with Nimoy as Spock, would be a hallmark of the franchise spanning that time like no other character's appearances - she has the distinction of being one of, if not the only actor to have a role in every incarnation of Trek up to the present day, and they really need to use recordings of her voice for the ships in 'Discovery' if they want to get the maximum acceptance from long-time viewers like me. She became the voice of Starfleet, even putting aside her important recurring roles of Chapel and Deanna Troi's Mother, Lwaxana on 'TNG,' and to multiple generations she'll always be the First Lady of, and Mrs., Star Trek.

Lie detection without any physical interface isn't the only detail that makes the technology stand out, even with today's eyes: I can't help recalling Jadzia Dax' comments about mid-23rd Century style, all matte black finish and chrome highlights, because, despite not yet having Tricorders, the interfaces we do see are very stylish. The Tri-screen was the first to catch my eye - it had been used before, but as the camera panned across the Briefing Room table the sheen of its screens made it look real, as did the glass over Kirk's personal computer screen in his quarters, and the 'typewriter' computer on the Briefing Room table, with its impenetrable black screen, and the occasional bright lights that flittered across its surface. It was a simple effect, but very effective. The other time technology's aesthetic impressed me was the panel in McCoy's Sickbay - we'd seen the medical readouts with their horizontal gauges to represent various biological feeds before, but when Ruth, one of Mudd's titular women, goes near it, the display goes blank, a black screen, only broken by the warning lights of sensors picking up something unusual. Most people would probably consider 'TNG' to be responsible for interchangeable touchscreen interfaces, and while this isn't necessarily touch activated, it demonstrates that the screen can be rearranged or used for different purposes depending on the context, something quite revolutionary in itself. I'm probably reading too much into it, just as when I speculated Spock was controlling the main Viewscreen via gestures, but it's fun to place more contemporary ideas of technology upon the sixties production base.

One thing that is clear is that money remains a force in this period. Mudd is all about making money, whether it's wiving off his women to settlers, as in his original plan, or setting them up for the miners of Rigel XII in his Ferengi-like ability to use any eventuality to his advantage (well, perhaps not any - he didn't look like he had any way out of facing justice when Kirk promises to appear at his trial as a character witness!), but the failing 'lithium' crystal circuits that keep the Enterprise functioning are said to be expensive, Mudd equating them to the value of hundreds or thousands of times diamonds or gold, and the miners want payment. So what happened to the economy between the 23rd and 24th Centuries when people stopped doing things for gain, and instead did things based on what was best suited to their skills and abilities for the greater good and personal satisfaction? Perhaps we'll never know, but this insight into Roddenberry's world gives us a glimpse of how his thinking changed in the two decades between his two versions of Trek.

The Enterprise doesn't seem quite as high-powered as all that when it's almost drained through use of its 'deflectors' in the asteroid field when protecting Mudd's ship. The sequence worked quite well, the asteroids pinging towards the Viewscreen adequate to present the notion of an asteroid field, though it's a real shame the budget didn't stretch to the guest ship being shown as anything more than a yellow blob on the screen - at least with Balok's vessel in the previous episode they used inventive visuals to envision an alien craft, but they'd have needed to make something closer to the Enterprise in design for it to work as an Earth ship, and they didn't have the money for another big studio model. It might have been better not to show it at all rather than fob us off with a smudge! But I liked that the Enterprise could extend its deflectors around another ship, it shows, again, the technological ability of this advanced future starship - so far its come across very well, and there was only one tiny moment in the episode when the illusion of reality was broken a little - when Spock taps the helm console you hear a hollow wooden echo. So far, the sets still new and strong, we haven't had creaking floors or reverberation in general, but those things would come over the episodes as the wood settled. At the moment, though, it's nice to experience the full vision of this space-going marvel (including, apparently, uncredited dialogue spoken by Producer Robert Justman as the voice of an engineer!).

Not everything had completely settled down into the correct configuration of the series. Uhura remains in a gold uniform, somewhat out of place. She doesn't have that much to do, either. McCoy's sometimes seen in his medical tunic t-shirt, which he first wore in 'The Corbomite Maneuver,' and Kirk… well, he could do with a lock on his door, as people keep entering his quarters. Once when Spock brings Mudd and his women there (you actually hear a knock at the door, quite incongruous amidst all these computers and tech equipment!), and when Kirk's talking to the miners in private! But it's a good episode to show Kirk as Captain. He treats Mudd with a professional attitude - sat down at his desk noting down his details like an official, something we rarely see Captains on Trek do. Kirk's very much the serious Captain, against his historical reputation, he doesn't succumb to the exoticness of Eve when she tries it on in his quarters (again, he finds her lying on his bed, having wandered in - where's the security on this ship?). He resists her advances admirably and remains businesslike throughout his dealings with her, and even though Mudd had set her up for failure, saying Captains are married to their ships (in a repeat of the sentiment from 'The Corbomite Maneuver' where Kirk says he has a female to worry about: the Enterprise), she has a good go at ensnaring our resilient Captain. We even see Kirk losing his rag at Scotty with the stress of the situation with the miners holding them to ransom over lithium crystals, then quickly apologising. He's a real, emotional human being, disciplined, yet imperfect.

Spock, on the other hand has his alienness played up. He still has the hint of a smile on his lips occasionally, but he comes across somewhat cooler than we've yet seen - Mudd can somehow instantly tell that he's half-'Vulcanian' (the terminology still hadn't been perfected), and that his kind can turn off their emotions, preventing Spock from being susceptible to the Venus drug and its enhancing effects. I wished this aspect of him had been used more in the episode, as he isn't very important to the story, it's much more about Eve and Kirk, Mudd's manipulation of events, and McCoy's starstruck gooey-eyed doziness, him and Scotty both, and actually all the men on the ship - Ruth and Magda appear to enjoy all the attention and fit the role they're playing, but Eve is a bit deeper and hates the pretence they're under and that the men all eye her constantly. Even Sulu and guest navigator Farrell (who'd return in a couple of episodes), are affected. The message of the episode is a strong one, and forgives the blatant objectification of the female characters that would become a stereotypical staple of the series (this also being the first time soft lighting was used to 'enhance' the women's appearance on camera), because it's saying that it's about self-belief: you either believe in yourself, or not, and no amount of drugs will help you if you don't.

It also deals with the societal ideal that still exists even today in our 'enlightened' times, that people should look and dress a certain way, should be concerned with outward appearances at all costs, and that affection or acceptance can only happen if the outer shell is at its best. Eve sums it up well when she asks Ben Childress, the lead miner, whether he wants a fantasy woman as his wife: a vain, selfish, useless creature that cares only about her looks and maintaining them, her allure to the opposite sex, or whether he'd prefer the reality of a real woman who can cook, who will support his work and his life. It strikes him dumb at the time as he realises the truth of her words - after all, he's about as practical as they come, reacting quite strongly to her invading presence, such as when she cooks him a meal, showing that his independence is so important to him and trying to keep control of the situation of this stranger interfering in his routine. It's a very real exchange and delightful to watch. (Gene Dynarski, who was Childress, would go on to play another role in the third season, as well as returning many years later to play a character in the first season 'TNG' episode '11001001').

It could be viewed as hypocritical of Trek to say all this stuff about real beauty through Eve's mouth, since the series became famed for its revealing female costumes (as displayed here - not for the first time, as Vina in 'The Cage' was definitely in that vein, but the first time chronologically in the production of the main series), but that hadn't become a trope yet, so it's a shame the message wasn't taken to heart by those behind the production, generally preferring to exploit the physical beauty of guest stars for ratings rather than 'living up to their high-sounding words' as Kirk said in the last episode! But as a single episode with a message on fantasy versus reality, and expectations (something that can be adjusted to all walks of life - as Nicholas Meyer was saying about 'Discovery,' lower your expectations to avoid disappointment!), and not having them met in the way you've been led to believe is what should be coming to you by society, it's a good one. Mudd, in his fake accent and fake, dandy clothes, full of himself, lights up the screen as an adversary of a different kind to that which Kirk and crew would usually come up against, and it's satisfying to know he'll be facing the authorities for his actions. The ideas of enslavement to drugs or to an idealised vision of what you have to live up to, not to mention a warning about the love of makeup and fine clothes, could have gone further, but it's fun, and even ends with a little banter between the big three for the first time, so it was well done as an episode in total.

You can see where episodes such as 'The Perfect Mate' on 'TNG' (about a female on a mission to be transported to become mated), or 'Bound,' perhaps even 'Rajiin' on 'Enterprise' were inspired by this one - 'Bound' is all about three women coming aboard the ship and using their charms to try and take over, and while these women don't exactly do that, they are being used by Mudd to get the best deal he can. In a way they are his slaves, except through their own will, wanting to leave the dead-end worlds they came from (which actually sound interesting - maybe not the farm planet, which would have been ironic if it had turned out to be the same one as 'This Side of Paradise,' not to mention the farm world of Galt that Worf grew up on, but a pelagic planet of sea ranchers, if only we could have seen that, or the experimental station that's also mentioned), in order to get husbands, and thinking they're tied to Harry because of the Venus drugs he has.

I like little details of the world that we hear, such as the Enterprise unable to get a 'registration beam' from Mudd's ship, or that she's reduced to battery power when all the lithium crystals fail (must have been some asteroid field to take up so much power - either that or they had to project their deflectors a long way away!), or that Ruth and Magda get married via subspace radio to their respective miners! There's also what must be the earliest example of the crew running through possible scenarios that could account for the women: are they alien? Could they be an illusion? So many examples and possibilities would be experienced through Trek that the audience would be right behind in future on all those reasons for why what we're seeing is real or fake, and in what way, so the origins of that is interesting to see. The ubiquitous Mr. Leslie returns again, though he goes by the name of Connors this time, in Sickbay - either he likes to be referred to by his middle name (it would make sense if he has lots of brothers that they'd be known other than by their shared surname!), or McCoy had got muddled up in his delight at being visited by Ruth.

The women were fast movers, I must say: when we see them posing on the Transporter pads they're all standing on separate pads (for some reason I found it funny that Ruth beams in facing the wall, while the other two face front, like an inverse blonde joke), then we cut to another shot of them in a line, then back to their individual pads again! I wondered why Mudd allowed himself to be beamed over first - he claims it was to see that all was safe, but he's not that kind of man. It was also the first time a Transporter pattern had been the only rescue solution - their ship having blown up, the patterns are all that remains, so if they hadn't materialised, they'd have been dead. When Kirk asks Scotty how many he got aboard it reminded me of a similar scene in 'Generations.' And finally, when Kirk and Spock beam down to the desolate Rigel XII I assumed the flakes blasting through the air were snow, and I was wondering why they came without jackets (as seen in 'The Cage'), but when Eve suggests Childress cleans his pans by leaving them out in the sand blasts I realised it was the dust and sand of this unforgiving planet that was the environment. It makes the women seem all the braver for agreeing to stay on this forsaken rock with their chosen men, away from society and with little social interaction, and it makes you think more of them for having done it.

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