Neglected Trek; "The Cloud Minders" Showcases The Best And Worst Of Star Trek

The Good: Good social message, Clever idea, Interesting characters, Plot
The Bad: Inconsistent acting and characterization, Science of the dilemma
The Basics: Deliciously campy and wonderfully socially conscious, "The Cloud Minders" exhibits the best (strong messages) and worst (campy acting, names) of Star Trek.


Every now and again, Star Trek" did an episode very right and still managed to create something that was campy. As a fan of Star Trek, it's a rare thing to be able to admit that the strengths of Star Trek are often mixed with a huge dollop of camp. Star Trek is an eclectic mix of extraordinarily dated and forever clever, astonishingly intelligent and evocative of wincing. Late in the third season of Star Trek, the series became dramatically inconsistent episode to episode. Perhaps one of the best examples of Star Trek being a contradicting mass of greatness and disappointing is "The Cloudminders."

The U.S.S. Enterprise arrives at the planet Ardana to pick up some ore and the landing party is attacked on the surface of the planet. Kirk and Spock are soon brought from the surface up to a floating city called Stratos City, where the aristocratic Stratos dwellers live. They meet with Plasus to get more of the ore (zienite) and soon it becomes apparent that the surface dwellers, the miners known as Troglytes, are kept as an underclass to service the Stratos dwellers. McCoy determines that the development of the Troglytes is retarded by a gas from the zienite and Captain Kirk decides he must intervene.

Right off the bat, "The Cloud Minders" is obvious in almost every way. The social message here is not even being hidden. There is an overclass, living above the planet, in a city called Stratos. The workers, living below, are called Troglytes (to the credit of the writers, they didn't just call them "troglodytes"). This is an obvious class struggle episode and Captain Kirk's position is equally obvious; there must be equality between workers and those who control the mines.

It always amuses me when I hear that someone like Rush Limbaugh likes Star Trek.

Yes, "The Cloudminders" comes down pretty firmly on the side of worker's rights in the form of rigorous health and safety standards. When the crew of the Enterprise realizes that the zienite emits a gas that makes those who inhale it more prone to violence, irrationality and anger, Kirk forces the leader of Stratos City, Plasus, to work in the mines and inhale the gas until he basically goes insane. Way to go, Captain Kirk.

The message of the episode is honorable and well - if obviously - presented. Conversely, this is one of the few episodes where the guest stars trump the regular actors. Actor Jeff Corey plays Plasus and he is forced to deliver all of the stereotypical classist lines about how the Troglytes are inferior, etc. Corey has the bearing and dignity that instantly establishes him as a credible leader of Stratos City. No matter the terribly prejudiced ideas that Plasus vocalizes, we never doubt his place in the hierarchy; Corey so instantly sells the viewer on the idea that he is the man in charge.

Similarly, Charlene Polite as the Troglyte Vanna is pretty wonderful. She is convincingly angry as an worker who has been subjugated. Her performance uses a lot of body language - particularly seething with her eyes - and she does that quite well.

Conversely, this episode has one of the most over-the-top crazy performances by William Shatner. Even before his character is supposed to be effected by the invisible gas, Shatner is bugging his eyes out and talking in the broken speech pattern that is so readily parodied these days. And when it comes time for him to play crazy, he's ridiculous.

Leonard Nimoy's performance in "The Cloud Minders" is hard to judge; Spock's character is remarkably inconsistent in this episode. Logical one moment, flirting with Plasus's daughter (thank you, 1960s costume designs!) the next, Spock is very much out of character here. At least, they don't try to disguise his talking sweet to Droxine as some spatial phenomenon or disease. Nope, here Spock is just getting amorous.

Of course, that's completely out of character for Spock. That that returns to the concept of how "The Cloudminders" works as the best and worst of Star Trek; because the show sometimes made the message of an episode the priority, it sacrificed continuity and character development in order to make a statement. In "The Cloud Minders," writers Margaret Armen, Oliver Crawford, and David Gerrold prioritize making a statement about workplace safety above the continuity of the series.

Good thing it's a good message. It's all that saves this inconsistent episode. Probably stronger for the non-fan than those who religiously followed Star Trek.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek - The Complete Third Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the third and final season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

5/10

For other Star Trek episode and movie reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2010, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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A One Idea Episode: Captain Kirk As Typhoid Mary In "The Mark Of Gideon!"

The Good: Basic idea is marginally clever, Moments of performance
The Bad: No character development, Dull as dirt b-plot, Baffling sensibility, Context in the series
The Basics: When Kirk goes missing and finds himself on a duplicate Enterprise devoid of people, Spock looks for him and the audience gets bored.


Every now and then, episodic television gets itself into a serious problem; it makes anyone who looks at the body of work step back and realize that the overall story does not work. Because episodic television essentially restarts with each episode and there is no continuing storyline, every writer and director who contributes brings their own ideas to the project. The result is sometimes brilliant, but more often than not, the simplest, one-trick pony idea can completely gut the big picture of a television series. "The Mark Of Gideon" does that for Star Trek.

The U.S.S. Enterprise arrives at Gideon, a reclusive planet that is suffering from massive overpopulation. The ruling council of Gideon requests that Captain Kirk beam down to their planet and soon thereafter, they contact the Enterprise to repeat their request. The problem is that Kirk beamed down from the Enterprise, but materialized on the Enterprise! He finds himself alone aboard his starship, baffled at the lack of a crew. Searching the ship, he finds Odona, a naive young woman who does not understand where she is. She and Kirk work to figure out what happened to Kirk's crew, getting closer in the process. Meanwhile, Spock, Scotty and McCoy desperately try to locate the captain without violating the sanctity of Gideon's planetary laws. At the mercy of the ruling council of Gideon, Spock tries his hand at diplomacy.

Evaluating this episode becomes virtually impossible without discussing what the episode is actually about. If you want to be surprised but have a review that is not terribly helpful for making the decision of whether or not to pick up this episode, then the review has to end here. For everyone else . . .

Getting Kirk and Odona together is the whole point of this episode and it is a machination orchestrated by the Gideon Ruling Council for one reason. Kudos to the Council for knowing how easily Kirk will get with a hot blonde! Kudos as well for them knowing that he is a carrier of Vegan choriomenengitis, a lethal disease that the Federation can cure. As a carrier, though, Kirk is still able to spread the disease. Yes, here we learn that our man Kirk has an STD. Kinda' takes the heroism out of him and his casual sex, doesn't it?

But wait! (I hear you cry) Doesn't that mean . . . Yes, Kirk is happily spreading a lethal STD every time he has sex. Now, this is episode 72 and if we assume that Kirk practices safe sex whenever possible and that StarFleet officers he's had sex with over the years were inoculated instantly after their encounters (or protected from it to begin with, sensitive guy that Kirk is) that still leaves a pretty sizable population that Kirk must have infected before now. After all, in "Bread And Circuses," he is stripped of all his belongings before he hooks up with Drusilla, if he and Edith Keeler actually got that far it becomes even more essential she died, and just a few episodes ago, poor Deela was trying to use Kirk to repopulate her people in "Wink Of An Eye" (click here for that review)! Did Kirk really stick it to her?! But Kirk being a bearer of a lethal STD is most problematic in "The Paradise Syndrome" (click here for that review!) where Kirk impregnated Miramanee. Witnessing just how fast the disease has an effect on Odona in this episode, it's inconceivable that Miramanee would have survived the months she did!

This is why I hate episodic television.

Interestingly enough, the only woman Kirk has a relationship with after this one (and it's not sexual) in the series is a robot, so maybe this was his wake-up call.

The tremendously bad idea that sold this episode looks ridiculous in the context of Star Trek. Had it been a less promiscuous character, it would have been fine. Scotty, for example, or Uhura would have been better choices. Heck, Chekov has only been with one woman in the series at this point and she disappeared abruptly after one episode, so he would have been a great candidate for it. "Mark Of Gideon" fails because Star Trek is obsessively devoted to telling stories about Captain Kirk or Mr. Spock.

The further problem is that there's no character development for a large portion of the episode. Captain Kirk wanders the empty Enterprise and nothing happens. As soon as he and Odona meet, after a brief period of suspicion, he's all about giving her comfort . . . which is more within the bounds of his established character than actual character growth.

The b-plot with Spock is closer to growth, though the growth does not occur within this episode. Spock and Scotty present several painful scenes where they try to negotiate with the Gideon Council to try to find out what happened to Captain Kirk and where he ended up. Unfortunately for all concerned parties, Spock is met with diplomatic double-talk and a series of complex negotiations while the Gideons stall, conduct their own investigation and evoke their sovereign rights to keep intruders off their soil. Spock and Scotty end these exchanges with many frustrated words about diplomats and all they (usually do not) do. For a man of logic, Spock openly criticizing the diplomatic process is problematic at best, but it establishes a clear viewpoint for him. His character, therefore, grows when he is represented in Star Trek: The Next Generation as an ambassador in "Unification, Part II." But here, Spock and Scotty just complain.

And it's tiring to watch. Kirk wanders, Scotty and Spock are stonewalled, they complain, Kirk finds Odona and gets angry, Scotty and Spock are stonewalled, they complain, Kirk has sex with Odona (nothing terribly explicit, folks), Scotty and Spock are stonewalled, they complain, Odona begins to die, Scotty and Spock are stonewalled, they complain, Odona's still dying, Scotty and Spock are stonewalled, they complain, Odona's near death . . .

Yup, this is one of Star Trek's worst one-trick ponies and it seems like the cast and crew new it. Sure, it's not a bad mind that came up with, "What if a planet was so overpopulated that it needed STDs?!" But the answer is far from satisfying and given how painfully Odona seems to be dying, it seems especially cruel. But basically, once one knows that the whole point is for Kirk to infect Odona, the episode is just a long wait to the end. It's unbearable to watch a second time.

As a result, Nimoy plays Spock as uncharacteristically bored. Nimoy forgets to act with Vulcan cool and foregoes it for a presentation of his own apathy toward the story. Similarly, Shatner brings nothing special to his performance of Kirk either alone or with Odona. When Shatner phones it in, it shows and his performance is particularly lackluster.

Only Sharon Acker gives a good showing as Odona. She is young and enthusiastic and she brings those qualities to bear as the young woman sent to seduce Kirk. She is convincing as someone who seems to have no memory and she plays her delight at being able to roam the corridors of the Enterprise with startling realism. As well, she plays the portrayal of dying painfully in a way that is uncomfortable to watch. Yes, Acker's performance stands out and she truly shines.

But the one good idea and the one good performance are not enough to sell this episode that suffers dramatically from dragging out a story that is so simple it could have been a ten minute short film to get the point across. And there is something troubling about a series willing to make the rest of the episodes disturbingly messy as a result of simply creating one story!

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek - The Complete Third Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the third and final season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

4.5/10

For other Star Trek franchise reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2010, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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We Get It: Black And White, "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" Still Flops!

The Good: Great Message, Moments of acting
The Bad: Dull repetitive plot, No genuine character development, Most of the acting falls flat, Forced tension
The Basics: When the Enterprise is hijacked by white-black interethnic relations metaphors, the viewer is beaten over the head with a lesson on how alike we all are.


Sometimes television shows do not even attempt to be subtle. I tend to value shows that take real risks and speak truth to power and make a statement so strong people who see it will want to talk about that. The most recent example for me of something that was truly great and daring was the rant that began Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip. It was sharp, biting and called out the culture of television in the United States since the September 11th, 2001 attacks. It was a real risk to make the statement it made. It might have been a similar risk when Star Trek made a commentary on interethnic relations with its episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield," but what seems like it might have been an attempt at being subtle at the time now screams forth with a level of obviousness like Judd Hirsch standing on a stage railing about television.

The U.S.S. Enterprise is hunting down a stolen Federation shuttlecraft when it encounters what appears to be a unique alien with a hemispheric pigmentation differentiation. Half the beings body is white, the other half black. The Enterprise is soon joined by Bele, a law enforcer who is hunting Lokai (the other being) and Bele's color scheme is identical save that the white and black sides of his body are reversed in reference to Lokai. This single difference is the cause of hatred between Lokai and Bele which leads them to fight each other brutally, attempt to hijack the ship and make some of the most ridiculous arguments the galaxy has ever seen!

Star Trek, on its surface, appears to be a remarkably progressive series with an interethnic cast. The problem with the perception versus the reality is this: in its three seasons, there are only three regular cast members, all white males. There are four recurring guest stars relegated to the closing credits as "Also starring:" two white males, a black woman and an Asian man. My point with this is that even though the show is supplemented with two people of color, they are by no means treated - characters or actors - as vital components of the series. Star Trek was always the story of Kirk and/or Spock with Dr. McCoy thrown in. The others were very much second tier in terms of story, character development and opportunities for actors to shine.

So while different ethnicities had appearance on Star Trek, they were not given parity. "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" seems to be the lame attempt to make up for that. The basic argument is the most obvious and liberal argument that can be made (then or now): skin color is simply a phenotype that does not represent anything significant in terms of intelligence, ability or fundamental biology. It is the most clearly available way to differentiate people, but it often lumps people together in ways that compel them to deny their common traits, interests and (here on Earth) humanity. With Bele and Lokai being obsessed with which side of the body is black, they make a fair hyperbole that resonates with viewers even today. The conflict between Lokai and Bele seems forced and stupid when reduced to such terms and this is an obvious, if overstated premise in "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield."

It is also the only aspect of the episode that consistently works. The idea is so simple that once it is presented, it is repeated frequently and it leaves the episode with a great deal of time to kill between the establishment of the thematic premise and the resolution to the episode. The problem with what comes in between is that it feels like filler. So, once Bele and Lokai are aboard, they begin fighting. They fight, Kirk breaks them up, they fight some more, Kirk breaks them up, Bele then tries to hijack the ship to take Lokai back to their home planet of Cheron, Kirk spends a good few minutes preparing to destroy the ship rather than letting Bele succeed, the crew goes on a rescue mission to a plague-striken planet (which allows Lokai time to spread his message of enlightenment to the crew, he and Bele fight, Bele hijacks the ship and starts chasing Lokai around it. The episode degenerates into long shots of Bele and Lokai running. They run, run, run, run, . . . . yawn.

The episode gets tiring rather quickly and it "reads" like a one line pitch that got picked up but never fully developed. Writer Oliver Crawford stretches the theme that Lokai and Bele are more alike than dissimilar well beyond the point of being fresh or even interesting. Director Jud Taylor does the best he can with the mediocre script, including playing with camera moves like having a few high angle shots looking down to make the show a little more visually interesting, but ultimately, the script is so blase that it fails on too many levels to engage the viewer and hold them.

From the outset, we get it. The guy with black grease paint on the left side of his face hates the guy with black grease paint on the right side of his face and to anyone on the outside, it seems silly and overstated. The problem is, just as the characters find it ridiculous, so too do the viewers who tend to be pretty savvy anyway.

The actors seem to get that they are in a remarkably dull episode as well. William Shatner, in particular, gives one of his most listless performances as Captain Kirk. Usually a very physical actor, in this he is remarkably restrained and he seems bored, save in the scene where Kirk initiates the self-destruct sequence and when he first grasps the concept. With Shatner giving a mediocre performance, one hopes Leonard Nimoy or DeForest Kelley might pick up the slack, but each of them gives, at best standard performances in the portrayal of their characters.

This is an episode with no real character development from the principle characters and it rapidly becomes an episode about the aliens of the week. Bele and Lokai are established as characters with rather monolithic characterizations that they simply continue to repeat. Bele, played by Frank Gorshin - who was disturbing and memorable in his remarkably brief role in 12 Monkeys - is a simple lawman and he represents the conservative law, full of ethnic prejudice.

All that saves this episode from the complete dog house (other than the worthwhile thematic elements that white and black skin truly ought not to matter) is Lokai and the performance by Lou Antonio. Antonio is intriguing as Lokai and he presents him as a social crusader with very realistic emotions and intonations throughout the episode. He is sympathetic and compelling and he plays the determination of the oppressed well.

But the one good performance and the honorable theme do not make up for how direct and bland this episode ultimately is. The Star Trek franchise takes on interethnic relations and caste systems in other episodes (most directly with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's "Far Beyond The Stars") but here it is just too obvious and the lack of finesse makes it seem as amateurish as an after-school special. We want more than that from Star Trek.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek - The Complete Third Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the third and final season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

4/10

For other Star Trek reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2010, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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My Unhealthy Attachment To The Admittedly Campy "Wink Of An Eye!"

The Good: Interesting concept, Decent acting (in general), Fairly interesting characters
The Bad: Campy execution of effects, Inconsistent execution of science
The Basics: When Captain Kirk is accelerated beyond the speed of sight by aliens who want him to mate with them, he finds the prospect more dangerous than enjoyable!


As I have grown up and allegedly matured, I've come to reject the idea of "guilty pleasures." If something is good enough for me to like it, it's good enough for me to like it without associating shame based on what others might perceive it to be. As a result, some of the episodes of Star Trek that I find myself enjoying more than others shall not be referred to as my guilty pleasures. Episodes like "Wink Of An Eye" that I like in spite of itself, not because of any true tangible or relatable quality, but rather because it simply makes me happy to watch it, are not guilty pleasures. They are just plain fun.

The U.S.S. Enterprise arrives at Scalos, responding to a distress call from the last surviving members of the Scalosian race. A landing party beams down, but finds no one about and their instruments register no life forms, despite the Captain and others hearing an insect-like whine. When Crewman Compton abruptly disappears while McCoy is watching, the landing party returns to the Enterprise with something of a mystery on their hands. When ship systems begin to fail and alien devices appear aboard the Enterprise, Kirk and Spock fear the worst. This leads Kirk to treat himself to a cup of coffee, prompting him to disappear.

From his perspective, Kirk witnesses his officers moving at a ridiculously slow pace and he turns around to find himself facing a beautiful woman who admits she is responsible for the current predicament. She is Deela, the queen of the Scalosians and she's abducting the Enterprise to use its men as breeding stock because the Scalosian men are now all sterile. And they are all out of phase, moving at super speeds so fast that people in normal time cannot perceive them. This comes with certain risks, as Kirk soon discovers when he finds Compton, most notably the risk that comes with the super metabolism burning out a body if the skin is broken. Kirk, then, must find a way to stop the Scalosians from freezing the crew, do so without risking his skin - made more difficult by Deela's jealous lover, Rael - and find a way to return himself to normal movement/phase.

Yes, this is pretty much the 15 year-old's wet dream of choice; being the one man in the world who, ho-hum, must help repopulate a planet by having sex with a beautiful and authoritative queen. In fact, the episode was written by Arthur Heinemann and Gene L. Coon (under the pseudonym Lee Cronin), but all evidence points to the fact that both were older than fifteen when they wrote the story or teleplay for the piece. It's a somewhat silly idea and it is pretty obvious in many respects.

"Wink Of An Eye" works because the essential idea is a good one. A dying people lure unsuspecting people to their planet to mate with them to save their lives. It's actually kind of clever. And keeping the Enterprise crew frozen as a giant sperm bank in the sky, not a bad idea either, especially when it is revealed just how fragile humans are when they are even slightly damaged after being accelerated. Therefore, it actually makes sense that the Scalosians didn't just accelerate all the men. After all, with only a few women left and the desire to create a healthy gene pool, the biological diversity represented by the starship crew makes it too tempting a target to not take them all.

And even the acceleration thing is a pretty clever idea. It's a clever enough idea that the concept of beings moving at a different speed was used in Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Time's Arrow." The concept that there are beings coexisting with us now, moving at faster speeds is an intriguing one and one that makes one think about all those things we fail to see out the corner of our eyes . . .

And finally, Deela and the Scalosians work pretty well as characters. Deela is interesting and everything she needs to be to realistically be a seductress who is intent on taking over the Enterprise. Rael is a very understandable jealous male who feels obsolete based on his lack of fertility. Surprise! An episode of Star Trek working on a metaphoric level! But the metaphor works. Rael is a very realistic character who also embodies the psychological fear most men have about being replaced when their potency or fertility wanes.

And Deela and Rael are well performed. Jason Evers is decent as the seething Rael realistically infusing the character with a subtle and constant rage. Deela is performed by Kathie Brown, who seems to delight in both the power trip and the seductress qualities she brings to bear in the role. Brown works the gadgets her character uses in a fully convincing manner and she seems to delight in the scenes where she expresses concern or even some of her character's simple naivete. She and William Shatner have decent on-screen chemistry and she and Evers play off one another well as two people who seem like they could have once had a thing together.

But guest actor Geoffrey Binney is just terrible as Crewman Compton. Aboard the Enterprise after his character's change, he delivers his lines with a terrible stiffness and his scenes are painful to watch. His character cannot be killed quick enough for the viewer. The rest of the cast performs well, though none of them give superlative performances, they all seem to take the plot and their place in it seriously.

But this is not a great episode for the primary characters. Spock makes a leap of faith for his love of Captain Kirk that would be incredible had the viewers not seen such risks before. Similarly, Dr. McCoy pulling a medical miracle out of his hat when he figured out the cause of the time accelerations is more par for the course than genuine character work.

What probably makes so many people uncomfortable about "Wink Of An Eye" is the special effects. Yes, it's campy, but to represent the speeding up of himself, Kirk sees everyone else moving far slower and Deela's initial appearance is simply indicated by a slanted camera shot, so viewers know everything is not quite right. Yeah, it's campy. It's making do with the limitations of the time.

And the concepts of the episode are woefully misapplied. Take, for example, the idea that Kirk, nor any of the other newly accelerated people may break their skin, lest they die. Kirk gets into a fistfight and is knocked around using force fields. But his skin, apparently, remains intact. And with the amount of time that it takes for Dr. McCoy to do his medical thing, a perceptive viewer would figure at least a day has passed in Kirk's accelerated frame of reference. How does he spend that time? Well, apparently having sex with Deela - there's a wonderful scene that ends with Deela and Kirk embracing and the next scene begins with him putting his boots back on! I'm not saying it's not possible, but for a man and woman to spend a whole day making love and not break any skin or blood vessels, that's just beyond suspension of disbelief! Well it is considering Deela looks satisfied!

The point here is that the science and the mechanics of the accelerated movement are dodgy at best and how the Scalosians actually get aboard the Enterprise (presumably they were beamed up, but how. . .) is a question deftly sidestepped within the episode. Should Star Trek fans demand more? Yes. But it's hard not to appreciate the simplicity and fun of it.

Who might like "Wink Of An Eye?" Anyone who likes science fiction will enjoy the premise, if not the execution. Young people will enjoy the simple plot with Kirk seducing the local alien woman because it's what she wants, though most adults and fans of drama in general are likely to be somewhat underwhelmed and unimpressed. People who do not take television seriously and enjoy suspending their disbelief will revel in this episode.

In the Star Trek pantheon, there may not be many episodes like that which I would consider fun episodes that may not be qualitatively truly great but I like anyway. But "Wink Of An Eye" certainly applies, as do Star Trek: The Next Generation's "The Price" and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's tribute to Tribbles with "Trials And Tribble-ations." People looking for the more fun - if not intellectually engaging end of science fiction might well enjoy checking those episodes - and this one - out!

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek - The Complete Third Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the third and final season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

6.5/10

For other Star Trek reviews, please click here to visit my index page!

© 2010, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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Indians In Space And Ancient Cultures That Protect Them: "The Paradise Syndrome!"

The Good: Moments of character, Essential plot, Most of the acting
The Bad: William Shatner's hammy overacting, Predictability
The Basics: Captain Kirk loses his memory, he finds himself on an alien world, thought of as a god by a tribe of Indians, including one woman he falls in love with.


There are few ethnic groups that Star Trek, or its many spin-offs have not dealt with and explored, at least peripherally. In fact, the only one that comes right to mind are the cultures of the Middle East. Yes, the Star Trek franchise is pretty much devoid of "Iraqis In Space." One of the more obscure groups to receive treatment on television that Star Trek paid attention to were the Native American Indians. While they were referenced in Star Trek The Next Generation, shown in Star Trek Deep Space Nine, and intended to be a much bigger part of Star Trek: Voyager, the trend of making sure they were included in the Star Trek universe began in the Star Trek episode "The Paradise Syndrome."

The USS Enterprise arrives at an Earth-like planet that features a race of people who appear to be a conglomeration of various North American Indians living a simple life with no idea that Kirk, Spock and McCoy have beamed down. They are also ignorant of the significance of an obelisk nearby. Ancient and powerful, the alien "temple" is a novelty to them, but Kirk believes it to be significant in the Enterprise's mission, which is to stop an asteroid that is headed for the planet. Kirk, unfortunately, falls into the obelisk, has his memory erased and is abandoned by McCoy and Spock who have to go to destroy the asteroid before it becomes an impossible task. Kirk, however, awakens and stumbles out of the obelisk when they leave and he encounters Miramanee, a priestess who believes Kirk is someone else. Under the new name Kirok, Kirk begins his new life as an Indian while Spock and the Enterprise try to destroy the approaching asteroid. Of course, Kirok and Miramanee fall in love and that love is beset with tragedy as Spock and the Enterprise return.

"The Paradise Syndrome" has some interesting moments of concept. While Kirk is presumed to be a god by the tribe, he retains enough identity to know that he is not (and interesting character implication at the very least). However, when a plot convenient drowned child leads Kirok to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, the tribe is convinced Kirok must be a god. It's a surprisingly clever observation that techniques one culture takes for granted might well be viewed as extraordinary in another.

Similarly, the notion of losing identity is nothing new to television stories. In "The Paradise Syndrome," it is pulled off well because of the level of immersion Kirk is subjected to. Here a character pretty much stops searching for any other identity and accepts that they are a part of the very different place and circumstances they find themselves in. That's refreshing to watch, even by today's standards.

But what is conceptually the most clever is the idea behind the episode in relation to the race known as The Preservers. Mentioned for the first time in "The Paradise Syndrome," the Preservers are a race in Star Trek used as the "out" for why all of the alien races look similar. Here, they are introduced as a legendary race who took valuable cultures and tried to make sure they were, well, preserved. So, fearing the incursions of the white man on the Native culture, the Preservers presumably moved some of the Indians to this distant planet. We can buy that. The clever aspect that no one has truly duplicated since is the idea that because the planet they are moved to is plagued by asteroid collisions, the Preservers must leave something (the obelisk) behind to protect them. It's clever, the idea of having a savior so far-sighted and yet to have a problem with that as well.

The characters work well in "The Paradise Syndrome," especially the relationship and conflict between Spock and McCoy. By this point in the series, the writers have a pretty strong handle on the Spock/McCoy reason vs. logic relationship and in "The Paradise Syndrome," writer Margaret Armen plays that conflict quite well. Spock is able to appeal to McCoy's sense of emotionalism to make his argument by coherently illustrating how difficult it is to destroy the incoming asteroid. The logic of abandoning Kirk and trying to save the planet makes perfect sense and McCoy's hotheadedness fades reasonably. The two play off one another well as characters.

Part of the reason for that is that actors Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley have a great on-screen chemistry. Nimoy is able to make virtually anything sound reasonable and Kelley is wonderful at portraying raw emotion. In this episode, the guest stars who play the tribe on the planet are all pretty impressive.

Notable among them is Sabrina Scharf, who plays Miramanee. Scharf manages to play a strong woman without ever appearing limited by the role. She plays a character who is supposed to be somewhat less evolved technologically and in the ability to conceptualize and she does it in a way that the viewer never feels like she is insulting the viewer or the culture she is portraying. More than just a hot chick of the week, Scharf adds substance to Miramanee that makes her seem like she would be a fitting partner for Kirok, if not Captain Kirk.

In fact, one of the few detractions from "The Paradise Syndrome" is the acting of William Shatner. As Kirok, Shatner seems to believe he has license to go over-the-top with his performance and through much of the episode, he seems silly.

It's not enough to sink this piece, though. Instead, "The Paradise Syndrome" stacks up as one of the better episodes of the third season and an overall decent story for any viewer. One need not know Star Trek to be able to appreciate the amnesia/identity story this episode presents.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek - The Complete Third Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the third and final season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

7.5/10

For other Star Trek episode and movie reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2010, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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