Metamorphosis

DVD, Star Trek S2 (Metamorphosis)

Few figures in Trek can claim the recognition and importance of Zefram Cochrane, inventor of warp drive, instigator of all that is 'Star Trek.' The advantage of setting a series in the future is that you have a past in which to create your future's history, further adding to the reality of a fictional universe, and 'TOS' would occasionally interact with its past, setting the tone for so much of its world-building consistency, fleshing out texture and time, while also being conscious of not painting themselves into a corner, keeping their options open, something that made it the perfect setting in which to explore other eras in the spinoffs, and in which they were even more careful not to tie down too much or be too definitive because they knew that if the future was unwritten, Trek could last… well, who knows how long? The disadvantage of not being specific and explicit on certain facts is that future writers can come along who don't respect the continuity and pick out bare periods to put their own contemporary spin on the universe which can lead to conflict and the undermining of Trek's carefully constructed reality. But that's not always the case, as can be seen with 'First Contact,' the eighth film, released for the 30th Anniversary of Trek, which dealt with Trek history with great care and ability. They were in a unique position for the previous seven films had featured cast from 'TOS,' and so while it may seem strange that such an anniversary should be celebrated without any returning cast members, despite them all being alive and well, the reality was that this was the first 'TNG' film to strike out alone, without the tether of their forebears. How did they celebrate Trek's past without its cast? By bringing in a character from 'TOS.'

I don't know if Glenn Corbett was still acting in 1996, but if he was he'd have been an old man, and while James Cromwell wasn't exactly young (nor looked like the thirty-odd year old Cochrane that was established through very specific dating in this episode!), the excuse of radiation poisoning from World War III takes care of that little anomaly. 'First Contact' showed, just as 'TNG' had done before it, that you don't need to have actual cast and characters return in order to celebrate the past, you could tie into the established canon and explore it further. And it is amazing how well they were able to do that, and how Trek's various key historical periods and established facts were able to mesh together. That film proved to be a nexus for Trek for years afterwards in a way that few events have been (with the exception of, perhaps, 'Nemesis,' which I know 'Picard' ties into, though I don't know how exactly), with both 'Voyager' and 'Enterprise,' the latter especially, dining out on connections to it. Zefram Cochrane became one of those few links that glued various eras together with references to him and the work that he did, his role here kickstarting the bedrock of Trek future history. They'd already brought in one future history figure, confusingly Khan Noonien Singh was both of the 'TOS' future that those in the 1960s were extrapolating, and became of the past as viewers continued to watch, and still do, a series in which most of those involved are now dead and gone, with only a handful left. We haven't reached Cochrane's time yet, though he's due to be born in around ten years time (apparently it's more like 2032 since 'Enterprise' retconned that he was there to dedicate the Warp 5 facility in 2119, rather than 2117 that you'd expect if you work back from the episode's date of 2267, though they could have been rounding off to say he disappeared a hundred and fifty years before).

A historical figure of Cochrane's stature would have been like bringing in Abraham Lincoln… oh, that's right, they did. Okay, like bringing in Professor Stephen Hawking… yes, okay, they did that, too. Okay, it was like bringing in Captain Archer, or Admiral, or Federation President Archer… how I'd love them to do that on one of these modern TV shows (Scott Bakula is still acting!). They didn't quite realise what they were saying at the time of 'Metamorphosis,' but then nothing they did had any real relevance beyond a few years into their future, it was just a job, they were not to know the immensity of proportions that their little TV series would gain! I suspect now they would make more of a fuss of meeting the man if they were to bring him back in a current production (James Cromwell is still acting!), as we saw in 'First Contact' with the way both Reg Barclay and Geordi reacted to this figure of their imaginations, an inspiration and a legend to them. But that shows what the passage of time can do, perhaps the novelty of space travel had worn off by the time of the mid-23rd Century and so people of that time weren't as impressed by Cochrane as later generations were. Or it may be that pressing matters of survival were foremost in Kirk's mind. It's more like the inventors of early computing might be to us now, that we might vaguely know the name (more than the appearance), but who's to say that in another century people will be looking back on the technological pioneers of the computer age with as much reverence as we look back on great inventors of centuries past.

Not to say that Cochrane was forgotten, but he seemed to have faded away, his death something of a mystery, but even that has lost significance over the passage of time, a poetically tragic end to a great man. That's why there's so much weight to his appearance in this episode, and subsequent Treks have built upon the base laid down here that to return to it now is to see something more, something greater than was even the intention of the original episode - that's the power of great retconning, not to meddle with what came before, but to raise it even higher and give it more emphasis, to open your mind to something bigger and far-reaching. If you just saw this episode and knew nothing about the universe's history, Zefram comes across as a personable, pleasant man with strong morals. He hasn't lost his interest in engineering (how great it would have been if Scotty had been part of the shuttle crew, though that would have given the episode a shunt in a different direction as he and Cochrane rhapsodised about ships and propulsion), and indeed, despite the powers of his Companion, he still wears the same flight suit he had on when he crashed, presumably, as we can assume just as his body doesn't degenerate, neither would his clothing or equipment - unless what he said about thinking the crew were hallucinations can be read to mean that the Companion tried to answer his distress by giving him other humans that were nonetheless unreal, in which case it could have given him different clothing in hallucinatory form, too, so it was for the best they arrived on the day he was wearing real clothes!

Cochrane's first pleasure is just seeing humans again, his second is seeing a woman, and, true to form, his third is to run over to the Galileo (I always want to call it Galileo 7, but the seven in its debut episode's title was referring to its crew!), to marvel at it's sleekness and wonder at its propulsion systems (oh the irony of Kirk telling Spock to explain their methods of propulsion to the Father of warp drive!). These kinds of personal details are what makes a character, simple little additions that show what kind of man he is, taking moments to drop in these small facets of personality and traits, the kind of thing that is lost in so much modern writing by the perceived need to keep moving the story along, often empty stories with vast stakes that are meaningless for their overblown scope, a desire to attract the eye to flashiness and hold short, fickle attention spans. But this episode is what Trek is about, it's one of those stage plays, it's not about action, there's not even one fight scene, it's all about character and the drama comes from how people react to problems, not expensive special effects and snarky dialogue meant to show how 'clever' or irreverent they are. It's astonishing when you think how old this episode is that it has so much more dramatic sophistication than all the recent episodes of Trek I've seen. Good effects can garnish a strong story, and I would say, as simple as it looks, the Companion was a good effect, augmented as it was by dialogue. The way they shot it, approaching 'The Man' as he stands in meditative stance, the way it envelops him with sparks and light, the aggression in its movement when Spock tries to harm it, stalking towards camera, the way it fills Cochrane's little hut…

The Companion has a character before it even has a voice. Spock notes that it changes when in Cochrane's company, he can extrapolate the love it has for him. In short, it was a terrific achievement to imbue this non-humanoid alien with such emotion. When it speaks in the voice of a woman, so haltingly and alien in its language, it takes on an added dimension, or rather it is able to express that dimension that we had only hints of before, and the tragedy is that it can't understand what Kirk is trying to tell it. Unlike 'Catspaw' in which he was able to teach a woman about love, but is then caught out and shown up as a deceiver, he's again in that position, only this time his powerful way with words can't break through and we see him nonplussed about what to do. Indeed, Kirk seems worried during this episode, command weighing heavily as he has the responsibility not only to his crew-mates and friends, Spock and McCoy, but also to his diplomatic charge, that of Assistant Federation Commissioner Nancy Hedford who acts as a ticking clock throughout, affected by a deadly illness that she needs treatment for. This is why the Captain is ill at ease, unwilling to think about the likelihood of being stuck with Zefram Crusoe and his cloud Friday. The position he's put in is at first to defeat a monster, much like his role against the Horta in 'The Devil In The Dark,' except this time instead of a monster that is misunderstood, it's the monster who misunderstands.

There was really nothing that Kirk could do, other than bring chaos to the little world of the Companion - Cochrane is on the Captain's side, he wants freedom, the thousands of worlds teeming with life that Kirk paints as the picture of a galaxy opened up to humans is attractive, and it's not the renown of the known galaxy he's eager to find, all out there waiting to honour him, as Kirk points out, it's escape from captivity, and the beauty of the story is that in the end he chooses to stay on that planet he's lived on for so long because now he's no longer the slave, but the master - the 'Wagon Train to the stars' analogy of the series is very much in evidence, for this is the homesteader who has found his place and chosen to settle in the wilderness with his new companion, same as the old Companion, but better. Although Kirk was unable to get through to the being, it was intelligent enough to realise its own deficiencies and merges with the dying Hedford who would have ceased to be, and becomes human in order to understand and be closer to The Man. One of the most affecting scenes of the whole episode is when the Companion/Hedford is off walking with Cochrane working out what this new situation means and as he's talking she holds up the thin scarf she'd been wearing and we see her point of view through it, like a veil, Cochrane appearing as he must have to the Companion in its previous form, the same patterns on that scarf as were in the creature. An incredibly evocative and powerful moment that says so much without words.

It's actually a highly romantic story, not the sort of thing I usually appreciate, but it's told in such a different way - there's no Kirk trying to win the affections of some woman, no woman mooning over Kirk or one of the other characters, none of the usual stereotypes, but the music is so sensitive and emotional without the usual heavy-handed romance themes the series often employed. The whole episode is just a very different prospect from the norm and the credit must go to Gene L. Coon who wrote it. From the very beginning you know you're in for something different as it opens aboard the Galileo. It was a pleasure to see the shuttlecraft again, both externally and internally, as we're allowed in on another aspect of Starfleet tech that we don't necessarily see so much - how I wish 'Discovery' had tried to ape that shuttle, or even better, show a precursor of it that you could believe was the previous version, rather than making their models similar to the film series of years later. I loved the fact that they flew via sensors rather than having massive windows, and only opened a port when they specifically wanted to view something with their own eyes. I loved the personal viewers Kirk and Spock both had, 'automatic scanners' of spherical shape that look like they could have been a development from the viewers we saw on the Bridge of the Enterprise in 'The Cage,' only these ones can be adjusted by rotation. I just about loved everything about the shuttle (including Kirk's throwaway line of it being time to 'get out and get under'), even the moment where they jump down through that cool slot-out exit and you can see there's blackness behind them to disguise the fact that the internal set was different to the external mockup.

I always love it when they take a full-sized mockup and either take it on location (rare, but achievable with the Shuttlepods on 'Enterprise' or in the films), or build it into a set, something done throughout Trek history. I'm not sure if they were using a model of the shuttle when we see long shots on the planet - at first I thought for sure it was, but then we see Cochrane running towards them from the other side of the soundstage, and they really used that space! We see another shot and it could be the actors shot from the other end of the set or it could be models, but either way I was impressed with the ability to make it look real. The craft extends to the rest of the alien planet and I can't imagine how much soil they must have used to cake the floor, plus there are real plants and trees, and the hut. Even the sky is more than just a coloured background, with wispy white clouds in the 'distance'! The setting can be important in creating an atmosphere for a story, and a substandard design can undermine good writing, but in this case everything came together. There were things that reminded me of later Treks such as the symbiosis of Hedford and the Companion (Trill), or the idea of a woman basically dying on an alien planet, but staying to bring comfort and succour at the same time as being unable to leave because she'd die (Kai Opaka in 'Battle Lines' on 'DS9'), and even seeing that chunky three-pronged engineering tool that Spock uses on the innards of the Galileo (Chief O'Brien used the same thing in 'Trials and Tribble-ations' and I thought it was made up for that in the 'TOS' style!).

Beyond the look of the production, the success of its effects work and this story of a lonely captive, kept alive long after he should have died (and he's clearly shown not to be in suffering, despite a hundred and fifty years having passed, it hasn't affected his mind, the Companion somehow keeping him nourished mentally as well as looking after his other needs but one: humanity), it's a challenge to the characters, especially the Captain. Spock questions his order to find a weapon to use against the creature because they aren't going to stay there and bow to its power. It's interesting that Spock does this because it seems for clarification, but also he is very curious and scientific so that when it comes to communicating with the entity he almost appeals with the Captain to ask about its history and nature, while Kirk is intent on saving their lives and getting Hedford back for treatment - I love that there was no easy solution to her illness, that it wasn't as simple as the Companion healing her after seeing the error of its ways. No, it has to sacrifice its own immortality in order to preserve her life, condemning them both to a short future on this planet. I do wish we could have learned more about it, just as Spock wanted, but that also gives it a mystery that is a deft avoidance from exploring a different angle in the story that would have taken away from the finely balanced drama. Of course it would be… fascinating to learn about it, what happened to others of its kind, its power to prevent organic decay, but these are side issues not as important as the personal ones for our characters.

I suppose it could be seen as shocking that Kirk would be so quick to demand a militant solution, but he is under the gun and his responsibility demanded quick action. Spock sees the logic of his arguments, even if he would prefer a passive solution, and communication is what eventually solves the problem. This was another area of the episode that really surprised and fascinated me, because we rarely have such integral lore explained so much: when they first arrive Cochrane is relieved they speak English and I was thinking it wouldn't make any difference because of their Universal Translators (it makes sense he wouldn't know about it since it was developed after his time, by Hoshi Sato), but it turns out the UT is the same thing that Kirk used in 'Arena' to speak to the Gorn - then it was also a recording device, but it appears to be the same thing here, a sort of lightsaber in looks that Kirk explains can scan brainwaves and work out the grammar and syntax of alien language. It's strange that we don't see it as part of their standard kit of Phaser, Communicator and Tricorder, but I like to think that the Tricorder had it built in, though this episode would suggest you need the separate device - perhaps that's only for new alien languages, so dealing with such races as Klingons or Vulcans, for example, would already be fully scanned and known. I loved that Cochrane recognised Spock as a Vulcan, because of course, as we saw in 'First Contact' he was the first (official), person to meet one (no doubt they had their own UT, and that's a good point: just because we don't see Starfleet always using one maybe the aliens are).

Although Dr. McCoy is a little less prominent in the trio, and it was great to see the three of them together, he does have key moments such as suggesting the carrot rather than the stick, which is where they decide to try and speak with the creature. He's mainly there to care for his patient, Hedford, but he's also there to serve as the conscience of Kirk to some small degree and remind him of his diplomatic responsibilities. It seems there was less need of the 'emotional' side of the trio, or maybe they just weren't trying that out so much, because although Spock is logical and curious he isn't just those qualities either. Spock does try to touch the creature when it appears at the shuttle, and I would assume he was attempting a mind meld, though it electrocutes him instead. I'm not sure how or why the Companion chokes Kirk and Spock in its second attack as that would seem to be less effective, but McCoy pleads for it to stop and he's a medical man and knows what it's doing, so we have to accept that's what was happening. Still, there's so much we don't know about it so it's hardly a failing in the story. I like that it's demonstrably female, at a time now when gender is so confused and even the idea appears under attack Kirk reiterates that male and female are universal constants. There's even a veiled reference to God, since when Spock says of the creature it doesn't have the ability to make life, it replies that is for the Maker of all things, which I wasn't expecting.

It was bold not to feature the Enterprise until they were over halfway into the episode, and if in fact this had been a stage play they probably could have dispensed with the shipboard scenes entirely, though I'm glad they're in the episode because it's lovely to see Sulu, Scotty and Uhura discussing the magnitude of the problem. 'TOS' isn't known for its technobabble, so it was a pleasure to hear some jargon and the kind of discussion that would become common in later series'. It makes sense since Scotty is the Chief Engineer. It was also somehow touching that we never see him seated in the Captain's Chair, he's always standing by it as if in loyalty to his absent Captain he won't take the place, even if he is filling in. It speaks of his personal loyalty to Kirk with only visual clues to say it, and I wonder if that was the actor's decision or if it was a directorial choice, because it was very effective. Even when he's recording the Ship's Log he doesn't sit down, but stands there with his hand firmly on the chair as if to claim the authority that is his in this position, but symbolically won't take over from Kirk. I was also impressed by his stolid determination to search each of the thousands of planets on their course, one by one if they have to, and as if to express what a task tracking them down will be, when Uhura says it's a big galaxy and he responds with a simple 'aye,' it very much reminded me of the same response he gave aboard the Enterprise-B as he stared out through the breach at Kirk's apparent demise.

For some reason, perhaps because there were so few Bridge scenes, Chekov doesn't appear, but I'm glad Sulu is there as he'd make few appearances in much of Season 2 when he was off filming 'The Green Berets' with John Wayne, so we'd get plenty of Chekov during his absence. Mr. Leslie can be seen sitting on the Bridge, at least. Though the Enterprise isn't integral to the story it was important for reminding us of the size of space and the sheer vastness of scope that Trek is all about. More than that it's about good people and you can tell Cochrane is a good man, far removed from his days as a drunk that had to rely on liquid courage as we saw in his time rising out of the ashes of the mid-21st Century (gulp!). Just as Hedford was hysterical about the horror of this creature keeping Cochrane alive and prisoner for such a long time (partly exacerbated by her illness that was affecting her mind as well as her body), he also is disgusted when he's made to see that it 'loves' him, feeling he was used and fed upon, but he doesn't realise its affection was genuine. It's a question whether it was right to keep someone alive artificially for so long beyond his time, and there's also the curiosity of seeing what a man from the 21st Century would make of life generations beyond (a great source of drama that had been used before, such as Captain Christopher in 'Tomorrow Is Yesterday' and would be again in such episodes as 'The Neutral Zone' on 'TNG' - always a rich seam to mine), but it's also moving that he rejects all honour and glory and sticks with the Companion to live out many happy years as we assume they'll now live a normal human lifespan.

The immortality angle makes me think of 'Insurrection,' the film after 'First Contact' as that was all about a life-giving planet (I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere in the written fiction they said the Ba'ku adopted homeworld was actually the origin of the Companion's race as they seem to love tying every tiny piece of data together - sometimes that's fun, but it can be overdone, and one reason why the books are lesser than the onscreen Treks). As Cochrane implies, immortality is terribly dull, that is the kind of undying life that would be possible in our fallen universe rather than the truly unending world to come. He sounds a bit like Picard in 'Generations' (the film before 'First Contact'!), when he talks about death actually being a positive part of existence. He must have been thrilled at first that he'd survived the crash, and when he realised he wasn't ageing it again must have been an exciting occurrence, especially as he reverted to a younger man (he was eighty-seven when he came there - did he crash becomes of pilot error due to age, did the Companion pull him in? We don't know). This bond of loyalty to his captor for saving his life means he's loathe to hurt it, and especially to kill it, but he also knows the life he's living is unnatural and needs to end, and now that other people are here because of him he also seems to have a sense of responsibility about their lives, too, so he really does come across well.

The ending is as poetic as so much of the story is, with the new Hedford speaking in that alien way about how they will know the change of days, and will know death, and it's also a bright new future for her, a career woman that, like Picard, had never made time for other things which she seems to regret, so it neatly ties up the threads of these characters and Kirk and the others are asked not to reveal what happened to Cochrane so it's a truly fairytale ending. I don't know how Kirk explained what happened to Scotty and his superiors, especially regarding Hedford - presumably she 'died.' There's no lighthearted final scene on the Bridge, they walk away from the couple and there's even a line thrown in to mention the war Hedford was due to try and mediate, Kirk's sure they can find another woman to do it. It was much appreciated that the war was addressed, even though that could easily have been another side of the story as Hedford may have felt the responsibility to do her job, except that she found something greater, and she did effectively die since she couldn't leave the planet for long. I was interested in her role as we don't get that many civilians in Trek, nor non-Starfleet Federation roles. Sometimes civilian clothing can look silly, but her wardrobe somehow suited, and as I said before, they used it to great effect. As a piece of Trek lore this succeeds immensely, really inspiring the imagination (as it did later writers), but more importantly it succeeds just as much as character drama and holds up as a truly great episode to this day.

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