DVD, Star Trek S2 (The Doomsday Machine)
If you like mechanical things, if you like taking things apart, if you like scenes of machines being fixed, then this episode is for you! To me it's a very nuts and bolts episode, and not being very handy at fixing things or interested in the inner workings of devices I need more than engineering work to draw me in. This is another of those well regarded stories that I find watchable, but nowhere near the top ten of the series. It does have more to it than circuits and tools, with Commodore Matt Decker a tragic figure, survivor's guilt pushing him over the edge. To me he isn't a sympathetic character and that must be the key to good drama, allowing the 'bad guy' some understanding and motivation. Yes, he does have both, he lost his entire crew to the Doomsday Machine, and we can see it hit him badly, but in contrast to our own Captain and First Officer he rudely butts in on the command hierarchy to put the Enterprise at risk. The scene where Spock must deal with him, first in his takeover, then as his mental weaknesses show, is one of the best parts of the episode, as are the moments where Kirk, stuck aboard Decker's ship, the USS Constellation, must exert his personal power and influence through the Communicator in order to prevent mad Decker from allowing desperation to lose another ship and crew. This is fortunately one of Kirk's strengths, and I imagine, if there were suicide in the 23rd Century, he'd be the ideal man to talk someone down off a bridge or building because he has complete confidence and assurance in his voice, and an unerring logic and daring, as many a deadly computer has discovered.
He still relied on the dependable nature of his First Officer to carry out his orders, and though the regulations would seem to be against it, Spock sees that there is no other alternative than to override the rash Commodore, in spite of protocol, and as we saw after, when he steals a Shuttlecraft and heads straight into the maw of the machine, he was in danger of letting his suicidal tendencies take Kirk's crew with him. Surprisingly, there's no mention of 'Moby Dick,' the famous literary reference that this episode appears to draw from, and that would more obviously be used in both 'Star Trek II' and 'Star Trek: First Contact.' And perhaps the analogy isn't quite as strong in this because we don't have as much time with Decker as I thought we did. He's found sprawled on a desk in Auxiliary Control, a place Kirk spends most of his time in the story, he's sent back to the safety of the Enterprise, proceeds to place himself in command, recklessly endangers the ship and crew in a futile attempt to right past wrongs, gain vengeance for his own dead crew and restore his own pride at losing everything and he comes across as a typical higher up, like an Admiral, except this one isn't on a screen far away, he's right there on the Bridge, stealing into the Captain's Chair and putting his own decisions into law while the real Captain is out of contact.
It's certainly dramatic, I'll give it that, and Decker is one to sell the horrors of this terrible robotic vessel that can destroy entire systems of planets, but the faults of the episode outweigh the strengths. For a start, I didn't quite buy the reasoning for abandoning ship, beaming his crew down to a planet when they knew this thing could take out planets. If they did it to escape, why did the machine not obliterate the Constellation? It leaves it battered and burned, its nacelles at an awkward angle, chunks taken out of it, but it could have swallowed it whole. Another issue I have is that the series has been very good at using all three of the main characters, but here, after McCoy is dismissed from the Bridge by Decker he never reappears in the story, and that's because he would have the power to relieve the intruder of command and the story requires that he be written out for the sake of dramatic tension. It's not badly done, McCoy's all ready to seize on the technicality that Decker can be deemed unfit for command, but Spock points out that unless he can provide evidence it carries no weight. Uncharacteristically, McCoy doesn't press the matter and demand to examine the Commodore as a Doctor should be able to do, and so that part of the story is killed off. McCoy isn't the only one to be driven off the Bridge, Uhura never even shows up! She must have been on a different duty shift, because her role at Communications is played by Lieutenant Palmer. I wonder what the situation was there, was Nichelle Nichols ill? Did they want a change? It's nice to put a face to a name, and Elizabeth Rogers played the voice of the Companion in 'Metamorphosis,' uncredited. Of all the guest characters Palmer is the only one to recur again, in 'The Way To Eden,' a story I enjoy more than this one.
One way they could have added to the drama is if the Constellation's Communications Officer had somehow stayed aboard and Decker demanded that she replace Uhura. That would have both explained the absence and made it more personal and dramatic. I do like one thing about Palmer's appearance, and that is to show there are different shifts and other crewmembers that take on the same roles we see the familiar faces in. It's just strange that in an episode where we board another Constitution-class starship that we also see a different Comms Officer. That's one good thing about the episode: seeing another starship. It began a great tradition in Trek of reusing existing sets to stand in for the same type of ship, thereby saving the production money, but also expanding the scope of the world we're watching. I can't remember if this is the first time we went aboard another Starfleet ship, but it wouldn't be the last, nor would it be the last we saw of the Constitution-class taking part in manoeuvres this season. It's truly fascinating to see the same sets, but blackened, the corridors strewn with debris, and our characters exploring (last week we saw Kirk climb the Tri-ladder, this time we get to see three people climb it at the same time, using it as it was intended!). Both Jerry Catron (Montgomery), and Richard Compton (Washburn), had one other role on 'TOS,' but a better fact is that Compton went on to direct the First Season 'TNG' episode 'Haven,' another one I enjoy more than this!
Auxiliary Control continues the familiar look with those honeycomb grilles, a thicker version of the ones used in their Quarters, and we even get to see them enter Engineering from the upper level. It's not just the Constellation we see some nice internal views of, but our own Enterprise - I'm sure the Shuttle taking off from the inside of the Launch Bay had been reused from Season 1, but it's no less beautiful (imagine if we could have had more of that in 'Discovery,' seeing things at the same scale instead of pumped up Kelvin Timeline-inspired giganto-ship). And Scotty is up a Jefferies Tube desperately trying to reconfigure the Transporters to beam Kirk back just in time (like Chakotay in 'Caretaker' - "NOWWWW!"). For obvious reasons the external views of the new ship aren't up to the standard of the Enterprise, sometimes looking like a half-melted bit of clay when approaching the planet killer. It works for the episode because of all the damage that had been done to it, so it's easy to suspend the disbelief and knowledge that this is just some cheap mockup, but the doomsday machine itself is another area that didn't quite work. For a start, the scale is said to be miles long, and even given Decker was exaggerating we see the starships approaching the deadly mouth, and then the Shuttlecraft doing the same, at the same scale, which ruins the effect. But there's also the limitations of the time, or not enough forethought with the Enterprise coming in firing from one angle and yet we see the Phaser beams blast along the top as the machine advances, then the same shot is used again and again and doesn't fit the angle of approach.
Even the idea that they know where it came from and where it's going doesn't work. They can project its path, presumably a straight line, and yet it doesn't always travel in a line, it returns to the system, again for dramatic necessity, to put Enterprise and Constellation in jeopardy, so how can they know where it's been or where it's going. They say it's headed for the centre of our galaxy, so maybe they should have just let it, then maybe the fake god of 'Star Trek V' wouldn't have had to be dealt with as the machine would have gobbled up his planet! The stakes are there, but they aren't visible. Rigel colony is the target, but we never get close to it. The idea was there, but the implementation didn't really work. Instead it feels more like 1950s B-film sci-fi, something Trek usually tried to avoid. There are other little niggles, too, such as the great green uniform Kirk wears, and which debuted for this season in the episode - I love it, so why is that a problem? Only because it's clearly been planned so he wears a different colour to Decker so we can easily differentiate them, even though that's not necessary. The same thing with the Security Guards on the Bridge right from the start. There isn't usually a guard there, but this time there's two, and it's all so that Spock can threaten to arrest Decker when he's behaving foolishly. Again, not a mistake, but it would have been easy enough to have Spock call for Security to the Bridge and give Decker time to think it over while they're arriving.
While we're at it, Kirk is doing his wild speculations again, just as he conjured up an idea of the Greek gods being powerful aliens, now he's thinking of a doomsday machine that wiped out both sides in war. Sure, it's a good story and may well be true, but it's like the writer is giving us a shortcut to its origins. It makes it more mysterious that we never know for sure, and they hint that there could be a sequel some time as the episode ends with Kirk and Spock speculating on whether there are more of them out there, Kirk wryly concluding the episode on a light note by saying he found one sufficient, but it didn't work for the heavy tone of the episode, and if there was a story that needed McCoy to be there at the end and more discussion of Decker, his rights and his wrongs, it was this one. Chekov's another casualty, not even mentioned, though Scotty gets to play his part with all the miracle-working (using the three-pronged device again that would later be seen in 'Trials and Tribble-ations'), Kirk telling him he's earned his pay for the week after getting a Phaser bank recharged. And it is good to see Kirk up to his elbows in circuitry, fixing things and being the hands-on Captain. It's convenient (or rather the reverse), the Transporter is only capable of taking back everyone except him, but that's an accepted trope of Trek-telling so you can't complain about it. But there isn't a lot to write about this one because it is such a technical story: go here, do this, fix that, manoeuvre there. It's not bad, nor for the most part badly executed (the front view of the planet killer with its fiery depths is terrifying as ships move towards it), but I often find that when a guest star is elevated above the main cast it can be detrimental because we want to know more about our people, not Decker.
Decker cemented his place in Trek lore by being one of the few to have a connection to something later, with his son Will becoming First Officer on the Enterprise in 'The Motion Picture,' and more recently being name-checked as among the best Starfleet Captains in 'DSC' ('Choose Your Pain'), which were nice touches. I can only suppose that people warmed to Matt due to the tragedy of his circumstances and that he was so much of a maverick. We see here exactly how wrong the stereotype of Kirk is, he's not the one to take unnecessary risks, the only one he does take is when beaming off the Constellation at the last moment, and that only because he has one shot at it and wants to get it right, and has faith in his crew to get him out. And even beyond that he's willing to sacrifice himself if they fail, though he admits he doesn't wish to die (I wonder if he thought he would, maybe this was when his idea about dying alone came to him?). It's just that, as a whole, when everything is totted up, whether it be characters, effects or story, there's not quite enough for me to get onboard and I really don't consider it one of the greats. It's not even that the effects take me out of it, on the contrary it's great to see the asteroids flying past on the Viewscreen (it looks so big when we see Kirk walk past it on the Bridge, so much bigger than the usual shot we get from distance), and that they created such an alien design for the planet killer. I just could never warm to it, and that may partly be due to not seeing it on my original viewing in the early 90s. I may have seen it, but if so, it never stuck in my head and so I felt little connection with it, the same way as a few other episodes of 'Voyager' or 'Enterprise' that I didn't see until I had the DVD sets, seeming limp and lacking. Still, out of these first six, only a couple have failed to live up to the Trek name, so that's not a bad hit rate so far.
**
Tuesday, 13 April 2021
Phantoms
DVD, Stargate Atlantis S3 (Phantoms)
Shooting up the woods is always fun, but for much of this episode there didn't seem to be much more to it than that. It got better towards the end as the phantoms of the title ratchet up the drama for everyone, but I felt for the most part they didn't use the premise quite well enough. It's a good idea: a Wraith experimental generator that is supposed to control the minds of prey for some nefarious reason, gone wonky thanks to Genii interference, and our little band stumbles upon it when trying to track down an incommunicado team. The concept of friends and allies turning on each other and fighting to the death with whatever is to hand is one of those old sci-fi tropes that this franchise likes to use as much as the next series, and you can't fault them for that, it can be a very creepy setup: waiting to become affected, knowing it could happen, the team splitting up, encountering hallucinating members who see all kinds of things. If anything, that was where the characters let themselves down as they knew, or had surmised, that this was how both the Genii and their own people had died and yet they didn't seem all that concerned about it happening. Perhaps it didn't help that the forest was bathed in sunshine and it was all quite pleasant in appearance, the kind of place it would be nice to go for a long hike.
I was also confused that they didn't go back through the Stargate at the end - Weir sent supplies, presumably dropped from an ARV, rather than sending soldiers to get them out, and they had to wait for the Daedalus to come for them. I suppose this could have been because they'd gone too far from the 'gate, but if an ARV could find them, why not bring them in? Clearly the Stargate must still operate from Atlantis' end? Ending the episode on a technical question might suggest it wasn't quite engaging enough, for all its fast camerawork and stylish chasing through the verdant foliage and ancient trunks, but it had its moments. It was good to see Anubis' old Super Soldiers (Kull Warriors they were originally called), even if they were only an errant imagining, and I would have liked to see more with them. Dr. Beckett probably had the worst time of it, thinking his patients were dead, then that they were alive, then discovering one of them was actually dead, before carrying the live one off into the forest! McKay of course is the brains of the operation, set to take out the machine that's controlling them until even he becomes susceptible, thinking the place is about to explode and diving out of the familiar cave set. I must say he took the bullet from Sheppard well, it was only fortunate that it was fired off to the right of his torso instead of dead centre. Dead being the almost operative word! And Teyla didn't really have a lot meaningful to do again, even if she does get Sheppard to the machine and tell him which lead to pull.
The other thing that took something away from the episode was that all the main cast survive (clearly not a bad thing!), but also that we didn't have any lasting impact from what occurred - they're all sitting round in the woods at the end with plenty of supplies, laughing about McKay still complaining, and somehow an experience like this should have had more consequences. I'm not sure exactly what, and I'm pro an upbeat ending, but they came close when Teyla asks Sheppard if he did get the guy he was seeing in his imagination to safety originally, and he admits he didn't. There needed to be more of a punctuation like that. But 'Stargate' prefers to keep things light for the most part, it's just another crazy adventure for our heroes this week, and I can understand that attitude. Another thing is Weir not getting concerned when a team who went to find another team don't check in. You'd think she'd be more worried. Overall, not bad, but not up to the higher standards of which the series is capable (see previous episode), an enjoyable romp round the great outdoors, one of those 'going down to the woods to be in for a big surprise.' Except without the bears or the picnics. One thing that did confuse me was seeing the episode came out in 2006, when I thought it was post-'SG-1's finale (2007). Now I realise it must be in tandem with Season 10, so they had three years of overlap with the parent series, not two. All this time I was so pleased whenever 'SG-1' sets or personnel appeared and it's not such a wonder after all!
**
Shooting up the woods is always fun, but for much of this episode there didn't seem to be much more to it than that. It got better towards the end as the phantoms of the title ratchet up the drama for everyone, but I felt for the most part they didn't use the premise quite well enough. It's a good idea: a Wraith experimental generator that is supposed to control the minds of prey for some nefarious reason, gone wonky thanks to Genii interference, and our little band stumbles upon it when trying to track down an incommunicado team. The concept of friends and allies turning on each other and fighting to the death with whatever is to hand is one of those old sci-fi tropes that this franchise likes to use as much as the next series, and you can't fault them for that, it can be a very creepy setup: waiting to become affected, knowing it could happen, the team splitting up, encountering hallucinating members who see all kinds of things. If anything, that was where the characters let themselves down as they knew, or had surmised, that this was how both the Genii and their own people had died and yet they didn't seem all that concerned about it happening. Perhaps it didn't help that the forest was bathed in sunshine and it was all quite pleasant in appearance, the kind of place it would be nice to go for a long hike.
I was also confused that they didn't go back through the Stargate at the end - Weir sent supplies, presumably dropped from an ARV, rather than sending soldiers to get them out, and they had to wait for the Daedalus to come for them. I suppose this could have been because they'd gone too far from the 'gate, but if an ARV could find them, why not bring them in? Clearly the Stargate must still operate from Atlantis' end? Ending the episode on a technical question might suggest it wasn't quite engaging enough, for all its fast camerawork and stylish chasing through the verdant foliage and ancient trunks, but it had its moments. It was good to see Anubis' old Super Soldiers (Kull Warriors they were originally called), even if they were only an errant imagining, and I would have liked to see more with them. Dr. Beckett probably had the worst time of it, thinking his patients were dead, then that they were alive, then discovering one of them was actually dead, before carrying the live one off into the forest! McKay of course is the brains of the operation, set to take out the machine that's controlling them until even he becomes susceptible, thinking the place is about to explode and diving out of the familiar cave set. I must say he took the bullet from Sheppard well, it was only fortunate that it was fired off to the right of his torso instead of dead centre. Dead being the almost operative word! And Teyla didn't really have a lot meaningful to do again, even if she does get Sheppard to the machine and tell him which lead to pull.
The other thing that took something away from the episode was that all the main cast survive (clearly not a bad thing!), but also that we didn't have any lasting impact from what occurred - they're all sitting round in the woods at the end with plenty of supplies, laughing about McKay still complaining, and somehow an experience like this should have had more consequences. I'm not sure exactly what, and I'm pro an upbeat ending, but they came close when Teyla asks Sheppard if he did get the guy he was seeing in his imagination to safety originally, and he admits he didn't. There needed to be more of a punctuation like that. But 'Stargate' prefers to keep things light for the most part, it's just another crazy adventure for our heroes this week, and I can understand that attitude. Another thing is Weir not getting concerned when a team who went to find another team don't check in. You'd think she'd be more worried. Overall, not bad, but not up to the higher standards of which the series is capable (see previous episode), an enjoyable romp round the great outdoors, one of those 'going down to the woods to be in for a big surprise.' Except without the bears or the picnics. One thing that did confuse me was seeing the episode came out in 2006, when I thought it was post-'SG-1's finale (2007). Now I realise it must be in tandem with Season 10, so they had three years of overlap with the parent series, not two. All this time I was so pleased whenever 'SG-1' sets or personnel appeared and it's not such a wonder after all!
**
Amok Time
DVD, Star Trek S2 (Amok Time)
The first to buck the Season 2 trend of extra-ship-ular activity by largely taking place in the standing sets of the Enterprise, but even in this one we're given a visit to a new alien planet. Not just any alien planet, either, but The Alien Planet, the homeworld of our own First Officer, Mr. Spock. You can see why they chose this to kickstart the season on TV as it gives people exactly what they wanted: more Spock and more knowledge about his kind, kin and culture. By rights this should be one of my favourites of the entire series since Vulcans are my number one race (up until they were spoiled by every production from 'Enterprise' onwards), and it's certainly one of the best known, whether it be the famous fight to the death with lirpas and… that other thing, or the famous fight music, or the famous fight… well, let's just say the combat at the conclusion is the main classic moment. And I do like it, a lot, it's certainly another quality episode from acting to writing to production work, it just doesn't stand out quite as much as some once the novelty of all this new information has worn off. That's not to say it isn't the special showcase episode it is, because it features all the cast (bar Scotty who was probably hiding in his Quarters indulging in whisky, or up to his elbows in his beloved engines after his encounter with Apollo last week!), has some of the strongest scenes of friendship between the characters this side of the end of 'Star Trek II,' and all kinds of little nuggets to enjoy or puzzle over.
Foremost among the nuggets is door etiquette. It's long been an issue in Trek, whether it be doors staying closed when a character approaches because it seems to know that, like Columbo, they have 'just one more thing' to say, or that moment in 'Generations' when Riker heads out of Picard's Ready Room into pitch blackness because they forgot to light the Bridge, they're always a source of interest. This episode throws up another quandary: to enter or not to enter, that is the question. It begins with the kindly Nurse Chapel making her debut for the season by taking the ailing Spock a bowl of Chapel's Best Plomeek Soup (sounds like the subject of an Andy Warhol painting), and we see her use a little buzzer to gain entry. In later series' they'd have a more pleasant chime, but perhaps, like the particular sanserif font Starfleet favoured, seen on the doors in this era, they preferred to program an old-fashioned sound when in reality they could have whatever audio alert they wished. Anyway, she is let in, and you'd think Spock would have ignored the bell if he wanted to be left alone unless the door wasn't actually locked and it was more of a courtesy to ring the bell before entering. And later she enters the same door unbidden, no chime, no nothing. These would make sense except that later in the episode when Kirk first visits Spock he has to press a similar button to exit the Quarters which shows that it must have been locked since otherwise he'd just walk towards it and it would swish open (unless Spock decided to lock the door later in response to the troop of visitors!). Notice when he leaves his own Quarters during McCoy's visit, the door opens automatically, not by button press…
It's possible that sometimes the doors were kept locked and other times they weren't, depending on the mood of the occupant, in which case you'd think Spock would have kept his locked all the time in his present condition. The trouble is, later, when Kirk returns again, he walks right in without any buzzing, knocking or hammering on the door demanding to be let in. It's entirely possible that we've underestimated the level of door intelligence the Enterprise has - perhaps the Captain has entry to any room he deems necessary simply due to his rank, and the computer, knowing it is he, obediently swishes open. It would be pretty awkward if only certain doors opened automatically - there'd be a lot of crewmembers rubbing their noses on a semi-regular basis since there doesn't appear to be any indication from the outside whether a door is locked or not, if we assume they do lock. I don't know the truth of the situation, I'd probably have to go through the entire series and do a study on every door-opening moment to gain enough evidence to form a solid hypothesis (somebody in the world probably already has done!), before I could say for sure, but I did find it interesting. It may even be as simple as doors not responding to motion passing by, sensing when a person is going down the corridor and when one is heading into a room, but whatever algorithm they came up with for those doors it was at least as important a development as Transporters and Phasers, and we can only be grateful it didn't create a cascade reaction and force the whole system to be taken out, just like the holographic comms Kirk's predecessor dispensed with, as it could be uncomfortable to have no doors anywhere as a result!
Concentrating on such minor matters as door mechanics might seem disrespectful to an episode that deals with topics deeply personal and the exploration of a key Federation culture, but that's not to say I was uninterested in all that, just that I can't help noting and speculating on the workings of a starship at this time, despite 'Discovery' so comprehensively ruining the reality of the era so thoroughly. It's very easy to forget other series' set before this point because they were either a long time ago (but not a galaxy far, far away), or made up their own rules entirely. For example, the pre-Federation Enterprise NX-01 travelled to Vulcan and had quite a lot of knowledge on the race, which might seem strange when you consider how little Kirk and McCoy seemed to know about Spock, his people, or their ways, and clearly have no experience of the place, the Doctor noting he now understands the saying 'hot as Vulcan.' You'd think they'd just tap into the library computer to bring up all pertinent information since Starfleet of the past knew so much. We know Vulcans are a very private people and don't tell anyone anything it isn't necessary for them to know, but it would seem to be the most logical course of action to report on their activities in the 'personal' arena (not to mention the personal Arena), when it was a life or death situation. It's for the sake of drama, in reality, and they went for the Vulcan dislike of revealing private information as the excuse in story terms, and it's certainly no fault of 'TOS' that later Treks set earlier didn't think through clearly enough what they could get away with showing or telling without breaking the potency of the parent series.
Again, the motivation for playing with the knowledge we have of the future seen in 'TOS' was too juicy not to mine, and indeed is one of the main reasons to do a prequel since the audience has the foreknowledge and enjoys the inside 'joke.' At the same time it can undermine the original. The fabric of Vulcan culture in Trek, their place and position, have been subtly altered over the years, because in 'TOS' they do come across as quite separate. Spock is a rarity, living and working among humans, but he's also a rarity in the sense that he is a bridging of both cultures, though he prides himself on the Vulcan half and outwardly disdains the human. That's another thing later Trek has done, to make him much more at ease with his human side, even to relish it, confusing his later acceptance in middle to old age, the completion of his life's journey, as the same as his younger self, one of the reasons it's hard to like the Kelvin Timeline or 'DSC,' though the latter was a much better approximation of the character. The greatness of Spock is in his inner struggle, so making it an outer one loses the power. It should be amazing that a TV series from the 1960s should have superior writing to a massive budget modern film or TV series from the 2010s, but it just goes to show that writing is one of those things which money has no bearing on - unlike special effects or the quality of materials used in production, costuming and makeup, writing is a mental process, a creative intellect more powerful than any other contribution to the final product of telling stories.
'DSC' even managed to undermine the uniqueness of Spock by saying he was not the only one of his kind, a half-Vulcan, which while it may be more realistic in some ways, takes away something, and in others makes little sense from what we know of Vulcans being so closed off to outsiders. It helps that their planet is rather inhospitable to non-natives, as Kirk found when he took up the gauntlet of something he thought Spock would benefit from. The fact that no one told Kirk it was a fight to the death before he agreed to it is another of those dramatic conventions - it might not be completely plausible and certainly not acceptable, but of this is great drama made. It's also pretty easy to rationalise this since we see Kirk twice be given permission to back out from the highest authority, T'Pau, and even after he doggedly persists, both from a desire not to be looked down on by Spock's own people, and in the greatest dedication to his friend (saying he owes him his life a dozen times over, isn't that worth a career when he thought it was simply a matter of disobeying Starfleet orders), and is bound to it, Spock pleads, even begs that he will be forbidden from the challenge - this is saying a lot, the most that has ever been said to this point in the series, about how close the two are. That Spock, deep in the destructive Plak-tow, blood fever, should have such strong compulsion to save Kirk even through the mind- and body-altering effects of what he's going through, is impressive, as is Kirk's willingness to do what must be done for his friend. I don't know what he had in mind to get out of this situation, perhaps he planned at the opportune moment to throw down his lirpa and refuse to kill, as he did with the Gorn (actually the image of Kirk and the Gorn fighting with these staff-like bladed weapons is quite fun!), but if so he'd have had to get to the stage of conquest over Spock and that didn't look likely.
Helping to modify the odds a little, though not balance them, is that Spock's condition makes him a slightly less formidable foe than he'd usually be. Rather than a purposeful, logical killing machine of far higher than human strength, he has been weakened by not eating for several days and by the emotional turmoil. He's not thinking or acting calmly as he usually would, and Kirk has fought him like this once before, in 'This Side of Paradise.' True, it seemed likely Spock would have beaten Kirk to a pulp in that episode if the hold of the spores hadn't worn off from his extreme anger, but on the other hand Kirk has a little more space to fight than the trapped confines of the Transporter Room in which he had very little room for manoeuvre. Here he has the Spock family arena. On the other other hand he's not used to the gravity and air here, while to Spock it's home turf. However you look at it, it appeared to be a vain hope for Kirk to survive long enough to refuse to kill his friend, if that was his plan, and even then I suspect the scary executioner Vulcan (Russ Peek, who also had uncredited roles in three other episodes this season, promoted to Sarek's aide in 'Journey To Babel'!), with his pointy black mask and super-sized scimitar blade would have chopped the puny human in two if he didn't follow the rules, so it was for the best that Kirk was going to lose by strangling from the… other thing that wasn't a lirpa.
It's funny how iconic the lirpa is, and yet that other thing (okay, it's called the ahn-woon), is completely forgettable. I was struggling to remember it when I came to write this review: some kind of ratchet strap with a hook on the end. It was beautifully crafted, however - not the design of the thing, but the invention by the writer so Spock had something to strangle Kirk with and make his death apparent to the spectators. If it had been another Vulcan I wouldn't have been surprised if the executioner had gone over to practice some head-chopping just to make sure he really was dead and not shamming, but being an off-worlder it wouldn't have been polite. Maybe Kirk had diplomatic immunity from head severance and other such proofs of death. I do wonder what they all thought when it went through the Federation that Kirk had died, since I imagine T'Pau would have felt obligated to report the incident, especially as she was apparently on speaking terms with Admiral Komack (since it was she who got in touch to request Spock we brought to Vulcan when he'd refused Kirk's request). And then what did the Vulcans think when they heard further exploits of Kirk and realised they'd been duped! I can imagine the executioner showing up out of some dark corner one day, perhaps even on the Enterprise herself, and this time no silver tongue would be enough to save Kirk from his silver-edged scimitar. That was the real reason Kirk flew off the Enterprise-B into the Nexus, he'd been plagued his whole life by this axe-man coming after him and he was fed up with it, so he thought the only escape was to jump in the Nexus. Maybe.
The whole thing was really Dr. McCoy's fault - if he hadn't expressed his opinion that Stonn (a returning Lawrence Montaigne, previously a thorn in the side as the Romulan Decius in 'Balance of Terror' - the actor died in 2017, surviving Nimoy by a couple of years), would probably beat Spock in his condition, the Captain wouldn't have felt obligated to step up to the nomination of T'Pring. At least McCoy was also the saving of the situation when he gave Kirk the dose that would knock him out and simulate death (the same tactic, though by different means, was used by the Grand Nagus when it was convenient for him to 'die'), so he redeemed himself there. It's just fortunate that he had something on him that could achieve that goal! The moment Spock returns to the ship believing he has killed his Captain and his friend (and let's not forget he also broke the family gong, which was almost as bad), and Kirk suddenly walks round the corner behind him, and Spock turns at his voice, and then grabs him and grins in delight, is one of those moments in the series that stuck with me so much even from the first time I ever saw the episode as a child. It's a brilliant moment, not even softened by the emotionalising and demonising of Vulcans in the last twenty years. Whatever else is said after that about T'Pau covering them with the Admiral and the little joke the three of them share is completely overshadowed by that moment, as if you need to recover from such a joyous outburst, and the episode just sort of fades away in a pleasant haze.
Though the story doesn't take place entirely away from the ship like the previous four episodes, it does continue the trend of having Kirk, Spock and McCoy be the central focus. Spock was separated from them in 'Who Mourns For Adonais?,' but he was still the main part of the B-story, but this time they're back to being the three equally important roles. The moment of greatest revelation comes in the Turbolift when Spock requests Kirk beam down to Vulcan with him as it is his right to have his closest friends with him, then he asks McCoy after saying this, much to the doctor's surprise! It must be a turning point in the series where they all know where they stand, even if McCoy would continue to rib Spock or be infuriated by his attitudes, much like Odo and Quark in 'DS9' who continued the tradition of best hates. Though their roles may be small, the Bridge team make their presence felt, especially Chekov and Sulu who really cement the comedic double-act that we came to know them best for. Just as the main three were so clearly defined, this was the start of the two front men being similarly so. It's a shame then that George Takei would be leaving soon to work on a John Wayne film, just when he and Chekov had found their wavelength. It's also nice to see Chapel used, her intentions and embarrassment at having them in the open, adding character - I love how she sees Kirk and McCoy outside Spock's Quarters and quickly swings around to retreat before they catch her in the act of delivering soup! Very real. McCoy's a bit insensitive talking about what she's doing, right in front of her, but it was a funny scene.
It looked like she was almost the solution to Spock's personal problem as when she visits him again later, to bring him the good news that they're on the way to Vulcan, before she does so, he seizes the chance and is about to start romancing her, or so it seems. I like that they had characters that weren't part of the main cast as such, Chapel being one that could, and was, used whenever the need suited, even if her main role was to portray the majority of the female viewership in sighing over the Vulcan. The mystery of Spock, who he was and where he came from, was one of those ongoing developments that later Treks baked into the format every time it was such a success. Though 'TOS' is no serial, it did slowly reveal various details over the course of the series, while remembering what it had told us already - take the Tri-dimensional chess set in Spock's Quarters. It had been used in the very first episode featuring Kirk, the very first scene between the pair, so it's pleasing to see a set in his personal space. I can tell where the 'DSC' people got the idea to paint their version of the room red as he does have red curtains covering one wall. He also has some large sculpture of what could be a bear, but I prefer to imagine is a Sehlat, the big, bearlike creature native to his planet. What is harder to understand are the various weapons hung above his bed, as for a pacifistic culture you wouldn't associate weapons being held in esteem. But as we saw, they do have a martial history and they aren't really pacifist or how else would they survive out in space where personal physical ability has no bearing on confrontation?
Even in his Quarters Spock crushes his computer in rage at Uhura's voice intruding (one in the eye for those that were always looking for excuses why they would have been so close in the Kelvin films!), another memorable moment. It's not that they don't fight, just that they tend to fight more gracefully and with as little effort as they can, hence the nerve pinch - I wonder why Spock never used that on Kirk, then he'd have had him at his mercy. Probably forbidden in the Koon-ut-kal-if-fee, or just illogic. You see how important weapons are in their historical culture, and there was even a suggestion of the shared heritage with the Romulans as some of the background Vulcans wear the same kind of ear-covering helmets. In production terms it would have been to save time and money on creating the ears, as they already had a number of them to make up, usually to terrific effect (though Stonn has unfortunately protruding examples - maybe that's why T'Pring liked him?), including the first female Vulcans we ever saw. T'Pau gained even more legendary status, beyond being the only person ever to have refused a seat on the Federation Council, when she showed up as a young woman in 'Enterprise,' a delightful bit of retconning, though she didn't speak in that foreign accent - must have been an affectation of old age, or something that developed after we saw her. By association, Spock becomes a more notable personage, and even his friends note he never mentioned his family was this important. Again, knowing what we know (and how they portrayed things in 'DSC'), it's strange that it wasn't widely known who his Father was, being such a high-profile figure, yet because of the rift between them, not speaking for years, it does make sense.
Even so, we might have expected some family to show up - it was on the Sarek family land, quite a sizeable place, and it was to be the joining of two Vulcans that had been bonded from childhood. But it may be that once the children have been mind-locked the parents' role is over. I could buy that Sarek and his wife would be off-planet (probably on Earth!), but T'Pring's folks not showing up either makes it harder to believe. Unless they knew her strong-willed mind had been made up and she was going to disgrace them however things turned out. It seems divorce and promiscuity (T'Pring says if Spock won he'd have gone off on his starship and she'd still have had Stonn), is no stranger to Vulcan culture, it's just worked out in a more 'logical' way: I want, therefore I will have. This shows it's not entirely true that Vulcans were blameless, noble and honourable creatures, even before their besmirching through 'Enterprise' onwards, but it could be an anomaly. It is, after all, made clear that Spock is not just any old Vulcan, but has become well known and even a legend among his people. That's T'Pring's excuse for ditching him, though logic dictates that she should be honoured to be paired with him, but then that was merely her justification for preferring Stonn. Why is Spock almost a legend? It may have something to do with his situation of being half-human which is looked down on, so it could also be seen that he's overcome a major handicap to achieve great things - and we know he has this reputation because Kirk says he's been called the best First Officer in the fleet (he doesn't say by who, but we can imagine he didn't mean the ship's cook!), so his place has been well earned.
He had to overcome much stigma, however, as we see that even the great T'Pau digs in sharply when he pleads for her to prevent Kirk entering the challenge - she points out that it's been said his Vulcan blood is thin and questions whether he is Vulcan or human. This could be to enforce the challenge since it was given and accepted and tradition determines it must now go ahead. She's clever enough to manipulate Spock, pressing on his weakest point, the discomfort of not being accepted, and it works. That Spock continues to plead Kirk's ignorance of what he was getting himself into, even after this appeal to his Vulcan nature, shows how strongly he feels for the position his friend has been put in. T'Pau says it comes down from the beginning without change, but the beginning of what? The Awakening? Before that they were apparently much like this all the time, passions ruling their nature and only the discipline of Surak's teachings brought the culture under control. They never really explain that with all this emotion being held in check and pent-up, that this is the release valve every seven years. Perhaps Spock would have gone through it much earlier if he'd been fully Vulcan and only his human side delayed the inevitable - he actually thought he might be spared the debilitating experience of the Pon farr due to his mixed heritage, which shows he'd never had it before. I wonder how they dealt with it all a hundred years ago when mind melds were forbidden, since that seems to be how the children's minds were bonded, unless there's some big distinction.
The rituals and traditions seen in this episode give it so much weight which isn't always so apparent in later Vulcan exploration, perhaps because this was made in the era of the Biblical epics with all the bells and… bells, so they knew how to get that sense of scale and ancient times - they didn't have thousands of extras, but you can imagine this being a scene in 'Ben Hur' or something similar, with a huge crowd and trumpets going up, and the music helps to create that serious and dangerous atmosphere. For a TV episode it really holds the sense of scale, partly due to the brilliant set with its various points of interest in the coffin-shaped gong, the hanging chimes, the sand mixed with shiny ore of some kind, the pit of hot coals, the rocky barrier as if the arena had been hewn from the very top of a mountain! It's a successful bringing to life of such a famous alien planet, and the fact we don't see any buildings or structures meant that that was left open for the more intricate design of future generations (something 'Enterprise' did very well), beginning with 'The Animated Series' and its setting of the Vulcan architectural style that has carried through to this day. Even little pieces of new information are valuable, such as the Enterprise being given permission to beam down from 'Vulcan Space Central' which answers who would be responsible for contact if a ship shows up at the planet.
We also get more of the Enterprise to enjoy, most prominently in McCoy's office which is off to the side of Sickbay, connecting through doors to both that area and the corridor, and filled with fascinating skulls. They must have felt that with McCoy becoming more integral to the stories Sickbay wasn't enough and he needed his own space. It shows they had the budget to keep adding sets, as subsequent Treks have done. Not everything was perfect, though - if you look at the red railing on the Bridge in front of Spock's station, you can see a prominent piece of sticking tape holding the two adjoining parts of the rail together! Whoops. That's not the only nitpick, either, as I noticed (thanks to paying so much attention to the 'DSC' version of the Enterprise), that the back of the nacelles had the grilles in some shots, but the bubbles in others. I don't know if this had been the case through Season 1, if so I must have missed it, though it could be explained away as the bubbles being some kind of mechanical shielding that goes over the grille-work on occasion. The most noticeable gaffe is when Spock breaks the blade on Kirk's lirpa, in an exciting moment, smashing it against the stone pillar, but later when it's picked up at the end of the fight the blade is still intact!
Other things I enjoyed were Kirk starting the episode by climbing up out of a Jeffries Tube via one of those great tri-ladders (it's the future, everything's in threes), which shows he's a very hands-on Captain, not above climbing around in the bowels of his ship if the need arises. This may also be one of the earliest references to Starfleet when Uhura says a message is coming in on that channel. They'd probably already mentioned the organisation, but it's always nice to hear the established norms on the series now they knew what they were. Once again we see that the Starfleet symbol appears to be the side-arrow chevron that can be seen in yellow on the side of the Enterprise - it's used in gold behind the Admiral when he talks on the monitor (Byron Morrow would play a different Admiral in Season 3, and is one of the typical no nonsense, no excuse types here). It was also cool to see Kirk take it in another room, not on the main Viewscreen. There's an indication that the crew can receive personal messages as Kirk asks Spock if there's an illness in the family or something, to explain his behaviour, and how would he know other than being sent a message. His lack of concern when McCoy first brings Spock's lack of eating for three days to his attention shows how different Spock can be that his Captain thinks it's just one of his 'contemplative moods,' adding even more to his mystique. And this must be about the only time he shouts in anger (rather than, "Check the cir-cuit!"), when he flings the soup out. His disgust that Chapel should wait on him may have been the genuine reason, or it may be what he used to cover his true thoughts of anger at being disturbed, it's difficult to say.
I thought Spock's attendance of Sickbay on Kirk's orders might have been a way for him to allow them to find out his problem without him having to talk about it, but that isn't what happened at all, and in fact he's all set to follow the order to the letter, report to Sickbay then leave, only McCoy has his own orders. I wish he'd pulled Doctor's rank and said he's the boss when it comes to health matters, even over the Captain, as that is supposed to be the case, but instead he says he has to follow the Captain's orders too, and that is to examine Spock. It's only after all that that Kirk goes to see him and quickly catches on about the birds and the bees. I can't imagine anything of this sort being put so delicately in modern TV, unfortunately. Now it tends to be 'frank,' which really only means explicit. But the whole subject was treated with tact and delicacy, obviously it had to live up to the censors expectations, but it's also a personal issue for a main character so it's not something you want to see mishandled. And that's the last thing that can be said for this episode, a classic, a lesson in how to create great drama and at the same time explore an alien culture, all while dealing with a character's personal trial. I feel almost bad for not rating it higher, but it is close to being one of the best, even though it's not among my particular favourites.
***
The first to buck the Season 2 trend of extra-ship-ular activity by largely taking place in the standing sets of the Enterprise, but even in this one we're given a visit to a new alien planet. Not just any alien planet, either, but The Alien Planet, the homeworld of our own First Officer, Mr. Spock. You can see why they chose this to kickstart the season on TV as it gives people exactly what they wanted: more Spock and more knowledge about his kind, kin and culture. By rights this should be one of my favourites of the entire series since Vulcans are my number one race (up until they were spoiled by every production from 'Enterprise' onwards), and it's certainly one of the best known, whether it be the famous fight to the death with lirpas and… that other thing, or the famous fight music, or the famous fight… well, let's just say the combat at the conclusion is the main classic moment. And I do like it, a lot, it's certainly another quality episode from acting to writing to production work, it just doesn't stand out quite as much as some once the novelty of all this new information has worn off. That's not to say it isn't the special showcase episode it is, because it features all the cast (bar Scotty who was probably hiding in his Quarters indulging in whisky, or up to his elbows in his beloved engines after his encounter with Apollo last week!), has some of the strongest scenes of friendship between the characters this side of the end of 'Star Trek II,' and all kinds of little nuggets to enjoy or puzzle over.
Foremost among the nuggets is door etiquette. It's long been an issue in Trek, whether it be doors staying closed when a character approaches because it seems to know that, like Columbo, they have 'just one more thing' to say, or that moment in 'Generations' when Riker heads out of Picard's Ready Room into pitch blackness because they forgot to light the Bridge, they're always a source of interest. This episode throws up another quandary: to enter or not to enter, that is the question. It begins with the kindly Nurse Chapel making her debut for the season by taking the ailing Spock a bowl of Chapel's Best Plomeek Soup (sounds like the subject of an Andy Warhol painting), and we see her use a little buzzer to gain entry. In later series' they'd have a more pleasant chime, but perhaps, like the particular sanserif font Starfleet favoured, seen on the doors in this era, they preferred to program an old-fashioned sound when in reality they could have whatever audio alert they wished. Anyway, she is let in, and you'd think Spock would have ignored the bell if he wanted to be left alone unless the door wasn't actually locked and it was more of a courtesy to ring the bell before entering. And later she enters the same door unbidden, no chime, no nothing. These would make sense except that later in the episode when Kirk first visits Spock he has to press a similar button to exit the Quarters which shows that it must have been locked since otherwise he'd just walk towards it and it would swish open (unless Spock decided to lock the door later in response to the troop of visitors!). Notice when he leaves his own Quarters during McCoy's visit, the door opens automatically, not by button press…
It's possible that sometimes the doors were kept locked and other times they weren't, depending on the mood of the occupant, in which case you'd think Spock would have kept his locked all the time in his present condition. The trouble is, later, when Kirk returns again, he walks right in without any buzzing, knocking or hammering on the door demanding to be let in. It's entirely possible that we've underestimated the level of door intelligence the Enterprise has - perhaps the Captain has entry to any room he deems necessary simply due to his rank, and the computer, knowing it is he, obediently swishes open. It would be pretty awkward if only certain doors opened automatically - there'd be a lot of crewmembers rubbing their noses on a semi-regular basis since there doesn't appear to be any indication from the outside whether a door is locked or not, if we assume they do lock. I don't know the truth of the situation, I'd probably have to go through the entire series and do a study on every door-opening moment to gain enough evidence to form a solid hypothesis (somebody in the world probably already has done!), before I could say for sure, but I did find it interesting. It may even be as simple as doors not responding to motion passing by, sensing when a person is going down the corridor and when one is heading into a room, but whatever algorithm they came up with for those doors it was at least as important a development as Transporters and Phasers, and we can only be grateful it didn't create a cascade reaction and force the whole system to be taken out, just like the holographic comms Kirk's predecessor dispensed with, as it could be uncomfortable to have no doors anywhere as a result!
Concentrating on such minor matters as door mechanics might seem disrespectful to an episode that deals with topics deeply personal and the exploration of a key Federation culture, but that's not to say I was uninterested in all that, just that I can't help noting and speculating on the workings of a starship at this time, despite 'Discovery' so comprehensively ruining the reality of the era so thoroughly. It's very easy to forget other series' set before this point because they were either a long time ago (but not a galaxy far, far away), or made up their own rules entirely. For example, the pre-Federation Enterprise NX-01 travelled to Vulcan and had quite a lot of knowledge on the race, which might seem strange when you consider how little Kirk and McCoy seemed to know about Spock, his people, or their ways, and clearly have no experience of the place, the Doctor noting he now understands the saying 'hot as Vulcan.' You'd think they'd just tap into the library computer to bring up all pertinent information since Starfleet of the past knew so much. We know Vulcans are a very private people and don't tell anyone anything it isn't necessary for them to know, but it would seem to be the most logical course of action to report on their activities in the 'personal' arena (not to mention the personal Arena), when it was a life or death situation. It's for the sake of drama, in reality, and they went for the Vulcan dislike of revealing private information as the excuse in story terms, and it's certainly no fault of 'TOS' that later Treks set earlier didn't think through clearly enough what they could get away with showing or telling without breaking the potency of the parent series.
Again, the motivation for playing with the knowledge we have of the future seen in 'TOS' was too juicy not to mine, and indeed is one of the main reasons to do a prequel since the audience has the foreknowledge and enjoys the inside 'joke.' At the same time it can undermine the original. The fabric of Vulcan culture in Trek, their place and position, have been subtly altered over the years, because in 'TOS' they do come across as quite separate. Spock is a rarity, living and working among humans, but he's also a rarity in the sense that he is a bridging of both cultures, though he prides himself on the Vulcan half and outwardly disdains the human. That's another thing later Trek has done, to make him much more at ease with his human side, even to relish it, confusing his later acceptance in middle to old age, the completion of his life's journey, as the same as his younger self, one of the reasons it's hard to like the Kelvin Timeline or 'DSC,' though the latter was a much better approximation of the character. The greatness of Spock is in his inner struggle, so making it an outer one loses the power. It should be amazing that a TV series from the 1960s should have superior writing to a massive budget modern film or TV series from the 2010s, but it just goes to show that writing is one of those things which money has no bearing on - unlike special effects or the quality of materials used in production, costuming and makeup, writing is a mental process, a creative intellect more powerful than any other contribution to the final product of telling stories.
'DSC' even managed to undermine the uniqueness of Spock by saying he was not the only one of his kind, a half-Vulcan, which while it may be more realistic in some ways, takes away something, and in others makes little sense from what we know of Vulcans being so closed off to outsiders. It helps that their planet is rather inhospitable to non-natives, as Kirk found when he took up the gauntlet of something he thought Spock would benefit from. The fact that no one told Kirk it was a fight to the death before he agreed to it is another of those dramatic conventions - it might not be completely plausible and certainly not acceptable, but of this is great drama made. It's also pretty easy to rationalise this since we see Kirk twice be given permission to back out from the highest authority, T'Pau, and even after he doggedly persists, both from a desire not to be looked down on by Spock's own people, and in the greatest dedication to his friend (saying he owes him his life a dozen times over, isn't that worth a career when he thought it was simply a matter of disobeying Starfleet orders), and is bound to it, Spock pleads, even begs that he will be forbidden from the challenge - this is saying a lot, the most that has ever been said to this point in the series, about how close the two are. That Spock, deep in the destructive Plak-tow, blood fever, should have such strong compulsion to save Kirk even through the mind- and body-altering effects of what he's going through, is impressive, as is Kirk's willingness to do what must be done for his friend. I don't know what he had in mind to get out of this situation, perhaps he planned at the opportune moment to throw down his lirpa and refuse to kill, as he did with the Gorn (actually the image of Kirk and the Gorn fighting with these staff-like bladed weapons is quite fun!), but if so he'd have had to get to the stage of conquest over Spock and that didn't look likely.
Helping to modify the odds a little, though not balance them, is that Spock's condition makes him a slightly less formidable foe than he'd usually be. Rather than a purposeful, logical killing machine of far higher than human strength, he has been weakened by not eating for several days and by the emotional turmoil. He's not thinking or acting calmly as he usually would, and Kirk has fought him like this once before, in 'This Side of Paradise.' True, it seemed likely Spock would have beaten Kirk to a pulp in that episode if the hold of the spores hadn't worn off from his extreme anger, but on the other hand Kirk has a little more space to fight than the trapped confines of the Transporter Room in which he had very little room for manoeuvre. Here he has the Spock family arena. On the other other hand he's not used to the gravity and air here, while to Spock it's home turf. However you look at it, it appeared to be a vain hope for Kirk to survive long enough to refuse to kill his friend, if that was his plan, and even then I suspect the scary executioner Vulcan (Russ Peek, who also had uncredited roles in three other episodes this season, promoted to Sarek's aide in 'Journey To Babel'!), with his pointy black mask and super-sized scimitar blade would have chopped the puny human in two if he didn't follow the rules, so it was for the best that Kirk was going to lose by strangling from the… other thing that wasn't a lirpa.
It's funny how iconic the lirpa is, and yet that other thing (okay, it's called the ahn-woon), is completely forgettable. I was struggling to remember it when I came to write this review: some kind of ratchet strap with a hook on the end. It was beautifully crafted, however - not the design of the thing, but the invention by the writer so Spock had something to strangle Kirk with and make his death apparent to the spectators. If it had been another Vulcan I wouldn't have been surprised if the executioner had gone over to practice some head-chopping just to make sure he really was dead and not shamming, but being an off-worlder it wouldn't have been polite. Maybe Kirk had diplomatic immunity from head severance and other such proofs of death. I do wonder what they all thought when it went through the Federation that Kirk had died, since I imagine T'Pau would have felt obligated to report the incident, especially as she was apparently on speaking terms with Admiral Komack (since it was she who got in touch to request Spock we brought to Vulcan when he'd refused Kirk's request). And then what did the Vulcans think when they heard further exploits of Kirk and realised they'd been duped! I can imagine the executioner showing up out of some dark corner one day, perhaps even on the Enterprise herself, and this time no silver tongue would be enough to save Kirk from his silver-edged scimitar. That was the real reason Kirk flew off the Enterprise-B into the Nexus, he'd been plagued his whole life by this axe-man coming after him and he was fed up with it, so he thought the only escape was to jump in the Nexus. Maybe.
The whole thing was really Dr. McCoy's fault - if he hadn't expressed his opinion that Stonn (a returning Lawrence Montaigne, previously a thorn in the side as the Romulan Decius in 'Balance of Terror' - the actor died in 2017, surviving Nimoy by a couple of years), would probably beat Spock in his condition, the Captain wouldn't have felt obligated to step up to the nomination of T'Pring. At least McCoy was also the saving of the situation when he gave Kirk the dose that would knock him out and simulate death (the same tactic, though by different means, was used by the Grand Nagus when it was convenient for him to 'die'), so he redeemed himself there. It's just fortunate that he had something on him that could achieve that goal! The moment Spock returns to the ship believing he has killed his Captain and his friend (and let's not forget he also broke the family gong, which was almost as bad), and Kirk suddenly walks round the corner behind him, and Spock turns at his voice, and then grabs him and grins in delight, is one of those moments in the series that stuck with me so much even from the first time I ever saw the episode as a child. It's a brilliant moment, not even softened by the emotionalising and demonising of Vulcans in the last twenty years. Whatever else is said after that about T'Pau covering them with the Admiral and the little joke the three of them share is completely overshadowed by that moment, as if you need to recover from such a joyous outburst, and the episode just sort of fades away in a pleasant haze.
Though the story doesn't take place entirely away from the ship like the previous four episodes, it does continue the trend of having Kirk, Spock and McCoy be the central focus. Spock was separated from them in 'Who Mourns For Adonais?,' but he was still the main part of the B-story, but this time they're back to being the three equally important roles. The moment of greatest revelation comes in the Turbolift when Spock requests Kirk beam down to Vulcan with him as it is his right to have his closest friends with him, then he asks McCoy after saying this, much to the doctor's surprise! It must be a turning point in the series where they all know where they stand, even if McCoy would continue to rib Spock or be infuriated by his attitudes, much like Odo and Quark in 'DS9' who continued the tradition of best hates. Though their roles may be small, the Bridge team make their presence felt, especially Chekov and Sulu who really cement the comedic double-act that we came to know them best for. Just as the main three were so clearly defined, this was the start of the two front men being similarly so. It's a shame then that George Takei would be leaving soon to work on a John Wayne film, just when he and Chekov had found their wavelength. It's also nice to see Chapel used, her intentions and embarrassment at having them in the open, adding character - I love how she sees Kirk and McCoy outside Spock's Quarters and quickly swings around to retreat before they catch her in the act of delivering soup! Very real. McCoy's a bit insensitive talking about what she's doing, right in front of her, but it was a funny scene.
It looked like she was almost the solution to Spock's personal problem as when she visits him again later, to bring him the good news that they're on the way to Vulcan, before she does so, he seizes the chance and is about to start romancing her, or so it seems. I like that they had characters that weren't part of the main cast as such, Chapel being one that could, and was, used whenever the need suited, even if her main role was to portray the majority of the female viewership in sighing over the Vulcan. The mystery of Spock, who he was and where he came from, was one of those ongoing developments that later Treks baked into the format every time it was such a success. Though 'TOS' is no serial, it did slowly reveal various details over the course of the series, while remembering what it had told us already - take the Tri-dimensional chess set in Spock's Quarters. It had been used in the very first episode featuring Kirk, the very first scene between the pair, so it's pleasing to see a set in his personal space. I can tell where the 'DSC' people got the idea to paint their version of the room red as he does have red curtains covering one wall. He also has some large sculpture of what could be a bear, but I prefer to imagine is a Sehlat, the big, bearlike creature native to his planet. What is harder to understand are the various weapons hung above his bed, as for a pacifistic culture you wouldn't associate weapons being held in esteem. But as we saw, they do have a martial history and they aren't really pacifist or how else would they survive out in space where personal physical ability has no bearing on confrontation?
Even in his Quarters Spock crushes his computer in rage at Uhura's voice intruding (one in the eye for those that were always looking for excuses why they would have been so close in the Kelvin films!), another memorable moment. It's not that they don't fight, just that they tend to fight more gracefully and with as little effort as they can, hence the nerve pinch - I wonder why Spock never used that on Kirk, then he'd have had him at his mercy. Probably forbidden in the Koon-ut-kal-if-fee, or just illogic. You see how important weapons are in their historical culture, and there was even a suggestion of the shared heritage with the Romulans as some of the background Vulcans wear the same kind of ear-covering helmets. In production terms it would have been to save time and money on creating the ears, as they already had a number of them to make up, usually to terrific effect (though Stonn has unfortunately protruding examples - maybe that's why T'Pring liked him?), including the first female Vulcans we ever saw. T'Pau gained even more legendary status, beyond being the only person ever to have refused a seat on the Federation Council, when she showed up as a young woman in 'Enterprise,' a delightful bit of retconning, though she didn't speak in that foreign accent - must have been an affectation of old age, or something that developed after we saw her. By association, Spock becomes a more notable personage, and even his friends note he never mentioned his family was this important. Again, knowing what we know (and how they portrayed things in 'DSC'), it's strange that it wasn't widely known who his Father was, being such a high-profile figure, yet because of the rift between them, not speaking for years, it does make sense.
Even so, we might have expected some family to show up - it was on the Sarek family land, quite a sizeable place, and it was to be the joining of two Vulcans that had been bonded from childhood. But it may be that once the children have been mind-locked the parents' role is over. I could buy that Sarek and his wife would be off-planet (probably on Earth!), but T'Pring's folks not showing up either makes it harder to believe. Unless they knew her strong-willed mind had been made up and she was going to disgrace them however things turned out. It seems divorce and promiscuity (T'Pring says if Spock won he'd have gone off on his starship and she'd still have had Stonn), is no stranger to Vulcan culture, it's just worked out in a more 'logical' way: I want, therefore I will have. This shows it's not entirely true that Vulcans were blameless, noble and honourable creatures, even before their besmirching through 'Enterprise' onwards, but it could be an anomaly. It is, after all, made clear that Spock is not just any old Vulcan, but has become well known and even a legend among his people. That's T'Pring's excuse for ditching him, though logic dictates that she should be honoured to be paired with him, but then that was merely her justification for preferring Stonn. Why is Spock almost a legend? It may have something to do with his situation of being half-human which is looked down on, so it could also be seen that he's overcome a major handicap to achieve great things - and we know he has this reputation because Kirk says he's been called the best First Officer in the fleet (he doesn't say by who, but we can imagine he didn't mean the ship's cook!), so his place has been well earned.
He had to overcome much stigma, however, as we see that even the great T'Pau digs in sharply when he pleads for her to prevent Kirk entering the challenge - she points out that it's been said his Vulcan blood is thin and questions whether he is Vulcan or human. This could be to enforce the challenge since it was given and accepted and tradition determines it must now go ahead. She's clever enough to manipulate Spock, pressing on his weakest point, the discomfort of not being accepted, and it works. That Spock continues to plead Kirk's ignorance of what he was getting himself into, even after this appeal to his Vulcan nature, shows how strongly he feels for the position his friend has been put in. T'Pau says it comes down from the beginning without change, but the beginning of what? The Awakening? Before that they were apparently much like this all the time, passions ruling their nature and only the discipline of Surak's teachings brought the culture under control. They never really explain that with all this emotion being held in check and pent-up, that this is the release valve every seven years. Perhaps Spock would have gone through it much earlier if he'd been fully Vulcan and only his human side delayed the inevitable - he actually thought he might be spared the debilitating experience of the Pon farr due to his mixed heritage, which shows he'd never had it before. I wonder how they dealt with it all a hundred years ago when mind melds were forbidden, since that seems to be how the children's minds were bonded, unless there's some big distinction.
The rituals and traditions seen in this episode give it so much weight which isn't always so apparent in later Vulcan exploration, perhaps because this was made in the era of the Biblical epics with all the bells and… bells, so they knew how to get that sense of scale and ancient times - they didn't have thousands of extras, but you can imagine this being a scene in 'Ben Hur' or something similar, with a huge crowd and trumpets going up, and the music helps to create that serious and dangerous atmosphere. For a TV episode it really holds the sense of scale, partly due to the brilliant set with its various points of interest in the coffin-shaped gong, the hanging chimes, the sand mixed with shiny ore of some kind, the pit of hot coals, the rocky barrier as if the arena had been hewn from the very top of a mountain! It's a successful bringing to life of such a famous alien planet, and the fact we don't see any buildings or structures meant that that was left open for the more intricate design of future generations (something 'Enterprise' did very well), beginning with 'The Animated Series' and its setting of the Vulcan architectural style that has carried through to this day. Even little pieces of new information are valuable, such as the Enterprise being given permission to beam down from 'Vulcan Space Central' which answers who would be responsible for contact if a ship shows up at the planet.
We also get more of the Enterprise to enjoy, most prominently in McCoy's office which is off to the side of Sickbay, connecting through doors to both that area and the corridor, and filled with fascinating skulls. They must have felt that with McCoy becoming more integral to the stories Sickbay wasn't enough and he needed his own space. It shows they had the budget to keep adding sets, as subsequent Treks have done. Not everything was perfect, though - if you look at the red railing on the Bridge in front of Spock's station, you can see a prominent piece of sticking tape holding the two adjoining parts of the rail together! Whoops. That's not the only nitpick, either, as I noticed (thanks to paying so much attention to the 'DSC' version of the Enterprise), that the back of the nacelles had the grilles in some shots, but the bubbles in others. I don't know if this had been the case through Season 1, if so I must have missed it, though it could be explained away as the bubbles being some kind of mechanical shielding that goes over the grille-work on occasion. The most noticeable gaffe is when Spock breaks the blade on Kirk's lirpa, in an exciting moment, smashing it against the stone pillar, but later when it's picked up at the end of the fight the blade is still intact!
Other things I enjoyed were Kirk starting the episode by climbing up out of a Jeffries Tube via one of those great tri-ladders (it's the future, everything's in threes), which shows he's a very hands-on Captain, not above climbing around in the bowels of his ship if the need arises. This may also be one of the earliest references to Starfleet when Uhura says a message is coming in on that channel. They'd probably already mentioned the organisation, but it's always nice to hear the established norms on the series now they knew what they were. Once again we see that the Starfleet symbol appears to be the side-arrow chevron that can be seen in yellow on the side of the Enterprise - it's used in gold behind the Admiral when he talks on the monitor (Byron Morrow would play a different Admiral in Season 3, and is one of the typical no nonsense, no excuse types here). It was also cool to see Kirk take it in another room, not on the main Viewscreen. There's an indication that the crew can receive personal messages as Kirk asks Spock if there's an illness in the family or something, to explain his behaviour, and how would he know other than being sent a message. His lack of concern when McCoy first brings Spock's lack of eating for three days to his attention shows how different Spock can be that his Captain thinks it's just one of his 'contemplative moods,' adding even more to his mystique. And this must be about the only time he shouts in anger (rather than, "Check the cir-cuit!"), when he flings the soup out. His disgust that Chapel should wait on him may have been the genuine reason, or it may be what he used to cover his true thoughts of anger at being disturbed, it's difficult to say.
I thought Spock's attendance of Sickbay on Kirk's orders might have been a way for him to allow them to find out his problem without him having to talk about it, but that isn't what happened at all, and in fact he's all set to follow the order to the letter, report to Sickbay then leave, only McCoy has his own orders. I wish he'd pulled Doctor's rank and said he's the boss when it comes to health matters, even over the Captain, as that is supposed to be the case, but instead he says he has to follow the Captain's orders too, and that is to examine Spock. It's only after all that that Kirk goes to see him and quickly catches on about the birds and the bees. I can't imagine anything of this sort being put so delicately in modern TV, unfortunately. Now it tends to be 'frank,' which really only means explicit. But the whole subject was treated with tact and delicacy, obviously it had to live up to the censors expectations, but it's also a personal issue for a main character so it's not something you want to see mishandled. And that's the last thing that can be said for this episode, a classic, a lesson in how to create great drama and at the same time explore an alien culture, all while dealing with a character's personal trial. I feel almost bad for not rating it higher, but it is close to being one of the best, even though it's not among my particular favourites.
***
McKay and Mrs. Miller
DVD, Stargate Atlantis S3 (McKay and Mrs. Miller)
I didn't understand much of what was going on, but I did understand that I liked it! It was a brave decision to begin an episode without any of the main cast, completely removed from the series we know, and wondering why and how it would tie in, even if the title announced who it would be about. I was impressed that even though we didn't know this Jeanie, she was so quick to become a fully formed character - having recently re-watched 'Discovery' Season 2 it made me realise how well older TV series' could pull off a character and that she had more to her than was demonstrated in two seasons worth of stories for some of the 'DSC' cast! It was, of course, a joy to see Carter, post-'SG-1,' and the old Stargate still spinning in the same old SGC - I was hoping Sam would be a part of the story all the way through and we only got a few scenes before things were 'too busy' back at base, whatever that meant, and there's one last screen-based contribution from her, but I can see she needed to step back from the stage to leave it to the two bickering McKay siblings. That's right, McKay has a sister (can't remember if he's mentioned her before, but probably not since they haven't spoken in four years), and she's almost as much of a brain box as he is.
The one story point that didn't hold together for me, in spite of parallel universes and super-pseudo-science (that's all par for the course), was this woman somehow coming up with some incredible mathematical theorem (if that's the term), just from a moment of inspiration while playing with her young child. I thought it was going to be explained away as aliens having implanted it in her brain or some other sci-fi connection but it never was, she just had a brainwave. It was really only so that we could bring her and Rodney (or Meredith as we find out his first name actually is!), together to provide some comedy drama, just as the complicated maths was all simply to bring another Rodney to our universe. In other words it didn't really matter when you compare it to the enjoyment that ensued from the ideas (in the same way 'Back To The Future' works best when you don't enquire into its logic too closely). And the story did work from that standpoint, it really did. They beautifully sold the wonder and magnitude of a civilian learning about interstellar travel, aliens and Stargates all in the space of a few minutes, and it's just a lovely scene when someone is presented with all these facts we take for granted as viewers of the series and reacts accordingly.
If they played the wonder just right, they also got the sibling competitiveness and buried animosity, too, with Rodney immediately put on the back foot thanks to her having sensitive information to share with his colleagues. They double down on all that when Rodney 2, or 'Rod' as this cooler, friendlier and happier version likes to be known, comes through the bridge, or whatever it was - truth be told, I never fully understood what they were trying to do - all you need to know is it connects to a parallel universe and our Rodney entirely depletes the city's ZPM meaning no quick trips to Earth any more, only the Daedalus capable of taking people to and fro. Rodney starts getting an inferiority complex, not from the new guy's genius, but from the easy way he gets on with everyone and his good attitude. This is where I break off to say once again how impressed I was, not just by David Hewlett's performances as Rodney times-two, but in the technical improvements you see in bringing two copies of an actor to the screen - you expect technology to develop, but this seemed to be a marked improvement on showing doubles. They were walking around each other, the camera was moving through scenes as normal and they generally made the whole thing look effortless and real, so much so that sometimes you forget about the novelty and just accept Rod as another character! That's the highest compliment I could pay in this situation and to Hewlett who so successfully pulled off the subtle changes in character needed to make him believable.
Carter's appearance, McKay having a family member and a double in the same episode, and the technical qualities of the episode aside, I was concerned they were going to lose the power of the story, that of he and his estranged sister finding common ground (to use the title of the previous episode), but they brought it right round thanks to the extra Rod who could have muddied the issue if played up too much in the story, but was used neatly to say that although it was so good to be there, he needed to get back to his own versions of the characters we know, because for all their flaws they are his team and he needs to be there for them. And of course Rodney sees that he, too, is invaluable to his team (he never really doubted that, let's be honest), and they're glad to have him (which he was oblivious of before, but now realises means something), as well as feeling more warmly to his sister. And lastly, whether it was just the long break since I last saw an episode, it seemed to me the cast were especially well written, playing on all their little quirks and familiarities from Weir at the top down to Dr. Zelenka, and I saw they've crafted a lovingly meshed team of characters. It's not guaranteed in a series, and it reminded me that that's the main reason you come back to these things: to spend time with the people. This is one I'll definitely look forward to hearing the audio commentary, especially as I'd like to know if Kate Hewlett, who played McKay's sister, is David Hewlett's sister in real life. It can't be a coincidence!
***
I didn't understand much of what was going on, but I did understand that I liked it! It was a brave decision to begin an episode without any of the main cast, completely removed from the series we know, and wondering why and how it would tie in, even if the title announced who it would be about. I was impressed that even though we didn't know this Jeanie, she was so quick to become a fully formed character - having recently re-watched 'Discovery' Season 2 it made me realise how well older TV series' could pull off a character and that she had more to her than was demonstrated in two seasons worth of stories for some of the 'DSC' cast! It was, of course, a joy to see Carter, post-'SG-1,' and the old Stargate still spinning in the same old SGC - I was hoping Sam would be a part of the story all the way through and we only got a few scenes before things were 'too busy' back at base, whatever that meant, and there's one last screen-based contribution from her, but I can see she needed to step back from the stage to leave it to the two bickering McKay siblings. That's right, McKay has a sister (can't remember if he's mentioned her before, but probably not since they haven't spoken in four years), and she's almost as much of a brain box as he is.
The one story point that didn't hold together for me, in spite of parallel universes and super-pseudo-science (that's all par for the course), was this woman somehow coming up with some incredible mathematical theorem (if that's the term), just from a moment of inspiration while playing with her young child. I thought it was going to be explained away as aliens having implanted it in her brain or some other sci-fi connection but it never was, she just had a brainwave. It was really only so that we could bring her and Rodney (or Meredith as we find out his first name actually is!), together to provide some comedy drama, just as the complicated maths was all simply to bring another Rodney to our universe. In other words it didn't really matter when you compare it to the enjoyment that ensued from the ideas (in the same way 'Back To The Future' works best when you don't enquire into its logic too closely). And the story did work from that standpoint, it really did. They beautifully sold the wonder and magnitude of a civilian learning about interstellar travel, aliens and Stargates all in the space of a few minutes, and it's just a lovely scene when someone is presented with all these facts we take for granted as viewers of the series and reacts accordingly.
If they played the wonder just right, they also got the sibling competitiveness and buried animosity, too, with Rodney immediately put on the back foot thanks to her having sensitive information to share with his colleagues. They double down on all that when Rodney 2, or 'Rod' as this cooler, friendlier and happier version likes to be known, comes through the bridge, or whatever it was - truth be told, I never fully understood what they were trying to do - all you need to know is it connects to a parallel universe and our Rodney entirely depletes the city's ZPM meaning no quick trips to Earth any more, only the Daedalus capable of taking people to and fro. Rodney starts getting an inferiority complex, not from the new guy's genius, but from the easy way he gets on with everyone and his good attitude. This is where I break off to say once again how impressed I was, not just by David Hewlett's performances as Rodney times-two, but in the technical improvements you see in bringing two copies of an actor to the screen - you expect technology to develop, but this seemed to be a marked improvement on showing doubles. They were walking around each other, the camera was moving through scenes as normal and they generally made the whole thing look effortless and real, so much so that sometimes you forget about the novelty and just accept Rod as another character! That's the highest compliment I could pay in this situation and to Hewlett who so successfully pulled off the subtle changes in character needed to make him believable.
Carter's appearance, McKay having a family member and a double in the same episode, and the technical qualities of the episode aside, I was concerned they were going to lose the power of the story, that of he and his estranged sister finding common ground (to use the title of the previous episode), but they brought it right round thanks to the extra Rod who could have muddied the issue if played up too much in the story, but was used neatly to say that although it was so good to be there, he needed to get back to his own versions of the characters we know, because for all their flaws they are his team and he needs to be there for them. And of course Rodney sees that he, too, is invaluable to his team (he never really doubted that, let's be honest), and they're glad to have him (which he was oblivious of before, but now realises means something), as well as feeling more warmly to his sister. And lastly, whether it was just the long break since I last saw an episode, it seemed to me the cast were especially well written, playing on all their little quirks and familiarities from Weir at the top down to Dr. Zelenka, and I saw they've crafted a lovingly meshed team of characters. It's not guaranteed in a series, and it reminded me that that's the main reason you come back to these things: to spend time with the people. This is one I'll definitely look forward to hearing the audio commentary, especially as I'd like to know if Kate Hewlett, who played McKay's sister, is David Hewlett's sister in real life. It can't be a coincidence!
***
Who Mourns For Adonais?
DVD, Star Trek S2 (Who Mourns For Adonais?)
And the award for most improved episode goes to...
I had the impression that I liked this episode from past viewings, but I wasn't sure about that, especially after watching a good chunk of the way into it on this occasion. It begins with the wackiest, most silly 'Star Trek' ideas, perhaps up to that point in the series, with a giant transparent green hand bearing down on the Enterprise from out of the blackness of space to hold them suspended in its grip. It's one of those things that has gone down as being very Trekky, so much so that the last film featured it in the end credits, among other recognisable references (and I have the feeling it also showed up in that daft, psychedelic 'Short Treks' episode with the Tardigrade and 'Star Wars' droid fighting it out through the Enterprise's history, 'Ephraim and Dot'). It may be remembered well, but that doesn't mean it's well remembered, and it's not even an original idea in what it does, since only three episodes ago in 'Catspaw,' the ship had been just so held in space. There's an odd scene at the start where Scotty's going uncharacteristically gooey over a young lady, set up for later, and then we get a floating head in space - is it a Cytherian or a fake god, the $164,000 question? Yes, it's a fake god, prefiguring 'Star Trek V' by over twenty years. He invites our crew down to his planet and we're off. And so is the episode, apparently, very little to grip onto, but it was early days.
Apparently with the motive of shaking things up, Spock is forbidden from beaming down since he reminds this super-being of Pan, thanks to those pointed ears (perhaps, as in 'Friday's Child,' he'd be expected to come up with a solution to their hostage situation more quickly and without the resident brain box there's more tension?). He probably hasn't met a Vulcan before in all those five thousand years of waiting, although it does make me wonder what he was doing all that time. We know for 'The One' a thousand years is like a day, and a day like a thousand years, so maybe he followed that rule and time has passed swiftly for him. On the other giant green hand, perhaps he had other, non-human visitors to practice on, in which case it's ominous that we see no sign of them, and an idea of where things might go for our crew. There's no guarantee that any aliens ever visited, the Enterprise is far out in space, after all, although the planet is known, but had been deemed not worth exploring as yet. Was that a directive put into human heads by this Greek god so he had time to prepare for their arrival, or was he sleeping much of that time and only now awakes from his millennia of slumber? However I looked at it, so far: so-so, when it comes to getting something out of the episode. I was so uninspired that I didn't even really appreciate the excellent production design.
It's clear they had a goodly sum to spend on these early episodes as each of the first four has either been a location shoot or an elaborate studio soundstage redress that has been impressive to see. Not remembering the exact episodes in the season off the top of my head I'm expecting a lot of the latter half to be ship-bound as the cash dries up, but for the moment it's lavish and a far cry from the reputation of creaky sets. Just as we had that little extra touch in 'Metamorphosis' of wispy clouds in the sky, this time we get the tall trees swaying gently in the breeze, as well as a separate woodland enclave - the greens department should have been awarded their own laurel leaves, if there was a greens department, because it all looks good. Because of high hedges and the central temple in which Apollo, for that is whom he claims to be, sits like Abraham Lincoln's statue in the Lincoln Memorial, our eye is always drawn inwards to that area with its columns and the marble picnic table bearing a huge bowl of fruit (expertly avoided being overturned when Scott goes flying!). Because I was so underwhelmed by the episode as a whole to begin with, I didn't appreciate the artistry and spatial awareness of this set, but as the story grew in my estimation, so the scales fell from my eyes and the quality of the stage, for that is what it is, was revealed. A little like the Western town and its simple theatre-like fronts in 'The Spectre of The Gun' to come, this had a simplicity that was also a frame for the story, that focused your mind on the characters and events - this episode could very much have been a stage play, like most of the best Trek stories.
If you think about it, the episode is pretty derivative, it has the usual tropes that the series had developed and you could almost say it's a remake of 'Space Seed': they find a man of the past, someone who has been waiting for humanity so that he can fulfil the purpose of his life and be a leader of men; he requires adoration and obedience; and has a weakness for women. Who knows, if ship's historian Marla McGivers hadn't chosen to stay with Khan (sealing her death sentence, though she didn't know it then), she might have been the crewmember who was part of the Landing Party in place of Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas, the A&A officer (Archeology and Anthropology, nothing to do with motor vehicle breakdowns!). Perhaps Palamas is a replacement for that lost crewmember, even if their disciplines are somewhat different, as she clearly knows her history. The difference between Khan and Apollo is that, while they're both deluded about might giving right, Apollo has the greater case for thinking that way since he does have powers beyond our understanding. Or does he? It's not very clear what kind of being he and his kind are. Sure, we have Kirk coming up with a theory on the fly that sounds good, all about how the Greek gods of ancient mythology could have been real beings, aliens who came to Earth with all their technology or power and seeking worship from the primitive humans of the day (even the Bible itself hints about 'mighty men of old'!), but it's a bit off-the-cuff speculative, and if anyone it should have been Palamas who came up with the idea really.
Like most 'TOS' villains, this godlike entity has his weaknesses, most especially a power source that needs charging up though the adoration of his adherents (like Kirk, that's just a theory I came up with, but he does suggest that he needs worship in the same way humans need food, so…), and one that is fallible to weaponry (especially when he needs to rest after using the power), but also the inability to think three-dimensionally (to use Khan's famous mistake as a metaphor). He's waited so long for humans to find him, and according to him that is the only reason he stayed on this planet (though we don't know if this is the only planet he pitched camp), having a somewhat flattering faith in the simple humans he knew to eventually achieve space travel and come to him. Of course we're taking all this on trust, and being a petulant and impatient type (especially for one who waited five thousand years for worship, he seems very testy when he doesn't get it!), it could be that his poetic language and grand tale-telling is just that, he's merely trying to impress, or perhaps is self-deluded. The question is why he never returned to Earth? If I remember correctly, and this is where the episode starts to show something deeper than mere silly sci-fi, he tells Palamas he left because all the other gods gave up the ghost and scattered themselves to the winds, moving on for pastures new, effectively (a bit like the Caretaker left behind by his kind in 'Voyager'). He was the one that couldn't let go and so rather than follow them into oblivion/the next life/another galaxy or dimension/whatever, he chose to make his home on the unremarkable Pollux IV and wait.
It's quite a tragic story, and Apollo himself is a tragic figure, this being who only wanted what he considered his due, but who was outgrown, unwanted and left alone with only his hope for comfort - to offer the simple life to his followers, as it was thousands of years ago without the need for technology or strife, but also without the challenges of exploration that this era of humanity embraces. He could have moved on as the other beings did, and as he eventually does in his anguish, and although Kirk's wistfulness at the end is a trifle misplaced (after all, would he really have allowed he and his crew to be enslaved just to please this misguided being for even a moment?), the triumph of the episode is in making this angry, toga-wearing false god into a sympathetic character who you feel sorry for, not just for the outcome, that was inevitable, but for the spurning of Palamas on Kirk's orders (that made me think of Burnham's casting off of young Spock in 'DSC,' though here it made much more sense), when in fact she wishes she didn't have to, his rejection by the little people (as Q would call them), a devastation, being a simple enough soul that that was all he really wanted for his existence. He's no subtle, crafty fellow, he's almost childlike in his quick emotions, yet also magnanimous in the sense that he doesn't just rain down lightning and destroy them all, and wants to have these people to provide for. He's set himself a role that simply isn't necessary and is looking for what he needs in the wrong place, and that well-written characterisation lifts the episode above the initially simple setup of the crew finding a Greek god and having to beat him.
Apart from Apollo being eventually so well developed (and always well acted by Michael Forest who never returned to official Trek, but did play his character again in a 'fan film,' I believe, decades later), there were two points in the episode that changed my whole appreciation of it, or lack of, to really getting on board. The first comes with Kirk's plan to deal with their captor (that's another thing - they've been held captive in every episode so far this season!), by risking their lives to force him to use his power, thus weakening him enough that those who survive can try to overpower him (wisely, as many opponents of the Captain would have liked to do, he silences him by depriving him of air in a Darth Vader way, though foolishly doesn't remove Kirk's voice indefinitely, not realising this was his greatest threat!). It's not the boldness of the plan, nor the bravery of it, but in its failing I was impressed. Palamas isn't in on the action since she's already become consort to Apollo and the first conquest over to his side (if he'd simply politely asked for followers there's a chance she and others on the ship might well have been won over to him, but he had to force it and go for total dominance), so she doesn't know what's being attempted, but she sees what's likely to be the result of it and remains loyal enough to her Captain and crew that she steps between them to cool Apollo's wrath, much to Kirk's chagrin, saving their lives, but ruining their chance to escape. Showing a plan failing raises the episode above standard fare because there's always much more to be learned from failure than an easy victory, so the episode doesn't take shortcuts and becomes something more because of that.
It's not just that, it's also that we see the desperate compassion of Palamas. Yes, she was easily won over to this imposter who is also genuine, a pretty gown enough to get her on side, but that only led to her listening to his genuine nature and the flattery that he was drawn to her (even though she was the only woman in the party!), but she still has her Starfleet training within her - like McGivers, the adversary they face slots into exactly the kind of character she admires, but she isn't selfish enough to sacrifice the lives of others to hold onto what she wants and is attracted to, which shows the selfless nature of people at this time, or in the service at least. It comes down to Kirk needing to have the words to make her face up to the situation. Kirk's gift is his persuasive tongue, but it's also the power of truth that courses through him and forces Palamas to make the right choice, loyalty to her crew over loyalty to Apollo and her real feelings. It's about overcoming personal emotions rather than indulging them, and if you're expecting me to bash 'Discovery' at this point, you'd be right: they could learn a lot from 'TOS,' though sadly it seems far too many of the writers know far too little about the series they're supposed to be prequeling… Having just forced myself to re-watch 'DSC' Season 2, emotionalism is such a dominant force of that series, but this episode demonstrates what I love about Trek: self-control.
With Kirk seeing that Palamas is the last hope for his ship and crew the episode goes up another notch as he appeals to all that is good in her, loyalty and duty over wonder and strong feeling, a personal struggle for her, and a course that you can't be one hundred percent certain she'll follow through on. But she does. Apollo is enraged at the rejection and this is where effects, both physical and visual, match the production design, with thunderbolts and a madness of rage pouring from him as the camera pushes in on this vision of wrath, meaty arms upraised as light flashes around, the foliage and Palamas blown about in the tempest. This is the time to strike, and though the Enterprise has been out of action for most of the episode they find a way to send down their own lightning, the power and precision of Phasers proved as they stream down on the temple, source of Apollo's power, leaving only burnt rubble, while the grounds and statues around are left untouched, a truly powerful weapon. It's clear after this that there's more to Apollo than his temple powerhouse since he's still able to magnify himself to giant proportions after its destruction, and it's as if he lets go of the physical world when he disappears as he earlier described the rest of his kind doing, leaving us with a mythical impression of him that they were more than mere mortal entities, appealing to our sense of mystery, especially one that will now never be solved.
In reality, like Khan, Apollo could well have come back in the films had they chosen that direction, he has that larger than life theatricality that Trek film villains often portray, though it's hard to see how a vengeful ex-god would work in a personal revenge story against Kirk since the character seemed more far-seeing and 'big,' not just in the physical sense, but in broadness, an ancient being that wouldn't get mixed up in subtle affairs such as this, even though all he wanted was to be part of the world of men. It was really just a desire to return to the past, bring back the old ways, the glory days, the grand times, and in that respect he's even more of a sympathetic character, this needy god, this pilgrim of the past, a past lost and forgotten even by races that still live. It's this ability to dive into a kind of poetry about the past and touch on a mythology that we share with Trek characters since what is a couple of hundred years compared to thousands, so this shared understanding of mythological history gives the viewers a bond with them. The episode isn't only concerned with such aspects of legend and myth, there's quite a lot of technology on display, perhaps as a way to emphasise the spare, simple world Apollo wishes to restore: not only do we see all the regular devices any self-respecting Landing Party wouldn't leave without (Phasers that get melted and fused, Communicators, Tricorders - even Dr. McCoy's scanner which he almost surreptitiously uses to scan Apollo), but more high-tech equipment up on the ship.
Sulu's foldout viewer is used again, as are the stylus 'clipboards' so favoured by Yeomans in this time (and seen in 'DSC'), which Spock gives Lieutenant Kyle, as well as the hand viewer Palamas wrote her report on and gave to Kirk at the beginning of the episode, and some crewman is using a kind of portable computing device next to Sulu's station as if in association with what he's doing, so there's a lot of technical stuff going on. Most importantly, Uhura shows that she's more than a glorified receptionist, getting down and dirty underneath her Communications station in order to fix a problem while wearing the blue technician's overall on top of her uniform. She knows her stuff and has some level of engineering understanding to be able to sort out the issue, Spock showing complete confidence in her, which is nice to see as they gradually, almost imperceptibly, add thin layers of detail to the lesser characters. I love the view from inside the hatch, something later series' did plenty of times, but wasn't as common on 'TOS.' It might appear old-fashioned with all these printed circuit boards around, but I always put that down to it being more complex than we understand, so naturally we compare it with things we know and in fact it's not what it appears, consistent with all the other futuristic tech on the series. One thing suggests a communications miracle since despite the fact they can't hear from the planet Spock somehow knows the being's name is Apollo and I don't think he said that until they'd beamed down. There's also the issue of the hand missing from the visual when the ship fires Phasers.
It appears that one of those rare scenes (at least for this stage of the series), when all seven regular characters appear on the Bridge at the same time, occurs early in the episode, but I'm not sure. We see all of them in the scene when Scotty comes to the Bridge, but Chekov's seat is empty and I wasn't sure where he'd gone, but if you look at the start of the scene it looks like him with head down working on some device on the deck near Spock's station, though it isn't certain to be him as he never looks up. Otherwise it was a lovely sight to see. Chekov gets to take Spock's role in the story, at least in the sense that he's the one waving a Tricorder around, though his main role appears to be to promote Russian greatness as the source of everything! I wonder if this is a result of Shatner's concern that Spock not be too integral to every story, and it certainly makes a different balance for the Landing Party away from the trio of Kirk, Spock and McCoy that had been used in all three previous episodes of the season. Scotty has a little more to him, even if it is out of nowhere that he's into young Palamas - the stunt work where he's thrown around by Apollo was pretty good! We learn that Starfleet officers are still receiving wages in this era since Kirk says Chekov's earned his pay this week, though he could have been talking metaphorically. Kirk also nails down how many serve aboard the good ship Enterprise, telling Apollo he has four hundred and thirty people aboard, which I think we may have heard already but it's always good to have technical details reiterated.
Perhaps Kirk's most challenging line comes when he tells Apollo that mankind no longer has any need for gods - I'm sure most Trek viewers would have got on board with that seeing as it's quite a humanist franchise, but much to their dismay, no doubt, he goes on to say 'we find the One quite adequate,' which is more evidence that Christianity is the main source of faith even in the 23rd Century, in line with the attitude of America at the time and which still persists deeply in the culture and day to day life, though you wouldn't necessarily know it from later Treks (although Captain Pike did mention church a few times in 'DSC,' in keeping with 'TOS'), so I appreciated that, though it would be far from the most pro-Christian episode of the season. It could also be there to reassure viewers that the prevailing worldview of the time wasn't being attacked when the theme of the episode is that humanity doesn't need 'gods.' I love that they treat the Greek gods as something pagan from history that had been moved beyond, yet the real God of history is still as real as ever, and with the Captain the one to say the line it gives it more weight than if it had merely been some lowly Ensign who'd expressed the attitude, though naysayers are always quick to suggest Roddenberry was 'forced' by the network to put such a line in and that he would have been against it, blah, blah, blah. But the truth is, it exists, and unless they recut the episode at some point to remove all such references, it remains there as a historical record (it should also be noted that Roddenberry was a complicated man with shifting views right up until he died - I always suggest reading 'The Last Conversation' which proves that).
For an episode that started so poorly I find it delightful that it grew in magnitude and power like Apollo stretching up above them (an effect that worked well), but it's also true that while the green space hand side of the story was going a little too far into silliness, it wasn't treated that way by the characters, they sell its reality more than by amazed or fearing expressions (as if travelling through V'Ger), by approaching it with respect and analytical data as they deal with anything they encounter, Spock reporting that it is a field of energy not living matter. This attitude of reality stops the episode from appearing to be 1950s B-film cartoonishness, even if on the surface it has that quality. Quality is something the episode gains, its traction taking hold as the personalities take over the story from the initial effects, and why it succeeds so well. Despite following Trek convention of beings of power who need to rest after using the source of same, or can be talked round with fierce logic, it's the personal that elevates it - Apollo was never going to be the type to listen and accept reason and rational argument because he has the power to get what he wanted and he knew what he wanted and had no moral compunction, in fact it was a completely different worldview, one that could only be defeated by engagement since they could hardly dismiss his claims or power over them in the physical, so freedom had to come through emotional means. That they throw in an explanation for the myths of ancient gods (like the Ferengi being the Roswell aliens), being based on fact, is almost a throwaway side dish of the episode which shows that it's neither schlocky sci-fi, nor the hardline stuff, but exactly what Trek did best: personal issues with science fiction trappings.
***
And the award for most improved episode goes to...
I had the impression that I liked this episode from past viewings, but I wasn't sure about that, especially after watching a good chunk of the way into it on this occasion. It begins with the wackiest, most silly 'Star Trek' ideas, perhaps up to that point in the series, with a giant transparent green hand bearing down on the Enterprise from out of the blackness of space to hold them suspended in its grip. It's one of those things that has gone down as being very Trekky, so much so that the last film featured it in the end credits, among other recognisable references (and I have the feeling it also showed up in that daft, psychedelic 'Short Treks' episode with the Tardigrade and 'Star Wars' droid fighting it out through the Enterprise's history, 'Ephraim and Dot'). It may be remembered well, but that doesn't mean it's well remembered, and it's not even an original idea in what it does, since only three episodes ago in 'Catspaw,' the ship had been just so held in space. There's an odd scene at the start where Scotty's going uncharacteristically gooey over a young lady, set up for later, and then we get a floating head in space - is it a Cytherian or a fake god, the $164,000 question? Yes, it's a fake god, prefiguring 'Star Trek V' by over twenty years. He invites our crew down to his planet and we're off. And so is the episode, apparently, very little to grip onto, but it was early days.
Apparently with the motive of shaking things up, Spock is forbidden from beaming down since he reminds this super-being of Pan, thanks to those pointed ears (perhaps, as in 'Friday's Child,' he'd be expected to come up with a solution to their hostage situation more quickly and without the resident brain box there's more tension?). He probably hasn't met a Vulcan before in all those five thousand years of waiting, although it does make me wonder what he was doing all that time. We know for 'The One' a thousand years is like a day, and a day like a thousand years, so maybe he followed that rule and time has passed swiftly for him. On the other giant green hand, perhaps he had other, non-human visitors to practice on, in which case it's ominous that we see no sign of them, and an idea of where things might go for our crew. There's no guarantee that any aliens ever visited, the Enterprise is far out in space, after all, although the planet is known, but had been deemed not worth exploring as yet. Was that a directive put into human heads by this Greek god so he had time to prepare for their arrival, or was he sleeping much of that time and only now awakes from his millennia of slumber? However I looked at it, so far: so-so, when it comes to getting something out of the episode. I was so uninspired that I didn't even really appreciate the excellent production design.
It's clear they had a goodly sum to spend on these early episodes as each of the first four has either been a location shoot or an elaborate studio soundstage redress that has been impressive to see. Not remembering the exact episodes in the season off the top of my head I'm expecting a lot of the latter half to be ship-bound as the cash dries up, but for the moment it's lavish and a far cry from the reputation of creaky sets. Just as we had that little extra touch in 'Metamorphosis' of wispy clouds in the sky, this time we get the tall trees swaying gently in the breeze, as well as a separate woodland enclave - the greens department should have been awarded their own laurel leaves, if there was a greens department, because it all looks good. Because of high hedges and the central temple in which Apollo, for that is whom he claims to be, sits like Abraham Lincoln's statue in the Lincoln Memorial, our eye is always drawn inwards to that area with its columns and the marble picnic table bearing a huge bowl of fruit (expertly avoided being overturned when Scott goes flying!). Because I was so underwhelmed by the episode as a whole to begin with, I didn't appreciate the artistry and spatial awareness of this set, but as the story grew in my estimation, so the scales fell from my eyes and the quality of the stage, for that is what it is, was revealed. A little like the Western town and its simple theatre-like fronts in 'The Spectre of The Gun' to come, this had a simplicity that was also a frame for the story, that focused your mind on the characters and events - this episode could very much have been a stage play, like most of the best Trek stories.
If you think about it, the episode is pretty derivative, it has the usual tropes that the series had developed and you could almost say it's a remake of 'Space Seed': they find a man of the past, someone who has been waiting for humanity so that he can fulfil the purpose of his life and be a leader of men; he requires adoration and obedience; and has a weakness for women. Who knows, if ship's historian Marla McGivers hadn't chosen to stay with Khan (sealing her death sentence, though she didn't know it then), she might have been the crewmember who was part of the Landing Party in place of Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas, the A&A officer (Archeology and Anthropology, nothing to do with motor vehicle breakdowns!). Perhaps Palamas is a replacement for that lost crewmember, even if their disciplines are somewhat different, as she clearly knows her history. The difference between Khan and Apollo is that, while they're both deluded about might giving right, Apollo has the greater case for thinking that way since he does have powers beyond our understanding. Or does he? It's not very clear what kind of being he and his kind are. Sure, we have Kirk coming up with a theory on the fly that sounds good, all about how the Greek gods of ancient mythology could have been real beings, aliens who came to Earth with all their technology or power and seeking worship from the primitive humans of the day (even the Bible itself hints about 'mighty men of old'!), but it's a bit off-the-cuff speculative, and if anyone it should have been Palamas who came up with the idea really.
Like most 'TOS' villains, this godlike entity has his weaknesses, most especially a power source that needs charging up though the adoration of his adherents (like Kirk, that's just a theory I came up with, but he does suggest that he needs worship in the same way humans need food, so…), and one that is fallible to weaponry (especially when he needs to rest after using the power), but also the inability to think three-dimensionally (to use Khan's famous mistake as a metaphor). He's waited so long for humans to find him, and according to him that is the only reason he stayed on this planet (though we don't know if this is the only planet he pitched camp), having a somewhat flattering faith in the simple humans he knew to eventually achieve space travel and come to him. Of course we're taking all this on trust, and being a petulant and impatient type (especially for one who waited five thousand years for worship, he seems very testy when he doesn't get it!), it could be that his poetic language and grand tale-telling is just that, he's merely trying to impress, or perhaps is self-deluded. The question is why he never returned to Earth? If I remember correctly, and this is where the episode starts to show something deeper than mere silly sci-fi, he tells Palamas he left because all the other gods gave up the ghost and scattered themselves to the winds, moving on for pastures new, effectively (a bit like the Caretaker left behind by his kind in 'Voyager'). He was the one that couldn't let go and so rather than follow them into oblivion/the next life/another galaxy or dimension/whatever, he chose to make his home on the unremarkable Pollux IV and wait.
It's quite a tragic story, and Apollo himself is a tragic figure, this being who only wanted what he considered his due, but who was outgrown, unwanted and left alone with only his hope for comfort - to offer the simple life to his followers, as it was thousands of years ago without the need for technology or strife, but also without the challenges of exploration that this era of humanity embraces. He could have moved on as the other beings did, and as he eventually does in his anguish, and although Kirk's wistfulness at the end is a trifle misplaced (after all, would he really have allowed he and his crew to be enslaved just to please this misguided being for even a moment?), the triumph of the episode is in making this angry, toga-wearing false god into a sympathetic character who you feel sorry for, not just for the outcome, that was inevitable, but for the spurning of Palamas on Kirk's orders (that made me think of Burnham's casting off of young Spock in 'DSC,' though here it made much more sense), when in fact she wishes she didn't have to, his rejection by the little people (as Q would call them), a devastation, being a simple enough soul that that was all he really wanted for his existence. He's no subtle, crafty fellow, he's almost childlike in his quick emotions, yet also magnanimous in the sense that he doesn't just rain down lightning and destroy them all, and wants to have these people to provide for. He's set himself a role that simply isn't necessary and is looking for what he needs in the wrong place, and that well-written characterisation lifts the episode above the initially simple setup of the crew finding a Greek god and having to beat him.
Apart from Apollo being eventually so well developed (and always well acted by Michael Forest who never returned to official Trek, but did play his character again in a 'fan film,' I believe, decades later), there were two points in the episode that changed my whole appreciation of it, or lack of, to really getting on board. The first comes with Kirk's plan to deal with their captor (that's another thing - they've been held captive in every episode so far this season!), by risking their lives to force him to use his power, thus weakening him enough that those who survive can try to overpower him (wisely, as many opponents of the Captain would have liked to do, he silences him by depriving him of air in a Darth Vader way, though foolishly doesn't remove Kirk's voice indefinitely, not realising this was his greatest threat!). It's not the boldness of the plan, nor the bravery of it, but in its failing I was impressed. Palamas isn't in on the action since she's already become consort to Apollo and the first conquest over to his side (if he'd simply politely asked for followers there's a chance she and others on the ship might well have been won over to him, but he had to force it and go for total dominance), so she doesn't know what's being attempted, but she sees what's likely to be the result of it and remains loyal enough to her Captain and crew that she steps between them to cool Apollo's wrath, much to Kirk's chagrin, saving their lives, but ruining their chance to escape. Showing a plan failing raises the episode above standard fare because there's always much more to be learned from failure than an easy victory, so the episode doesn't take shortcuts and becomes something more because of that.
It's not just that, it's also that we see the desperate compassion of Palamas. Yes, she was easily won over to this imposter who is also genuine, a pretty gown enough to get her on side, but that only led to her listening to his genuine nature and the flattery that he was drawn to her (even though she was the only woman in the party!), but she still has her Starfleet training within her - like McGivers, the adversary they face slots into exactly the kind of character she admires, but she isn't selfish enough to sacrifice the lives of others to hold onto what she wants and is attracted to, which shows the selfless nature of people at this time, or in the service at least. It comes down to Kirk needing to have the words to make her face up to the situation. Kirk's gift is his persuasive tongue, but it's also the power of truth that courses through him and forces Palamas to make the right choice, loyalty to her crew over loyalty to Apollo and her real feelings. It's about overcoming personal emotions rather than indulging them, and if you're expecting me to bash 'Discovery' at this point, you'd be right: they could learn a lot from 'TOS,' though sadly it seems far too many of the writers know far too little about the series they're supposed to be prequeling… Having just forced myself to re-watch 'DSC' Season 2, emotionalism is such a dominant force of that series, but this episode demonstrates what I love about Trek: self-control.
With Kirk seeing that Palamas is the last hope for his ship and crew the episode goes up another notch as he appeals to all that is good in her, loyalty and duty over wonder and strong feeling, a personal struggle for her, and a course that you can't be one hundred percent certain she'll follow through on. But she does. Apollo is enraged at the rejection and this is where effects, both physical and visual, match the production design, with thunderbolts and a madness of rage pouring from him as the camera pushes in on this vision of wrath, meaty arms upraised as light flashes around, the foliage and Palamas blown about in the tempest. This is the time to strike, and though the Enterprise has been out of action for most of the episode they find a way to send down their own lightning, the power and precision of Phasers proved as they stream down on the temple, source of Apollo's power, leaving only burnt rubble, while the grounds and statues around are left untouched, a truly powerful weapon. It's clear after this that there's more to Apollo than his temple powerhouse since he's still able to magnify himself to giant proportions after its destruction, and it's as if he lets go of the physical world when he disappears as he earlier described the rest of his kind doing, leaving us with a mythical impression of him that they were more than mere mortal entities, appealing to our sense of mystery, especially one that will now never be solved.
In reality, like Khan, Apollo could well have come back in the films had they chosen that direction, he has that larger than life theatricality that Trek film villains often portray, though it's hard to see how a vengeful ex-god would work in a personal revenge story against Kirk since the character seemed more far-seeing and 'big,' not just in the physical sense, but in broadness, an ancient being that wouldn't get mixed up in subtle affairs such as this, even though all he wanted was to be part of the world of men. It was really just a desire to return to the past, bring back the old ways, the glory days, the grand times, and in that respect he's even more of a sympathetic character, this needy god, this pilgrim of the past, a past lost and forgotten even by races that still live. It's this ability to dive into a kind of poetry about the past and touch on a mythology that we share with Trek characters since what is a couple of hundred years compared to thousands, so this shared understanding of mythological history gives the viewers a bond with them. The episode isn't only concerned with such aspects of legend and myth, there's quite a lot of technology on display, perhaps as a way to emphasise the spare, simple world Apollo wishes to restore: not only do we see all the regular devices any self-respecting Landing Party wouldn't leave without (Phasers that get melted and fused, Communicators, Tricorders - even Dr. McCoy's scanner which he almost surreptitiously uses to scan Apollo), but more high-tech equipment up on the ship.
Sulu's foldout viewer is used again, as are the stylus 'clipboards' so favoured by Yeomans in this time (and seen in 'DSC'), which Spock gives Lieutenant Kyle, as well as the hand viewer Palamas wrote her report on and gave to Kirk at the beginning of the episode, and some crewman is using a kind of portable computing device next to Sulu's station as if in association with what he's doing, so there's a lot of technical stuff going on. Most importantly, Uhura shows that she's more than a glorified receptionist, getting down and dirty underneath her Communications station in order to fix a problem while wearing the blue technician's overall on top of her uniform. She knows her stuff and has some level of engineering understanding to be able to sort out the issue, Spock showing complete confidence in her, which is nice to see as they gradually, almost imperceptibly, add thin layers of detail to the lesser characters. I love the view from inside the hatch, something later series' did plenty of times, but wasn't as common on 'TOS.' It might appear old-fashioned with all these printed circuit boards around, but I always put that down to it being more complex than we understand, so naturally we compare it with things we know and in fact it's not what it appears, consistent with all the other futuristic tech on the series. One thing suggests a communications miracle since despite the fact they can't hear from the planet Spock somehow knows the being's name is Apollo and I don't think he said that until they'd beamed down. There's also the issue of the hand missing from the visual when the ship fires Phasers.
It appears that one of those rare scenes (at least for this stage of the series), when all seven regular characters appear on the Bridge at the same time, occurs early in the episode, but I'm not sure. We see all of them in the scene when Scotty comes to the Bridge, but Chekov's seat is empty and I wasn't sure where he'd gone, but if you look at the start of the scene it looks like him with head down working on some device on the deck near Spock's station, though it isn't certain to be him as he never looks up. Otherwise it was a lovely sight to see. Chekov gets to take Spock's role in the story, at least in the sense that he's the one waving a Tricorder around, though his main role appears to be to promote Russian greatness as the source of everything! I wonder if this is a result of Shatner's concern that Spock not be too integral to every story, and it certainly makes a different balance for the Landing Party away from the trio of Kirk, Spock and McCoy that had been used in all three previous episodes of the season. Scotty has a little more to him, even if it is out of nowhere that he's into young Palamas - the stunt work where he's thrown around by Apollo was pretty good! We learn that Starfleet officers are still receiving wages in this era since Kirk says Chekov's earned his pay this week, though he could have been talking metaphorically. Kirk also nails down how many serve aboard the good ship Enterprise, telling Apollo he has four hundred and thirty people aboard, which I think we may have heard already but it's always good to have technical details reiterated.
Perhaps Kirk's most challenging line comes when he tells Apollo that mankind no longer has any need for gods - I'm sure most Trek viewers would have got on board with that seeing as it's quite a humanist franchise, but much to their dismay, no doubt, he goes on to say 'we find the One quite adequate,' which is more evidence that Christianity is the main source of faith even in the 23rd Century, in line with the attitude of America at the time and which still persists deeply in the culture and day to day life, though you wouldn't necessarily know it from later Treks (although Captain Pike did mention church a few times in 'DSC,' in keeping with 'TOS'), so I appreciated that, though it would be far from the most pro-Christian episode of the season. It could also be there to reassure viewers that the prevailing worldview of the time wasn't being attacked when the theme of the episode is that humanity doesn't need 'gods.' I love that they treat the Greek gods as something pagan from history that had been moved beyond, yet the real God of history is still as real as ever, and with the Captain the one to say the line it gives it more weight than if it had merely been some lowly Ensign who'd expressed the attitude, though naysayers are always quick to suggest Roddenberry was 'forced' by the network to put such a line in and that he would have been against it, blah, blah, blah. But the truth is, it exists, and unless they recut the episode at some point to remove all such references, it remains there as a historical record (it should also be noted that Roddenberry was a complicated man with shifting views right up until he died - I always suggest reading 'The Last Conversation' which proves that).
For an episode that started so poorly I find it delightful that it grew in magnitude and power like Apollo stretching up above them (an effect that worked well), but it's also true that while the green space hand side of the story was going a little too far into silliness, it wasn't treated that way by the characters, they sell its reality more than by amazed or fearing expressions (as if travelling through V'Ger), by approaching it with respect and analytical data as they deal with anything they encounter, Spock reporting that it is a field of energy not living matter. This attitude of reality stops the episode from appearing to be 1950s B-film cartoonishness, even if on the surface it has that quality. Quality is something the episode gains, its traction taking hold as the personalities take over the story from the initial effects, and why it succeeds so well. Despite following Trek convention of beings of power who need to rest after using the source of same, or can be talked round with fierce logic, it's the personal that elevates it - Apollo was never going to be the type to listen and accept reason and rational argument because he has the power to get what he wanted and he knew what he wanted and had no moral compunction, in fact it was a completely different worldview, one that could only be defeated by engagement since they could hardly dismiss his claims or power over them in the physical, so freedom had to come through emotional means. That they throw in an explanation for the myths of ancient gods (like the Ferengi being the Roswell aliens), being based on fact, is almost a throwaway side dish of the episode which shows that it's neither schlocky sci-fi, nor the hardline stuff, but exactly what Trek did best: personal issues with science fiction trappings.
***
Retrogaming Review of The Year 2020
Retrogaming Review of The Year 2020
In the Year of The Virus you'd think I would have had much more time for game-playing than ever before, but it was not so for me as I carried on working as normal and never had the chance to be furloughed as many did, which would have been an ideal time to get through more games. I did play more active games through the first lockdown period, but it wasn't the year off from work it was for so many. Still, I got back in touch with my gaming roots over the summer, played some new games and got through a few old - I was clear I didn't want to get entangled in any games that were of lesser enjoyment, which is why I abandoned one game and chose old games that I knew I'd enjoy, not to mention new games that I most wanted to try.
Awards:
Surprise of The Year: Star Trek Conquest
Disappointment of The Year: Freedom Fighters
[Ratings reflect total, historical experience, not just the enjoyment level I got out of them this time.]
January - March: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (2000, N64) - Finishing up a great game in the series begun over Christmas, and cementing my tradition of recent years of playing a 'Zelda' over the Christmas period. I don't know why because it's just the sort of thing that gets you down if you get stuck and requires patience and effort to get through, but I have a few of them I wanted to play, so why not. It began with 'The Wind Waker' in 2019 and I'd long wanted to replay 'Majora's Mask,' plus 'Four Swords' had never been completed and 'Twilight Princess' was ripe for a return after more than a decade since I first played it, as well as the 'newest' instalment I came to own on the Wii ('Skyward Sword'), which I've never played before, and I like to have a series to play once a year, just as I did with the 'Cube 'Need For Speed' games. ****
January - November: UFO: Enemy Unknown (1993, Amiga 1200) - Not quite as assiduous in my consistency with this one as I have been in the past (for eighteen years now!), but I still enjoy it and play it a little most weeks, continuing a file begun in 2005. Next year (2022), in October marks twenty years of regular playing (the first file was lost in '05), so I'll definitely be playing this at least until that time, then perhaps I'll complete it… *****
January - December: Wii Sports (2006, Wii) -
Although I occasionally play a bit of Tennis or Golf, the main draw is the Boxing as good exercise. But no matter what I did, every time I played, after coming in fresh and winning a couple of matches I'd get worse and worse, either winning by decision and still losing points, down to failing to win at all and not being able to make an impact. It was insulting how I'd drop down the points ranking and have to face inferior opposition I'd already beaten, and then lose to them, too! I don't know whether coming to it fresh was why I did well to begin with, but there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to how the remote and nunchuk responded, either not throwing punches or throwing punches when I wanted to defend, I don't know if it was me or the equipment (third party controllers). The worst thing was the lack of guidance - maybe it's supposed to be so simple you don't need any instruction, but although there is 'training' there's no actual mode where you learn how to do each punch, how to get in an uppercut or any of that and it was so disheartening, I always started in a good mood, full of energy, ready for some fun exercise, but left annoyed and frustrated - it should be the other way round and it was just angering. Until I worked out the 'formula': dodging CPU attacks until they made a big one and the slow-motion kicks in, then battering them in response, which was less fun, but boosted my score stratospherically, though I could still lose points even when winning matches if I let through too many punches or took too long to win. My crowning achievement came in December when I finally scored a Platinum on the punchbag training! ***
January - October: WSC Real 08 (2008, Wii) - Being into my snooker (and there's a lot of it on Freeview these days), I really wanted a 'modern' game to play, and since the length of a player's career (especially now), is so long, the majority of players in this game are still going today! But it is a game that requires consistent practice and dedication, almost as if you were taking up the real sport itself. I haven't yet committed myself to playing it properly as it can be rather disheartening, but playing two-player helped bring some enjoyment into it so that when I did go back to the single player career I was in a better frame of mind. But it will definitely mean long hours of practice and learning before I ever get to the point where I can master shots and do well, so one to work on. The pool's a bit easier and it was good to have the option for other ball games in there. ***
February - ?: Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum (2009, Wii) - The weakest game I've played on Wii: Even the boxing, so good in 'Wii Sports,' is reduced to a joyless Simon Says! Presentation is ugly. The controls aren't consistent - sometimes pressing left or right will choose an option, but moving the remote has no effect (as in at the end of a training session to pick the next activity), other times you have to use the little glove icon with the remote (as in flicking between lists of activities), you don't have a choice! And pressing B to go back doesn't work, so it's poorly designed. Most of the time you have to run, and it doesn't seem to make any difference how hard you run, you always go at the same speed, so there's no incentive to try harder. And the awful music at first seemed to have no 'off' option or to adjust the volume separately to Jillian's encouraging comments, though I worked it out in the end! The tips are often insultingly basic (although some aren't bad), common sense rather than any deep thought or experience being passed on. The graphics aren't very nice and the explanations on how to perform actions could be better, like if Jillian herself showed you what to do. Instead she's reserved for the occasional tip or message. Sometimes (such as during the pump handle rail car), the signal from the controller gets lost so you can't even finish the event! Doesn't inspire confidence in the product or make you want to come back for regular exercise, which is the whole point. I'd much rather play 'Wii Sports' for exercise and fun. It gets an extra star for being unique, but that's because I haven't played 'Wii Fitness' yet. **
March - April: Top Gear Rally (1997, N64) - Another good oldie that I had still to complete, left over from Christmas when I had it as backup in case of being stuck in 'Zelda.' I do like a car game, and especially the kind where you throw your vehicle around mud tracks. Made me almost break out 'Dakar 2,' except I vaguely remembered I didn't like that one so much. Took a while to complete, too, and was a reasonable challenge. ***
April - May: Star Trek Conquest (2007, Wii) - Surprise hit, more than functional, addictive turn-based strategy set in the Dominion War era of Trek, which happens to be my favourite. Build starships, take planets and fight aliens, its simple approach belies its strategically engaging nature and it just feels right, especially in the age of current Trek which just feels so wrong all the time. Downsides are no multiplayer to speak of (other than the simplistic arcade ship combat), and only one map, though the different difficulty levels and six alien races to play as kept me going for a good while. It's a game I'd definitely go back to because it's one of those rare things: a great game, and a great Trek feel. ****
May - August: The Settlers (1993, Amiga 1200) - I'd never written a proper review of what I've long considered the best game ever made. What made me want to get back into it all of a sudden (I certainly hadn't planned to), was playing 'Star Trek Conquest' and wanting an even more strategic experience than that game, so I found myself back on the Amiga, which I hadn't played it on in years, having previously used DOSBox for its capability of the maximum world size of eight (though inferior, washed out visuals and lesser sound), where my particular Amiga could only manage five. But that's just one of the many great things about this genuine all-time classic: it was designed to push any machine as far as it could go. It may sound quaint when you think it was all pixels and bright colours, but it really harnessed whatever machine it was on and showed intense levels of attention to detail, right down to the individual pixel. The beauty of that kind of art style was another of its many attributes, as was its simple, but evocative sound set - hearing the tweet of the birds, the lapping waves of lakes, the wind whistling over the mountains, the tap-tap of a construction worker building, the clank of the blacksmith's forge as he handmade the swords and shields required for a soldier. The difference between the chopping board of the butcher's abattoir compared to the hammering of the toolmaker or boatbuilder. The boiling of the iron smelter's pot, bubbling away, then the clang and conflict of knights in individual duel. That's another thing: everything was so politely done, knights patiently waiting their turn to prove themselves in battle against a foe, the carriers standing by until they could deposit their load at the flag marking the end of the path they travelled. Everything neat and tidy, yet also with that natural world feel of haphazardness. Trees scattered here, stone outcrops there, dead cattle in the desert, terrain sweeping up or sinking down. And amidst it all the ability to tame this landscape to your whim, but not too far. There was no industrial revolution here to concrete the grassy hills and you were encouraged just as much to plant trees sustainably to support wood production as to cut them down. On top of setting out the perfect village with the fastest, smoothest roads deeming the need to be aware of the contours of the land to ensure most efficient transport, the most important creation of a bond was the danger of losing it. At the same time, as I said in my review at the time, it did have a deadly glitch that after a time stopped you from storing any materials and making the game much harder to win. And occasionally failing during a save and losing my file… But into every game some rain must fall. *****
July: Freedom Fighters (2003, GameCube) - Oh dear, it's not often I give up on a game, but that was the case here after just one session. I didn't like the controls, it seemed very linear and dull and I didn't need something that was such an effort to get into. That's often the way starting a new game and perseverance usually pays off, that's why I often feel tired at the thought of starting something new. But this year I didn't have the patience, I needed games that were accessible. Another time I'll happily tackle a dull game, the fortitude to break through its outer shell ripened, and I'll probably go back to it at some future date. Then again, the older I get the more prudent it seems to only concentrate on the best games. *
September: Turok Evolution (2002, GameCube) - This was my big hope of the year, a game I had the fondest memories of playing and had been eager to return to sometime, having first played it in 2009 and greatly enjoyed it. Expectations may have been a little over-inflated as I wasn't quite as impressed this time, though it was still a favourable one, and varied. Well worth my while. ***
October - December: Super Mario Galaxy (2007, Wii) - The big one. What could be bigger than a Mario game on a Nintendo console? Few. Not quite the truly great experience I'd expected, but still good, it taught me that although I love a specific kind of 3D platform game, 2D A-B progression isn't in the same league. It was most certainly a challenge, though not always for the right reasons: frustrating controls, frustrating changing situations, some platforms you can walk under, others drop you into a black hole of death. Not the beautiful, involved 'Banjo-Kazooie' worlds, more about fiddly platforming. Camera problems - sometimes it forces you to play in a 2D manner which seems counterintuitive in the most 3D game ever made. I want immediate control to switch the camera behind me or circle it manually at any moment, but that control is severely lacking. At the same time it is very clever and innovative - perhaps the first truly '3D' game with full gravity shifting and 'worlds,' but I could have done with larger ones. In the end I came away knowing I'd like to play the sequel, but that I'm not in a particular hurry. It showed up the limitations of Wii controls, with them and the game conforming to the hardware rather than the hardware being designed for the game, and I feel the whole game could have been played with a standard Controller except for the occasional mini-games. ***
December: The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (2005, GameCube) - It was a 'Zelda' game I'd never played and I hadn't missed much. True, it was really meant for multiplayer mayhem, one of the very few titles to allow multiple Game Boy Advances (remember that powerhouse of portable gaming?), to connect, and it was somewhat fun to see connections to other games in the series (Malon and Talon of Lon Lon Ranch; Kakariko Village; Dampé), but I'd have preferred to see 2D versions of those locations instead of environments that didn't correspond, except in name. Because it was designed as a game to dive into for a set level, you can't carry anything over so everything is very self-contained and each level is like a part of a 'Zelda' experience: the dungeon; the village; the linking world section. It doesn't give you that complete game and as such has a lot less sense of progression and achievement. It looks and sounds nice and it's fun to have a 2D 'Zelda' free from the confines of the Game Boy screen, but it's not really a one-player experience that works all that well. **
Honourable mentions: 'Caesar II' (just one go in May, and it obviously didn't stick, a DOSBox game, which might explain why I never approached any others); 'Mario Kart: Double Dash'/'WSC Real 08' multiplayer in July; and more multiplayer 'Wii Sports'/'Burnout 2' in August; and in December: 'Spin Crisis' (a demo of only eight levels on MacBook that was simple, only two buttons to control, but full of ideas and with good music - just like those old Commodore or Amiga games of yore: ***), and another demo, 'Hotel' (also on MacBook, atmospheric point-and-click that looked promising with nice graphical design and sound and the usual sort of puzzles, except for the occult addition to the story, so I wouldn't have played on anyway, even had it not been a demo: ***).
Next Year - I aimed to move on from N64 after celebrating it quite a lot in 2019 as that marked twenty years of owning it, but it still played a big part in 2020. But I did get more involved in Wii gaming, both long and short form, though I failed to bring the Amiga 1500 back into the light, or play a single DOSBox title, sticking to known quantities in a year of unknown ones, so in 2021 I'd like to:
- Put 'Metroid Prime 3' at the top of my Wii play list.
- And the next Christmas 'Zelda' for 'Cube ('Twilight Princess').
- My last N64 game I've not yet played ('Top Gear Overdrive').
- More Amiga games, or at least 'Soccer Kid.'
- One DOSBox entry, surely!
- I'm just finishing the last NGamer issue I own after years of reading Nintendo magazines from the past.
Happy New Year!
In the Year of The Virus you'd think I would have had much more time for game-playing than ever before, but it was not so for me as I carried on working as normal and never had the chance to be furloughed as many did, which would have been an ideal time to get through more games. I did play more active games through the first lockdown period, but it wasn't the year off from work it was for so many. Still, I got back in touch with my gaming roots over the summer, played some new games and got through a few old - I was clear I didn't want to get entangled in any games that were of lesser enjoyment, which is why I abandoned one game and chose old games that I knew I'd enjoy, not to mention new games that I most wanted to try.
Awards:
Surprise of The Year: Star Trek Conquest
Disappointment of The Year: Freedom Fighters
[Ratings reflect total, historical experience, not just the enjoyment level I got out of them this time.]
January - March: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (2000, N64) - Finishing up a great game in the series begun over Christmas, and cementing my tradition of recent years of playing a 'Zelda' over the Christmas period. I don't know why because it's just the sort of thing that gets you down if you get stuck and requires patience and effort to get through, but I have a few of them I wanted to play, so why not. It began with 'The Wind Waker' in 2019 and I'd long wanted to replay 'Majora's Mask,' plus 'Four Swords' had never been completed and 'Twilight Princess' was ripe for a return after more than a decade since I first played it, as well as the 'newest' instalment I came to own on the Wii ('Skyward Sword'), which I've never played before, and I like to have a series to play once a year, just as I did with the 'Cube 'Need For Speed' games. ****
January - November: UFO: Enemy Unknown (1993, Amiga 1200) - Not quite as assiduous in my consistency with this one as I have been in the past (for eighteen years now!), but I still enjoy it and play it a little most weeks, continuing a file begun in 2005. Next year (2022), in October marks twenty years of regular playing (the first file was lost in '05), so I'll definitely be playing this at least until that time, then perhaps I'll complete it… *****
January - December: Wii Sports (2006, Wii) -
Although I occasionally play a bit of Tennis or Golf, the main draw is the Boxing as good exercise. But no matter what I did, every time I played, after coming in fresh and winning a couple of matches I'd get worse and worse, either winning by decision and still losing points, down to failing to win at all and not being able to make an impact. It was insulting how I'd drop down the points ranking and have to face inferior opposition I'd already beaten, and then lose to them, too! I don't know whether coming to it fresh was why I did well to begin with, but there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to how the remote and nunchuk responded, either not throwing punches or throwing punches when I wanted to defend, I don't know if it was me or the equipment (third party controllers). The worst thing was the lack of guidance - maybe it's supposed to be so simple you don't need any instruction, but although there is 'training' there's no actual mode where you learn how to do each punch, how to get in an uppercut or any of that and it was so disheartening, I always started in a good mood, full of energy, ready for some fun exercise, but left annoyed and frustrated - it should be the other way round and it was just angering. Until I worked out the 'formula': dodging CPU attacks until they made a big one and the slow-motion kicks in, then battering them in response, which was less fun, but boosted my score stratospherically, though I could still lose points even when winning matches if I let through too many punches or took too long to win. My crowning achievement came in December when I finally scored a Platinum on the punchbag training! ***
January - October: WSC Real 08 (2008, Wii) - Being into my snooker (and there's a lot of it on Freeview these days), I really wanted a 'modern' game to play, and since the length of a player's career (especially now), is so long, the majority of players in this game are still going today! But it is a game that requires consistent practice and dedication, almost as if you were taking up the real sport itself. I haven't yet committed myself to playing it properly as it can be rather disheartening, but playing two-player helped bring some enjoyment into it so that when I did go back to the single player career I was in a better frame of mind. But it will definitely mean long hours of practice and learning before I ever get to the point where I can master shots and do well, so one to work on. The pool's a bit easier and it was good to have the option for other ball games in there. ***
February - ?: Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum (2009, Wii) - The weakest game I've played on Wii: Even the boxing, so good in 'Wii Sports,' is reduced to a joyless Simon Says! Presentation is ugly. The controls aren't consistent - sometimes pressing left or right will choose an option, but moving the remote has no effect (as in at the end of a training session to pick the next activity), other times you have to use the little glove icon with the remote (as in flicking between lists of activities), you don't have a choice! And pressing B to go back doesn't work, so it's poorly designed. Most of the time you have to run, and it doesn't seem to make any difference how hard you run, you always go at the same speed, so there's no incentive to try harder. And the awful music at first seemed to have no 'off' option or to adjust the volume separately to Jillian's encouraging comments, though I worked it out in the end! The tips are often insultingly basic (although some aren't bad), common sense rather than any deep thought or experience being passed on. The graphics aren't very nice and the explanations on how to perform actions could be better, like if Jillian herself showed you what to do. Instead she's reserved for the occasional tip or message. Sometimes (such as during the pump handle rail car), the signal from the controller gets lost so you can't even finish the event! Doesn't inspire confidence in the product or make you want to come back for regular exercise, which is the whole point. I'd much rather play 'Wii Sports' for exercise and fun. It gets an extra star for being unique, but that's because I haven't played 'Wii Fitness' yet. **
March - April: Top Gear Rally (1997, N64) - Another good oldie that I had still to complete, left over from Christmas when I had it as backup in case of being stuck in 'Zelda.' I do like a car game, and especially the kind where you throw your vehicle around mud tracks. Made me almost break out 'Dakar 2,' except I vaguely remembered I didn't like that one so much. Took a while to complete, too, and was a reasonable challenge. ***
April - May: Star Trek Conquest (2007, Wii) - Surprise hit, more than functional, addictive turn-based strategy set in the Dominion War era of Trek, which happens to be my favourite. Build starships, take planets and fight aliens, its simple approach belies its strategically engaging nature and it just feels right, especially in the age of current Trek which just feels so wrong all the time. Downsides are no multiplayer to speak of (other than the simplistic arcade ship combat), and only one map, though the different difficulty levels and six alien races to play as kept me going for a good while. It's a game I'd definitely go back to because it's one of those rare things: a great game, and a great Trek feel. ****
May - August: The Settlers (1993, Amiga 1200) - I'd never written a proper review of what I've long considered the best game ever made. What made me want to get back into it all of a sudden (I certainly hadn't planned to), was playing 'Star Trek Conquest' and wanting an even more strategic experience than that game, so I found myself back on the Amiga, which I hadn't played it on in years, having previously used DOSBox for its capability of the maximum world size of eight (though inferior, washed out visuals and lesser sound), where my particular Amiga could only manage five. But that's just one of the many great things about this genuine all-time classic: it was designed to push any machine as far as it could go. It may sound quaint when you think it was all pixels and bright colours, but it really harnessed whatever machine it was on and showed intense levels of attention to detail, right down to the individual pixel. The beauty of that kind of art style was another of its many attributes, as was its simple, but evocative sound set - hearing the tweet of the birds, the lapping waves of lakes, the wind whistling over the mountains, the tap-tap of a construction worker building, the clank of the blacksmith's forge as he handmade the swords and shields required for a soldier. The difference between the chopping board of the butcher's abattoir compared to the hammering of the toolmaker or boatbuilder. The boiling of the iron smelter's pot, bubbling away, then the clang and conflict of knights in individual duel. That's another thing: everything was so politely done, knights patiently waiting their turn to prove themselves in battle against a foe, the carriers standing by until they could deposit their load at the flag marking the end of the path they travelled. Everything neat and tidy, yet also with that natural world feel of haphazardness. Trees scattered here, stone outcrops there, dead cattle in the desert, terrain sweeping up or sinking down. And amidst it all the ability to tame this landscape to your whim, but not too far. There was no industrial revolution here to concrete the grassy hills and you were encouraged just as much to plant trees sustainably to support wood production as to cut them down. On top of setting out the perfect village with the fastest, smoothest roads deeming the need to be aware of the contours of the land to ensure most efficient transport, the most important creation of a bond was the danger of losing it. At the same time, as I said in my review at the time, it did have a deadly glitch that after a time stopped you from storing any materials and making the game much harder to win. And occasionally failing during a save and losing my file… But into every game some rain must fall. *****
July: Freedom Fighters (2003, GameCube) - Oh dear, it's not often I give up on a game, but that was the case here after just one session. I didn't like the controls, it seemed very linear and dull and I didn't need something that was such an effort to get into. That's often the way starting a new game and perseverance usually pays off, that's why I often feel tired at the thought of starting something new. But this year I didn't have the patience, I needed games that were accessible. Another time I'll happily tackle a dull game, the fortitude to break through its outer shell ripened, and I'll probably go back to it at some future date. Then again, the older I get the more prudent it seems to only concentrate on the best games. *
September: Turok Evolution (2002, GameCube) - This was my big hope of the year, a game I had the fondest memories of playing and had been eager to return to sometime, having first played it in 2009 and greatly enjoyed it. Expectations may have been a little over-inflated as I wasn't quite as impressed this time, though it was still a favourable one, and varied. Well worth my while. ***
October - December: Super Mario Galaxy (2007, Wii) - The big one. What could be bigger than a Mario game on a Nintendo console? Few. Not quite the truly great experience I'd expected, but still good, it taught me that although I love a specific kind of 3D platform game, 2D A-B progression isn't in the same league. It was most certainly a challenge, though not always for the right reasons: frustrating controls, frustrating changing situations, some platforms you can walk under, others drop you into a black hole of death. Not the beautiful, involved 'Banjo-Kazooie' worlds, more about fiddly platforming. Camera problems - sometimes it forces you to play in a 2D manner which seems counterintuitive in the most 3D game ever made. I want immediate control to switch the camera behind me or circle it manually at any moment, but that control is severely lacking. At the same time it is very clever and innovative - perhaps the first truly '3D' game with full gravity shifting and 'worlds,' but I could have done with larger ones. In the end I came away knowing I'd like to play the sequel, but that I'm not in a particular hurry. It showed up the limitations of Wii controls, with them and the game conforming to the hardware rather than the hardware being designed for the game, and I feel the whole game could have been played with a standard Controller except for the occasional mini-games. ***
December: The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (2005, GameCube) - It was a 'Zelda' game I'd never played and I hadn't missed much. True, it was really meant for multiplayer mayhem, one of the very few titles to allow multiple Game Boy Advances (remember that powerhouse of portable gaming?), to connect, and it was somewhat fun to see connections to other games in the series (Malon and Talon of Lon Lon Ranch; Kakariko Village; Dampé), but I'd have preferred to see 2D versions of those locations instead of environments that didn't correspond, except in name. Because it was designed as a game to dive into for a set level, you can't carry anything over so everything is very self-contained and each level is like a part of a 'Zelda' experience: the dungeon; the village; the linking world section. It doesn't give you that complete game and as such has a lot less sense of progression and achievement. It looks and sounds nice and it's fun to have a 2D 'Zelda' free from the confines of the Game Boy screen, but it's not really a one-player experience that works all that well. **
Honourable mentions: 'Caesar II' (just one go in May, and it obviously didn't stick, a DOSBox game, which might explain why I never approached any others); 'Mario Kart: Double Dash'/'WSC Real 08' multiplayer in July; and more multiplayer 'Wii Sports'/'Burnout 2' in August; and in December: 'Spin Crisis' (a demo of only eight levels on MacBook that was simple, only two buttons to control, but full of ideas and with good music - just like those old Commodore or Amiga games of yore: ***), and another demo, 'Hotel' (also on MacBook, atmospheric point-and-click that looked promising with nice graphical design and sound and the usual sort of puzzles, except for the occult addition to the story, so I wouldn't have played on anyway, even had it not been a demo: ***).
Next Year - I aimed to move on from N64 after celebrating it quite a lot in 2019 as that marked twenty years of owning it, but it still played a big part in 2020. But I did get more involved in Wii gaming, both long and short form, though I failed to bring the Amiga 1500 back into the light, or play a single DOSBox title, sticking to known quantities in a year of unknown ones, so in 2021 I'd like to:
- Put 'Metroid Prime 3' at the top of my Wii play list.
- And the next Christmas 'Zelda' for 'Cube ('Twilight Princess').
- My last N64 game I've not yet played ('Top Gear Overdrive').
- More Amiga games, or at least 'Soccer Kid.'
- One DOSBox entry, surely!
- I'm just finishing the last NGamer issue I own after years of reading Nintendo magazines from the past.
Happy New Year!
Tuesday, 15 December 2020
Common Ground
DVD, Stargate Atlantis S3 (Common Ground)
Genii episodes were never stories I found that enjoyable, mainly because they aren't an interesting race with their dull uniforms and backwards technology, and the main villain, Kolya, was a good example of that. If they want to bring back a Genii then I'd rather have Colm Meaney than Robert Davi (though I can't remember if Meaney's character was said to have been killed). The (almost) saving grace of this instalment were the interactions between Sheppard and a similarly captive Wraith, a strange bond developing through their shared incarceration and interdependency: the Wraith is used as a torture device to drain Sheppard's life in front of a transmission back to Atlantis and unless Weir hands over Kolya's former associate, now leader of the Genii, he'll allow this Wraith to go all the way. Although I say that was the most interesting part, it's still a fairly superficial exploration of human/Wraith harmony, they're forced to rely on each to escape and they keep up their end of the deal, but at the same time we don't really learn that much about the villainous species since they do prefer to keep them a bit of an unsympathetic threat in the same way that the Goa'uld were usually portrayed as cartoonish savages intent on violence rather than a fully dimensional group with minds of their own. When you're used to Trek and its multifaceted depictions of alien adversaries it's a big step backward when you see most sci-fi display a simplistic version of Evil Alien.
Not that the worst races in Trek were necessarily redeemed, but there were always examples, individuals, who had more to them than simply enmity, and this Wraith, whom we didn't even learn the name of, was close to being a character like that. If the Genii are one weakness across 'Atlantis,' then another is shared with the majority across all genre TV: old age makeup, which is exactly what I had a problem with in Sheppard's sucked-out look: why isn't his hair all white or fallen out? The trouble with portraying advanced age on a character is that they have to add a layer when if you look at real age it's usually about a thinning of the skin and hair, a sagging of the eye sockets, not just the addition of wrinkles, and we know what it looks like too well for a makeup or prosthetic to seem right. The best course is to get an old actor in to play that part of the role as they did so effectively in the film 'Interstellar,' and they do the same thing here when the Wraith takes almost all the rest of Sheppard's life from him in order to have the energy to fight the rogue Genii forces searching for the pair.
Even earlier than that point I realised something would have to happen to de-age the affected Sheppard since he wasn't going to permanently sport the look of a man with twenty years taken off his lifespan, though I was expecting it to be some medical marvel from Dr. Beckett. Instead we find out that Wraith have the ability to transfer life into their victims if they choose, though they only do so in exceptional circumstances, as for a brother, though we've never seen it happen before. There was some warmth in that moment but it was too little to really make the episode stand out - in fact I was actually wondering while they were staggering through the forest, an aged Sheppard and a weak Wraith, why these creatures don't just drain the life out of animals? Surely that would be just as much energy as a human, and even if it was just a snack it would be something, right? It also didn't make sense that Sheppard, even if he were acting weaker than he really was, would be able to jump the two guards, fling them against the wall and throw them around when they made their jailbreak! And while I'm being critical I wasn't impressed that Kolya eluded capture once again to be a thorn in their side for yet another day in the future as he's hardly a standout enemy, even compared to former Lieutenant Ford or Michael the half-Wraith. They don't have any strong recurring villains, at least so far, but they'd better hurry up and get some soon or there won't be time for them to recur!
Not that The Wraith aren't suitable foes, but they're so generic and faceless, all alike (except for this particular one who sported some kind of black star tattoo on his cheek, presumably so we can spot him again in future), and more of a force of nature than something we can be sympathetic with, and I do prefer a sympathetic villain. They say a hero is only as strong as the villain he faces, but a villain with understandable motives makes that villain stronger and gives us something more to grapple with. There was the hint of a moral issue to tackle in whether they should hand over Ladon to his ex-boss to get Sheppard back, but it's never really considered. You'd think Weir might have given a go-ahead for a fake handover in which they pulled some kind of trick to double-cross what are basically terrorists, but there wasn't a sense of rising tension, it was just Weir in charge and almost everyone else being angry at Ladon, who seemed pretty reasonable and cooperative throughout when it would seem to make more sense to keep away from these angry human. So not the worst, but not the best story either, it makes me wish for something a bit more substantial.
**
Genii episodes were never stories I found that enjoyable, mainly because they aren't an interesting race with their dull uniforms and backwards technology, and the main villain, Kolya, was a good example of that. If they want to bring back a Genii then I'd rather have Colm Meaney than Robert Davi (though I can't remember if Meaney's character was said to have been killed). The (almost) saving grace of this instalment were the interactions between Sheppard and a similarly captive Wraith, a strange bond developing through their shared incarceration and interdependency: the Wraith is used as a torture device to drain Sheppard's life in front of a transmission back to Atlantis and unless Weir hands over Kolya's former associate, now leader of the Genii, he'll allow this Wraith to go all the way. Although I say that was the most interesting part, it's still a fairly superficial exploration of human/Wraith harmony, they're forced to rely on each to escape and they keep up their end of the deal, but at the same time we don't really learn that much about the villainous species since they do prefer to keep them a bit of an unsympathetic threat in the same way that the Goa'uld were usually portrayed as cartoonish savages intent on violence rather than a fully dimensional group with minds of their own. When you're used to Trek and its multifaceted depictions of alien adversaries it's a big step backward when you see most sci-fi display a simplistic version of Evil Alien.
Not that the worst races in Trek were necessarily redeemed, but there were always examples, individuals, who had more to them than simply enmity, and this Wraith, whom we didn't even learn the name of, was close to being a character like that. If the Genii are one weakness across 'Atlantis,' then another is shared with the majority across all genre TV: old age makeup, which is exactly what I had a problem with in Sheppard's sucked-out look: why isn't his hair all white or fallen out? The trouble with portraying advanced age on a character is that they have to add a layer when if you look at real age it's usually about a thinning of the skin and hair, a sagging of the eye sockets, not just the addition of wrinkles, and we know what it looks like too well for a makeup or prosthetic to seem right. The best course is to get an old actor in to play that part of the role as they did so effectively in the film 'Interstellar,' and they do the same thing here when the Wraith takes almost all the rest of Sheppard's life from him in order to have the energy to fight the rogue Genii forces searching for the pair.
Even earlier than that point I realised something would have to happen to de-age the affected Sheppard since he wasn't going to permanently sport the look of a man with twenty years taken off his lifespan, though I was expecting it to be some medical marvel from Dr. Beckett. Instead we find out that Wraith have the ability to transfer life into their victims if they choose, though they only do so in exceptional circumstances, as for a brother, though we've never seen it happen before. There was some warmth in that moment but it was too little to really make the episode stand out - in fact I was actually wondering while they were staggering through the forest, an aged Sheppard and a weak Wraith, why these creatures don't just drain the life out of animals? Surely that would be just as much energy as a human, and even if it was just a snack it would be something, right? It also didn't make sense that Sheppard, even if he were acting weaker than he really was, would be able to jump the two guards, fling them against the wall and throw them around when they made their jailbreak! And while I'm being critical I wasn't impressed that Kolya eluded capture once again to be a thorn in their side for yet another day in the future as he's hardly a standout enemy, even compared to former Lieutenant Ford or Michael the half-Wraith. They don't have any strong recurring villains, at least so far, but they'd better hurry up and get some soon or there won't be time for them to recur!
Not that The Wraith aren't suitable foes, but they're so generic and faceless, all alike (except for this particular one who sported some kind of black star tattoo on his cheek, presumably so we can spot him again in future), and more of a force of nature than something we can be sympathetic with, and I do prefer a sympathetic villain. They say a hero is only as strong as the villain he faces, but a villain with understandable motives makes that villain stronger and gives us something more to grapple with. There was the hint of a moral issue to tackle in whether they should hand over Ladon to his ex-boss to get Sheppard back, but it's never really considered. You'd think Weir might have given a go-ahead for a fake handover in which they pulled some kind of trick to double-cross what are basically terrorists, but there wasn't a sense of rising tension, it was just Weir in charge and almost everyone else being angry at Ladon, who seemed pretty reasonable and cooperative throughout when it would seem to make more sense to keep away from these angry human. So not the worst, but not the best story either, it makes me wish for something a bit more substantial.
**
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