The Naked Time

DVD, Star Trek S1 (The Naked Time)

This is one of those famous episodes, so well known as to be called one of the 'classics.' But that doesn't mean it's good. Like most Trek episodes it has its moments, but it takes a while to get there, then they throw in some time travel like it's a penny a piece gimmick, which, while Spock shows his typical scientific curiosity, Kirk pretty much makes it clear it isn't going to happen on his watch. The problem is that it's too early in the run of the series to be showing the characters acting out of character - just like the 'TNG' sequel, 'The Naked Now,' we haven't got a strong enough baseline for these people to gauge a subtly different performance to their usual selves, but then there isn't much subtlety in this one. As with almost everything, 'DS9' did it better, attempting the old 'virus makes the crew go barmy' story late in the first season, not a few episodes in, as here. It can sometimes work, witness the third episode of 'Enterprise' ('Strange New World'), where similar ground was covered: that was a truly great episode, but it was less about the stretching of emotions and reactions as it was about dealing with a new and malevolent planet. 'The Naked Time' is just that little too silly for me, ludicrous melodrama rather than dramatic, without the hook that the similar 'The Enemy Within' had to hang its story on. You have the memorable scene of Sulu being given some development by showing off his fencing prowess as if he's one of The Three Musketeers; Chapel openly gooey over Spock; Spock blubbing over the fact he never told his human Mother he loved her, and even Kirk getting all mushy about the Enterprise.

The minor characters have more important scenes than the main, with Tormolen going crazy or Kevin Riley putting the ship in danger, switching off the engines as the Enterprise's orbit decays into a planet that's on its last legs anyway. That was much more interesting than a virus that acts like excess alcohol: a planet falling apart (think Genesis in 'Star Trek III'), a research team (apparently made up of shop window dummies - at least one of the frozen bodies was clearly not human!), must be rescued. Instead, it's just people bouncing around the ship getting angry or suicidal, and that's not really much fun to watch. I even felt (sacrilege, I know), that Leonard Nimoy's performance wasn't the most accomplished, as he cries and wails, unable to concentrate on anything but guilt and self-pity. But we still don't know Spock yet (notice how he shouts in annoyance at a crewman laughing hysterically), and even watching in the context of having seen the character's entire life, which ended in 'Star Trek Beyond,' I'm not impressed by his melancholy musings: he hasn't been Vulcan enough to make his outburst shocking. He doesn't look like a cool character, although ironically, he's actually the closest to the Spock we expect for most of this episode. When he backhands Kirk across the Briefing Room table, he gets some credibility back, and also as he buries his emotions for the needs of the ship. Kirk's loss of control is more impressive, the burden of command, seeing the ship as a real woman who hounds him and keeps him from a real life, is more engaging.

Nurse Christine Chapel (with her unique red cross badge insignia that no one else ever got), makes her debut, in weird grey wig, and in her first ever appearance is immediately in the thick of the fray as she assists McCoy with an operation! You would never have guessed this was the same actress as the one who played Number One in 'The Cage,' they're so different (that's acting). But again, we're introduced to her, and before we know it she's mooning over Spock and acting lovey-dovey, but we don't know her yet! It was too early and carried no weight. At least it gives her something to play against for the rest of the series, it's just not very compelling here. Of course it's great that Roddenberry managed to sneak her back into the fold, after her earlier character was removed, and Majel Barrett was able to deepen the character with her performance over the years, without much help from the writing, so it's a pleasure to see her join the gang. Yeoman Rand continues to play her part, Kirk once again referencing his attraction to her, since this early in the series they were still toying with the idea of them as a couple, or at least a potential couple, before they realised they wanted Kirk to dally with alien females from week to week, and Rand might hold him back. She actually takes the helm during the episode, since Sulu has gone off to please himself, so she gets an integral part of the action. Leslie also takes the Helm, Uhura takes Riley's seat at Navigation, in an identical configuration to a scene in the previous episode, so perhaps Leslie and Uhura are the 'go-to guys' if driving the ship goes awry?

The episode begins promisingly with Spock and Tormolen beaming down to the outpost, and finding the frozen occupants who have died in bizarre ways. There's a nice bit of stop motion animation for the effect of the red water climbing up the wall and spitting onto Tormolen's hand (though it doesn't make a lot of sense for a virus that is passed on by touch to actively be drawn to flesh, or that the man takes off his glove and holds his hand on the wall or console until the virus reaches him!), we get the environmental suits (wonder if they'll use the flimsy, shower curtain material like this for the EVA suits in 'Discovery,' or the more bulky ones of the other iterations?), which look pretty cool, though not as good as the later versions with the coloured pipes. Perhaps these were low-level protection, the more elaborate versions not needed for an internal location? But it's certainly moody, and sets things up well, it's just that things go down hill after that. Tormolen's anguish and despair at humanity's arrogance in pushing out into space was an early high point, trying to knife himself with kitchen cutlery, prevented by the actions of Riley and Sulu, but the episode does drag, unfortunately.

Like I said, it has its good points, with many more details filled in and added to the lore. We get a few more shipboard locations such as the Rec Room (which I believe was where Kirk and Spock had their chess game in 'Where No Man Has Gone Before,' but hadn't been seen since), with the first appearance of the food slot, I think; Scotty climbs in for our first look inside a Jefferies Tube to fiddle about with engineering tasks (though he's not considered a miracle worker yet - Spock finds him cutting a hole in the bulkhead to open the door to Engineering, and notes that with his attention to safety he'll finish just too late to save the ship), and we hear, according to Riley, that the Enterprise has its own bowling alley (where is it, in the nacelles?). There's also the missing decontamination from the previous episode that I noted, though it's not something the Transporter does automatically, Scotty specifically gives the instruction after Spock and Tormolen beam back - they wait while coloured lights flash. There's also the famous line from Scotty, "I can't change the laws of physics," which does not have 'cannae' in it at all! We get the first proper Bridge roll, where everyone's flipped off their feet in dramatic style, shown in Sickbay, too, McCoy thrown across his patient, and it really is a good effect, the camera selling it as well as the actors do. Kirk has his shirt ripped (though it's by McCoy, to inject him with the serum), Spock talks of his Mother living on Vulcan, and we see the black undershirt (which the Kelvin Timeline films did not invent!), when Spock's in Sickbay for his checkup. That also leads to the first true Spock/McCoy banter: his delight at his physiology being different to the Doc's!

With so many important little happenings the episode should be better, but, although it's great to see that Sulu has other interests after his botany was introduced in 'The Man Trap' (and is mentioned again here), it becomes a bit of a parody with Riley wailing his songs annoyingly over the intercom as he holds the ship hostage to his whims. The crew look a little incompetent, although there are nice moments here and there such as when Kirk loses his temper at Uhura, then apologises and she smiles kindly at him (this would have been the perfect shot to have used in 'Trials and Tribble-ations' - it would have meant that Sisko could have spoken to her, too). And Sulu showing his manhood by 'protecting' the fair maiden Uhura. There's as much to put him and Uhura together as there was to put Spock and Uhura together in the new films if you go by their logic! I think the biggest annoyance is that they drag out the story a little longer than necessary, adding in the 'time warp' which sends them back a few hours into the past after the engines 'imploded,' whatever that means! There's no explanation of the time travel, Spock states they can now go back to any planet, any era, Kirk says they may do, but it's too risky for now, and that's that. It has no bearing on the episode, we don't see Tormolen again (did it affect only those who were alive?), so what was the purpose, unless it was to suggest a new avenue of storytelling for the future, which they didn't use again (sure, they had other time travel plot devices, but not by imploding their engines), making it an unsatisfying episode, all told.

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