The Immunity Syndrome (2)

DVD, Star Trek S2 (The Immunity Syndrome) (2)

Immunity is exactly what I have towards the charms of this episode, which I felt was the least engaging since 'The Squire of Gothos.' Is it Kirk's tired crankiness? Is it the extensive level of technical talks (who says 'TNG' was the only series where they sit, or stand around talking about the problem so much, and I don't usually mind that!), slowing the story right down? Or is it that this seems to be a remake of 'The Doomsday Machine,' taking on a vast, galaxy-threatening creature intent on devouring all in its path? Why, only last week they were up against a non-humanoid being which had to be destroyed before it gave birth to lots of little terrors that would mean even more trouble for the edible galaxy at large! It's not even that there's nothing to like, we have Kirk forced to choose between his two best friends, which will he sacrifice on a potential suicide mission into the belly of the beast? The amoeba creature itself looks pretty nasty, all tentacles and shimmering colours, threatening even without having a recognisable body to telegraph intent. Maybe it's simply that the crew are all so whacked out and ready for the promised R&R they were on their way to enjoy at Starbase 6 that it's a grind going through this heavy experience with them?

Even the sight of Mr. Leslie (or one of the Leslie brothers, if we speculate), back at the Engineering console on the Bridge the episode after he was drained of all red blood cells by the honey monster in 'Obsession,' fails to drum up a sense of fun, and only the Bridge politics has much interest to dissect: Mr. Kyle, for some reason, perhaps wanting experience up top, is sitting in for Mr. Sulu, though he can't seem to decide whether he should be wearing his usual red shirt or the gold variant more common for that station - when we first glimpse him at the Helm he's in red, but then for the rest of the episode he's wearing gold! Okay, so the first scene he only appears on the edge of frame in the teaser, and it's post-opening titles that he's changed, so that could mean a little time later. Unless he came straight from Transporter duty with the gold shirt underneath and threw off the red once he'd got settled on the Bridge, worried that red might attract danger (more likely it was so he didn't stand out when they cut to stock shots of Chekov and the edge of a Goldshirt staring at the Viewscreen!). You can see that the episode is somewhat lacking when such trivial matters take so much attention - I'm sure Kirk calls him 'Mr. Cowell' at the end as he makes recommendations for citations in his log, Kyle the only other named crewmember on the Bridge, so it has to be a mispronunciation, surely? The he tells 'Mr. Cowell' to programme the fuse and seems to be talking to someone off camera towards Leslie, and Scotty also looks that way as we hear the bleeps and blorks of command inputs. But then he's definitely talking to Kyle when he asks 'Mr. Cowell' to back them out!

Astonishingly, Spock and McCoy agree on something, just for once, about the need for a man to take the Shuttlecraft into the amorphous blob for necessary readings that they hadn't been able to achieve sending probes (that noise when the probes lose contact was another negative strike for the episode as it was as uncomfortable to hear for the viewer as it was for the crew!), although the uncharacteristic support soon turns into opposition again as each believes he's the best man for the job. Spock is the one selected to take it on in the end and it turns out Kirk chose wisely as his Vulcan endurance enables him to take the battering in the shuttle and his constitution allows him to conserve power on life support by turning it down to a minimum, where every ounce of juice was needed. At the same time it could have been a risk sending a Vulcan considering that a starship, the USS Intrepid (forebear in name to the ship which launched the USS Voyager's class in the 24th Century), crewed entirely by four hundred of that race, were all lost, so there could have been a chance their physiology was more vulnerable to the creature than humans. It didn't turn out that way. I didn't quite believe in Spock's reasoning they'd died because they couldn't accept or understand the idea of being conquered because it isn't in their makeup, their planet never being conquered, it sounded a daft reason, but at least we got more evidence of Vulcan mental abilities.

If you can call hearing the deaths of them an ability! It could be deemed more of a curse (hmm, wonder where they got the idea for Jedi remotely sensing the deaths of so many lives being blown up with Alderaan in 'Star Wars'?), but it shows that Vulcans do have telepathic power much deeper than mere proximity, even though they're known as touch-telepaths, a reason why they don't like to touch people (though Spock shows himself most gentlemanly by helping a dazed Uhura back to her seat after she suffers from the effects of crossing into the 'dark zone' of starless space, a concept used again in both 'Voyager' and 'Enterprise,' 'Night' and 'Daedalus,' I believe, and possibly 'The Void'). Dr. McCoy expresses disbelief that the First Officer could know of the deaths and a somewhat philosophical argument ensues between them with Spock accusing humans of caring more about a single death than a multitude of them, but it doesn't go anywhere. I suppose it does give some small credence to the outlandish addition to canon 'DSC' foisted on us when Sarek could communicate with his ward, Burnham, across vast distances, though in that case he was said to have given her a 'piece of his katra,' which was much more silly. Still, I like that Spock has this sense, however horrible it was for him, and it had a slight precedent during Season 1's 'A Taste of Armageddon' where he was able to coerce a guard outside their prison to come and open the door, using mental power outside of touching distance, though not very far in that case.

I've always found it… yes, fascinating, that a Federation starship (we assume it isn't a Vulcan ship since it is a USS), could be crewed entirely of one race, but it fits with the Vulcan attitude: they were one of the founding races of the Federation and they probably made a few demands of their own, especially when you consider how much of a trial it is for Vulcans to live and work with other, inferior races such as humans, not least because of the smell (according to 'Enterprise'), but also because they have their own regimented way of doing things and I think it's very intriguing that they could have their own ships and continue their own methodologies from the time they had their own fleet, pre-Federation (especially as many of them would be old enough to have been alive at that time). I'd love to see an episode set on such a ship, just as they did with Riker on the Klingon vessel in 'A Matter of Honour,' though we came close with the numerous Vulcan episodes of 'Enterprise.' Spock is more suited to serving with humans because he at least had a human Mother and is half-human, so is uniquely qualified to deal with them, even if he does consider the Vulcan heritage he owns far superior, the human half what he must struggle against. Nimoy must have enjoyed the challenge, especially if you notice a rather out of place shot of him lounging in a doorway with a big cheeky grin on his face during the end credits - that has to be an outtake!

The conclusion they reach about this parasite is that it's invading our galaxy like a virus and that they are the antibodies in the body of the galaxy and must do all they can to kill it off, McCoy wondering if that is there one destiny. Scotty claims it couldn't swallow antimatter as they come up with the plan to deal with it, but surely if it had already absorbed the Intrepid it would have swallowed their antimatter? Unless that ship exploded before it reached the creature - there were plenty of rocky waves to weather before they got close, as we see from the traditional sight of Bridge crew being flung about the deck. At one point, Kirk warns them to secure for collision and we see people like Uhura brace themselves against their consoles, so it's obvious they don't have seatbelts if there was ever any doubt about that, one of those Trek conventions which doesn't make sense on the face of it (and which they unwisely changed in 'Picard,' though that may have been as a concession to Patrick Stewart's old age and not wanting to be chucked around!), but is there for the sake of drama, and you accept it because it does look good.

The few moments of shockwaves break up the long scenes of discussion a little, but despite the slow nature of the story it was pleasant to have a full briefing happening again in the Briefing Room, though I was more concerned with trying to see if the young Asian man seen very briefly at the start was Sulu, back at last! They weren't cutting to him at all and it wasn't until they get up at the end you see it wasn't Sulu at all. Very much a meeting out of the 'TNG' style, or to be precise, the 'TNG' style's origin came from scenes like this. Kirk's Quarters are seen again (as is the lab where the trio discuss an amoeba), as he deliberates on which man to send to his death - I noticed Spock and McCoy buzzed the door before walking in, though they never waited for confirmation they could enter and Kirk was talking on the comm system with Scotty at the time, so the door etiquette on this ship seems to have no definition! Later, McCoy shows up again (while Kirk is using the good old record tapes reader, tapes strewn all over his bunk), but this time fails to buzz and walks right in. Kirk doesn't get to be particularly heroic this time, leaving it all to Spock in the shuttle, but they make it clear he couldn't go as he's too valuable (another aspect 'TNG' revived), so he doesn't do much of note, other than a brisk speech on the intercom to the whole ship.

It was terrific to see the Hangar Bay again, complete with Shuttlecraft inside, just like in 'Journey To Babel' as we get Spock going through that double-thick door after the place has been pressurised from outside. Sadly, we still (and never will), get to peer inside and look around, but if you think about it, the orientation doesn't make sense: we know the Hangar is at the back of the ship, only a little wider on the outside from the view of the bay door which we see on the outside and from the inside when the shuttle enters or exits, so how can the door, complete with corridor straight behind it, be ninety degrees from where the shuttle is parked? We must be looking across at the other side of the bay because it's a blank wall, not the bay door! There simply wouldn't be the room for corridors off to the side of the bay judging by the shape of the model… Another inconsistency is the nacelle caps at the rear - I've noted before that they sometimes show up as flat with multiple exhaust ports, and at other times with a round bubble over each. Here we get both in quick succession, so perhaps the bubble is a literal cap that slots over the ports, that would seem to be the only explanation. The interior of the Shuttlecraft is also quite different to how it normally looks, with large machine cabinets and a grilled partition halfway through, though this could all have been installed specifically for Spock's mission as they do mention equipment being put in. You can see another influence on 'The Motion Picture' as Spock takes the shuttle into the maw of the creature, not much safer than travelling in a Thruster Suit!

Finally, the danger averted, the galaxy once again saved from potential destruction, they head for Starbase 6 where Kirk says he's looking forward to rest and recreation on some planet - does this mean they only park up the Enterprise there and are given a tour somewhere else for the actual shore leave? All in all it wasn't the most inspiring or dynamic episode, even a little tiresome and repetitive in places. There were no real guest actors other than the recurring faces such as Chapel (who doesn't get to do much), and Kyle (who gets to do more than he usually does), and while the effects work on the creature was visually strong, this is not one destined to go down as a classic in my eyes, for all its colourful brightness in the uniforms that really pop, and some goodness between the big three.

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