The Lorelei Signal

DVD, Star Trek: The Animated Series (The Lorelei Signal)

Uhura gets one of her strongest roles in an episode, ever, perhaps not since Nomad took away her memory that time. She practically becomes Captain Uhura, taking control of the Enterprise and the responsibility therein to save the affected male crewmembers from a siren call that makes them euphoric and drawn to a particular planet in an area of space where ships go missing every twenty-seven years. It's a fresh take on 'TOS' to have Uhura and Nurse Chapel run things, even if the story is a typical space sirens tale mixed with 'The Deadly Years' in which Kirk and company aged drastically in a short period of time. I can't remember the solution to that episode, but here they use the Transporter to reconfigure their bodies back to their proper ages. Trouble is, and this is one of those reasons why you can't take 'TAS' seriously as proper Trek canon, if you can just de-age a body by using an older Transporter pattern then nobody ever has to age! Just keep a pattern handy from when you were in your twenties and every so often re-energise yourself. At least it was a 'scientific' solution, as you'd expect from Mr. Spock, and not some magical concoction of drugs that reverts them to natural form, but it was a bit too much of a liberty with Trek tech.

The message of the story is that immortality isn't all that great if you're stuck in one place, and humanoids need the realities we all experience, otherwise life becomes a curse the these women were living, forever the same age, only able to exist by draining the lives of men (which is why they needed a new ship every three decades), stuck in permanent limbo on this planet. If they'd had any sense they'd have made any men that came along transport them to a new planet, but they didn't appear to think of that! If there's any episode this reminded me of it was 'Favourite Son' from 'Voyager.' That had the added twist that members of crews would suddenly break out in Trill spots and feel drawn to a particular planet, 'revealed' to be a member of that species rather than who they thought they were, then when they'd decided to stay they were drained of life and left to die as withered husks. Maybe the 'Voyager' writers were inspired by this episode? Or maybe it is a bit of a sci-fi trope, life-draining matriarchal societies…

I will give it this: it certainly felt like an episode of 'TOS' thanks to that great incidental music, the weird sounds of the siren call, and the very alien architecture and flora of the planet. I can imagine the temple or castle, whatever it was, to have been a beautiful matte painting like the one in 'The Cage,' and almost everyone (except the women), being controlled by outside forces actually happened in 'This Side of Paradise,' so you can see the influences. The shorter story duration didn't harm it as we get right into things with Kirk's log (hearing that there's been cooperation between them, the Klingons and Romulans was a nice touch - perhaps this sharing of information eventually led to Nimbus III?), and though it's a simple case of capture on an alien planet, the chase as these old men stumble away from the vibrant young women to hide had some drama to it. The settings may have had some inspiration from 'The Time Machine' as the temple with its many steps, the blonde-haired 'Eloi' women and even the giant urn in the gardens (which looked like the pits from which the Morlocks came), gave the impression of that film.

Although Uhura takes over, we see Scotty left in command of the Bridge, which was true to the chain of command in 'TOS,' and he even sings! Looks like the ship had some alterations since the series as there's another Bridge entry point, presumably to a Turbolift, to the left of the viewscreen. Not as drastic as 'DSC' and its awful scale issues and silly outer corridor around the Bridge, but quite a major change all the same. Another change, and I can see why they did this one, is that Majel Barrett doesn't seem to be doing the computer voice - when Chapel speaks to it, it sounds more like Nichelle Nichols, but otherwise it would sound like Chapel was talking to herself (though you can easily hear her voicing the women on the planet). That makes me wonder if Chapel or Lwaxana Troi ever held a conversation with the computer in their roles on 'TOS' and 'TNG.' Surely they must have played that gag at some point? Along with cutting corners for guest voices there is the occasional visual mistake in the animation: when Chapel and Uhura seek out Spock (he communicates telepathically with the Nurse, apparently!), Chapel reaches up to press a button and you see her blue uniform as usual, but the reaching arm is in red! And then there's the black nurse standing by Spock's biobed who changes into a white nurse when the shot changes!

It may be cheap and cheerful, and doesn't exactly match up to Trek as we know it, but this was an inoffensive offering (aside from Transporter regeneration and Vulcan telepathy, both issues that required more precise clarification for future edification, though a lot more fitting than beaming across the quadrant, magic healing blood and Iron Man time suits which Trek has degenerated into in the last decade!), and felt true to the series. It is lacking in humour and the many shades the characters were capable of portraying, but it was okay, if nothing more, and holds a unique place for Uhura and Chapel to shine, which was nice.

**