The Best Of The Absolute Worst: "Spock's Brain" Is Pure, Pleasant Camp!

The Good: Acting
The Bad: Virtually everything else
The Basics: Terrible, just terrible, but it forces Trekkers to have a sense of humor. It's hard not to love "Spock's Brain."


I am a serious reviewer and a very serious fan of the Star Trek franchise. As those reading my many reviews realize, I have a pretty high set of standards and I try to be consistent with those standards. Even so, once in a while I have an exception to the rule. The product that is defying the ratings system tonight is "Spock's Brain," one of the episodes of Star Trek that serves as the perfect counterargument to any serious Star Trek fan. In short, it's impossible to talk about how truly great Star Trek was without acknowledging the camp value some episodes had. The camp quality of "Spock's Brain" is undeniable. I mean it, it cannot be denied.

The U.S.S. Enterprise is cruising along through space when it encounters a small ship. Aboard beams a woman who knocks out the crew using buttons on her bracelet. The crew awakens a short time later, but Dr. McCoy quickly calls Captain Kirk down from the bridge. Spock is in Sickbay, near death, his brain missing. Yes, chicky from another world stole Spock's brain. So, the Enterprise goes searching, I kid you not, for Spock's brain.

Of course, the Enterprise crew finds the brain. It's underground on a planet where the men live on the surface as big, dumb barbarians, and the women live below ground in sophisticated cities that they've forgotten how to run. The women there are pretty much as dumb as posts. So, how did Kara (the abductor of the brain) extract Spock's massive brain? There is, in the city, the ultimate plot-convenient device cleverly known as the Teacher, which is the repository of all knowledge on the planet. It transfers the knowledge to Kara, but the knowledge fades.

Wow, I hate to even think of the social message in this episode. Sure, there's the obvious "people become too dependent on technology they forget how to be human" idea. Certainly there's a gender equality issue, but mostly, it's a stupid episode about a planet of moronic men, dumb women (though, hey, they look good in their go-go boots!) and the Enterprise crew that is forced to deal with the ridiculous concept of the episode without ever just shaking their heads in dismay and quitting the show. People talk about how it was a miracle that Star Trek got a third season, I say it's amazing they aired any more of it considering this was the season premiere!

This episode has the camp value which is the Star Trek equivalent of Surf Nazis Must Die, something so outrageously bad that it's fun to watch from time to time just to think "Wow, these people got paid to make this!" "Spock's Brain" is indirectly referenced in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Magnificent Ferengi" when a character is killed and his body is manipulated a la Spock's brainless body in this episode.

The body of Spock is driven around throughout the episode by remote control, ironically in the hands of Dr. McCoy. That's almost clever, having the body mobile, but it's mostly just campy and laughable.

What is not laughable in "Spock's Brain" is the acting. Everyone here brings their a-game to the effort. Marj Dusay crying out "Brain and brain! What is brain?!" is classic. That she delivered all of her lines without ever looking disgusted at how much of an imbecile her character was is a true testament to quality acting.

Similarly, DeForest Kelley must sell the audience on the plausibility of Spock being alive without a brain. As Dr. McCoy, Kelley creates a serious aura about the events that almost make the whole event sound credible. His acting at the climax of the episode is impressive in the way he portrays serious surgical determination. Kelley earns his starring credit (he was not a star of the show the first season!) with playing McCoy as serious as he does throughout this episode.

But it is Leonard Nimoy who should have won an award for "Spock's Brain." Nimoy must walk around without any affect the entire episode and he pulls it off. Unlike his usual "I'm not emotional, but I'll prove it with a glow from my eyes and subtle wry expression" Vulcan cool, here Nimoy must portray utter vacancy and he pulls it off admirably. Anyone who says Spock is sexy, which granted he is most of the time, should be subjected to "Spock's Brain" as a counterargument. There's nothing sexy about Nimoy's dead-eyed stare throughout this episode.

This should be a two or three out of ten, but I'm putting it up at four for the camp value. "Spock's Brain" is essential for every fan of the Star Trek franchise. It's also essential for all the jerks who pick on Star Trek fans; if you're going to say "Yeah, what about 'Spock's Brain?' That's a pretty stupid episode," you ought to see it at least once.

[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!

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



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"Assignment: Earth," The Pilot That Was Couched In Star Trek But Succeeds!

The Good: Good acting, Generally clever story, Intriguing plot, Thematic issues
The Bad: Theme is a false premise, Isis “character.”
The Basics: When Star Trek is co-opted for a pilot for another series, Kirk and Spock interfere in an enhanced human's efforts to save the '60's!


Gene Roddenberry, the creator and executive producer of Star Trek, was a man who was not a one-trick pony. Instead of being happy with the modest success of Star Trek, as the popularity of the series was reaching its peak in the second season, he was looking for the next big thing that he could create. He had an idea for a show, called “Assignment: Earth” and he decided that to effectively sell it (and probably to cut down on some of the initial expenses of making a pilot episode) he would combine it with Star Trek. The result is "Assignment: Earth," a Star Trek episode that explores the issues of the day in the late 1960s and makes for a fine episode of Star Trek, but was apparently not strong enough to sell to the networks!

The U.S.S. Enterprise has gone back in time to the late 1960s to try to learn how the people of that era survived the various threats to their existence. While in orbit, the ship accidentally intercepts a transporter beam coming from deep space. A man in a suit, holding a cat, beams aboard and is troubled by the presence of the Enterprise there. He reveals that he is Gary Seven, an agent from a far advanced world and a human. Kirk wants proof that his intentions are benevolent, but Gary Seven refuses to give him more information.

With the help of his cat, Isis, Gary Seven escapes down to Earth and Kirk and Spock reluctantly follow. While Gary Seven sets up an office with his flighty secretary, Roberta Lincoln, Kirk and Spock attempt to blend in and figure out what Gary Seven's mission is. It soon becomes clear that the futuristic agent's mission involves the testing of a new missile carrying a nuclear warhead, but whether Gary Seven has been sent to stop the test or start a nuclear war is a mystery that has Kirk and Spock racing to stop him!

"Assignment: Earth" is an interesting episode both as a pilot for a potential new series and as a Star Trek episode. As a Star Trek episode, it faces a few unique problems. The first is that the basic premise of the show is at odds with information presented in the episode. The Enterprise is back on a fact-finding mission which seems odd because of the dangers of time travel and the fact that they were back in the same era in the prior season's episode "Tomorrow Is Yesterday". If the Federation lacks historical records from the 1960s, this creates an interesting gap in history and despite all of the other temporal problems with Star Trek, this one is one that has remained rather consistent; a gap in the 1960s Earth history may be easily explained by the loss of records in the aftermath of World War III. In Star Trek: First Contact fans witness the effects of World War III and we gather there is much of civilization that has been lost or overrun. But in order to make "Assignment: Earth" work, Spock lists off various events that happen in the days around when the Enterprise is visiting. Perhaps you see the problem; you can't have both, the lack of information that makes it worth risking time travel for and enough information to know what is supposed to happen from events as specific and esoteric as a missile test!

As a pilot episode for a new series, the episode is problematic in that it becomes a part of the Star Trek pantheon. As a result, if "Assignment: Earth" did not directly deal with some of the established ideas from Star Trek, it would have sunk the series. So, for example, we know from "Space Seed" (click here for that review!) that Khan and his genetically engineered followers raised an army and dominated much of the Earth until they were stopped in the early 1990s. If "Assignment: Earth" did not address that, it would have seriously weakened its credibility . . . because it had been introduced as part of the same universe as "Star Trek."

That said, there is a lot to recommend "Assignment: Earth" as the freestanding Star Trek episode that it is. First is the concept of Gary Seven. Gary Seven is a human, abducted and raised elsewhere and returned to Earth with the mission of saving the world. Yeah, it's pretty clear that this episode might well have influenced the producers of The 4000! But Gary Seven himself is an intriguing character. Arriving at Earth armed only with a pen (it's not just a pen!), a cat (she's not just a cat!), and his wits, Gary Seven takes over an operation that has been compromised by the deaths of the previous agents. Gary Seven is efficient and dedicated in completing their mission.

More than that, Gary Seven is immediately established as a leader, an authority in what he is doing and a man of great competence. Indeed, he holds his own against virtually the entire Enterprise crew with little advantage outside his intelligence, Isis and his ability to knock people out with his pen. He is, as intended, a James Bond type hero and he is intriguing to watch and has a very cool sense of style to him.

Roberta Lincoln, the flighty secretary, is a decent sidekick to the cool, efficient and very in-tune Gary Seven. What makes her interesting is that she is basically the embodiment of the audience, a woman who is going through her normal daily routine when the extraordinary comes up and starts smacking her around. She is not very politically motivated and she is instantly suspicious of Gary Seven and his impressive futuristic technology. The two work as a mismatched pair that could only truly work on television!

And Kirk, Spock and the rest of the Enterprise crew are pretty much just along for the ride to complicate what is very much Gary Seven's adventure. Kirk and Spock debate about the motivations of Gary Seven, though the savvy viewer will figure out VERY early on whose side he is on. As a result, Kirk and Spock are captured in one of their few unhelpful roles where they hinder one who is in many ways their equal (or considering he works without a starship, possibly their better!).

Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner play their roles as Spock and Kirk much as they did during the prior time-travel adventure that put them on Earth in the past, "The City On The Edge Of Forever." They give us nothing new with their performances here, though they are not bad.

Roberta Lincoln is played by Teri Garr and she does a phenomenal job playing the archetypal "dumb blonde." Having seen her in other roles and hearing interviews with her, this is clearly an act and she plays it well. In one of her younger roles here, she is quite good a playing a late teen/early twentysomething woman who is interested, but not engaged until she is forced to be. Garr makes the role her own with a wide-eyed portrayal of Lincoln that is distinctive.

But it is Robert Lansing that rules the episode. As Gary Seven, Lansing is an efficient, if socially awkward character who has a physical role and a strong ability to emote using minimal body language. Much of the episode has Lansing as Gary Seven collecting facts, contemplating data and the camera lingers on him in a way that forces him to present the idea that Gary Seven is formulating conclusions and processing the information he has been given. It is easy to see how he might have carried the series had it been picked up. He has the leadership quality needed to frontrun a series and he pulls it off well.

Aspects of "Assignment: Earth" seem very dated, especially now. The concern with surviving the 1960s might have been very vital at the time, but is seems somewhat campy and overstated now. Every generation believes it might be the last, that it is standing at the verge of the apocalypse. As a result, "Assignment: Earth" resonates far less now and fans of Star Trek are left to wonder why the episode didn't take a daring leap and try to explore how humanity initiated and survived World War III!

"Assignment: Earth" is accessible to anyone who likes good action-adventure stories or historical dramas. It is a bit esoteric for most fans of science fiction, though the Star Trek component to it might make it easier for some to swallow.

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

7/10

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

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


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"By Any Other Name:" My Sentimental Attachment To A Simple Abduction Tale Started My Love Of Star Trek!

The Good: Decent acting, Good idea, Interesting characters, Humor
The Bad: Somewhat generic villains, Very simple plot
The Basics: In a truly intriguing episode of Star Trek, the Enterprise is commandeered by aliens from Andromeda whose use of human bodies might well be their undoing.


Our first time at anything is special and memorable and no matter how good or bad it is, we often find ourselves attached to it in a way that distorts our objectivity. I remember the evening I first saw my first episode of Star Trek. It was the summer before Star Trek: The Next Generation, I was visiting my mother for a week and she was at work and my brother was out in the neighborhood trying his first cigarette. We both became addicted that night. My brother must have spent thousands on cigarettes by now. I've spent tens of thousands on Star Trek. Sigh. My first episode was "By Any Other Name" and it's still lodged in my mind as one of the best episodes the original series ever did.

The Enterprise is lured to a distant planet where they encounter a small band of people who call themselves Kelvans. They freeze the landing party as a show of strength and explain their dilemma to Captain Kirk; they are the advanced scouting party of Kelvans from the Andromeda galaxy and they are ready to report back to their empire about the Milky Way's weaknesses so the Kelvans can invade. To do that, they need a ship (their having crashed on this world some time ago) and the cooperation of key crewmembers. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty are kept alive while the rest of the Enterprise crew is reduced to freeze-dried styrofoam-like blocks. The Enterprise leaves the galaxy and the quartet must thwart the aliens who have the ability and intent to destroy all they care about.

The episode hinges on the idea of identity, as the name of the episode might suggest. The Kelvans, having taken human form bear human weaknesses. When our intrepid heroes realize that, they have a viable method for combating the enemy and they do it quite well. The scene in which Scotty drinks his adversary under the table endures as one of Star Trek's most memorable. Strangely, McCoy's medicating another Kelvan does not seem to resonate with people as much, but Stewart Moss's portrayal of a neurotic Hanar is pretty wonderful.

This is Star Trek doing all of the things one expects from Star Trek. Captain Kirk is "forced" to seduce a beautiful woman. There is a villain that seems larger than life, but our heroes cut them down. And like Star Trek tries often to do, "By Any Other Name" exhibits a peaceful, considered solution instead of senseless violence. Reason is the key to defeating the Kelvans and here reason plays an important part in liberating the crew.

In short, "By Any Other Name" does not degenerate into a simple "kill the villain" storyline. Cunning is used to defeat the Kelvans, but compassion is used to achieve victory. Star Trek makes that distinction and it's refreshing to see a solution that comes with something other than the outright destruction of an adversary.

To be fair, though, the Kelvans are pretty generic villains. Appearing as humans, for obvious budget reasons, Spock describes their natural appearance - thanks to a mind-touch - as gigantic, possessing many tentacles. It's a shame that the new "enhanced" digital version is unlikely to treat the viewer to a view of one. Interestingly, the Kelvans are referenced in Star Trek Deep Space Nine, where Worf mentions defeating one in hand-to-hand combat, though we never see them again.

Objectively, "By Any Other Name" contains some of the series' weaknesses, as well. Some of William Shatner's acting is a little over-the-top. As Kirk becomes frustrated with his crew being cut down by the Kelvans - transformed into inanimate objects who will not eat, drink, breathe or rebel on the long journey - he becomes frustrated and angry. This involves Shatner embodying an upset Kirk, which means there is pounding on a table and a lot of yelling. William Shatner adequately captures frustration and anger, but still his performance seems a bit much, especially in contrast to the understated performances of the guest actors.

The most notable of the guest performances is from Barbara Bouchet, who plays Kelinda. Bouchet's performance is critiqued by some as very stiff, but the character is intended to be. Kelinda is a Kelvan, masquerading as a human. As such, she is unfamiliar with human emotions, facial expressions and mannerisms. Bouchet adequately portrays that. Her performance IS stiff, awkward and inhuman and it fits the character perfectly.

What does not fit so well is the stupidity of the Kelvans. For an advanced race that is set to invade the galaxy, Kirk and his team take them out fairly easily. The idea that their humanity is a weakness is certainly a clever one, but as tacticians, the Kelvans seems somewhat dense. Honestly, given the level of technology the Kelvans employ, why do they need an engineer alive and awake? And Spock, useful as he is, is dwarfed by their intelligence. And Dr. McCoy could easily be reconstituted when there is a medical emergency, there's no reason to keep him awake and alert. Why would leader Rojan truly want the rebellious Captain Kirk functional for the trip? I mean, all he's going to do is organize the others and lead an insurgency . . .

On the subject of Rojan, the leader of the Kelvans is played by Warren Stevens and he gives a decent performance. More than simply a generic villain, Stevens embodies a leader, portraying a character that seems to have a very real sense of purpose and personality. Stevens manages to connote a backstory through the bearing he provides for Rojan. At the very least, he makes Rojan a compelling foil for Shatner's Kirk. Of course, Rojan cannot defeat Kirk, though Stevens gives a dramatic performance that rivals Shatner's.

Of course, without this flaw, there would not be an episode. Too brilliant the villain would prevent our heroes from being heroes. "By Any Other Name" is an episode where the crew of the Enterprise is actually heroic. The results make for good television. Indeed, seeing "By Any Other Name," it's easy to see why Star Trek was so successful. "By Any Other Name" is very accessible to anyone who has never seen Star Trek and, indeed, it may begin your lifelong appreciation of it.

I'm not sure if that's an endorsement or a cautionary warning.

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

8/10

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

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




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The Noble Concept Of "A Private Little War" Undermined By Execution!

The Good: Great idea, Wonderful moral, Fine plot
The Bad: Shaky character/cultural elements, Shaky performances by guest stars
The Basics: When Kirk and McCoy find themselves on a planet where the Klingons are arming half the populace to wipe out or enslave the other, they work to stay neutral.


The adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise in Star Trek were frequently thinly veiled social messages set in a science fiction setting. That works out just fine, though some of the stories then become dated as the decades pass. With “A Private Little War,” Star Trek was able to create an episode that allowed them to slip by the censors and make commentary on the Vietnam War and make something that would endure long after that bloodbath was over. Indeed, this episode of Star Trek holds up with its pacifist message even today, decades later, despite the original intent of the work.

The U.S.S. Enterprise journeys to a planet Captain Kirk had visited many years ago, which the Federation has some concerns about. Kirk, who became a blood brother to one of the natives, Tyree, beams down with Spock and McCoy to find medicinal herbs that McCoy is pretty thrilled about and in the process save Tyree from an ambush. Kirk is alarmed by this because the people leading the ambush are carrying flintlock rifles, which is far more advanced than where the people of Neural were when Kirk last visited. Spock, out of the picture from being shot, leaves Kirk and McCoy to their own devices, leading Kirk to get attacked by a Mugato, whose bite is quite poisonous.

Kirk is healed using tribal medicine by Tyree’s wife, Nona. Nona, it seems, is something of a witch doctor and the herbs she used to heal Kirk are rumored to possess great power over men. Kirk finds her less able to resist her advances, which is problematic because it seem the Klingons are the ones supplying half the people of Neural with the rifles to subjugate the other half. McCoy and Kirk, then, find themselves in the middle of a conflict where Kirk’s blood brother is on the losing side and the Prime Directive dictates that the Federation cannot intervene to save him. Unfortunately for Kirk, Nona wants guns and now that she has power over him, she might just get them!

“A Private Little War” is a wonderful idea, it is a morality play railing against the pervading “wisdom” of escalation. The episode takes a strong moral stance that war is wrong and more powerful bodies (in this case the Federation and the Klingons) have no place influencing less developed places, in this case Neural. The Vietnam allegory is pretty clear as Kirk is allied with the rural Hill People while the Klingons have built the technological center for producing flintlock rifles with the more urban villagers. Through the people of Neural, the Federation and Klingons look ready to duke it out without ever directly confronting one another.

But it has also got a wonderful timeless quality to it. McCoy rails against war in general, while Kirk reluctantly makes the argument that the ethical thing to do is create a balance of power by supplying the Hill People with weapons as well. Kirk is clearly uncomfortable with the idea of blood on his hands, but he is even more troubled by what it makes the Federation if they sit back and let the Hill People be slaughtered. It’s a troubling situation, but Kirk and McCoy present a classic argument or maintaining a balance of power through mutually assured destruction. It might be even more troubling to watch now, following the collapse of the Soviet Union as it does tend to make the viewer think about how close the world was to that very destruction that brinkmanship evokes.

The message is good, the execution of it leaves a little to be desired. The subplot with the Mugato (there are two over the course of the episode) undermines the purpose and potency of the strong moral argument by introducing the somewhat ridiculous mysticism into the episode. The whole Kirk/Nona thread with its supernatural elements guts the stark realism of the episode. Instead of being brutal and direct, “A Private Little War” becomes mired in its own metaphor. It’s not enough that Nona is vindictive and conniving, the viewer is asked to believe that the only real influence she can wield is through something resembling magic.

Now, I understand that the Hill People are supposed to be primitive, that the whole point of “A Private Little War” is that those who have power must not exert it over those who have none, but the dialect for the Hill People just seems ridiculous and vaguely offensive. They speak in a broken English and Tyree speaks slowly and in a way that connotes that he’s not quite all functioning on the mental front with any real skill or mental dexterity. Conversely, Nona and the villagers all seem far, far less dense. The unfortunate implication of this ends up being that pure pacifists (which Tyree is) are all morons. That’s a troubling message to send in an antiwar piece.

The only thing worse than the dialect is some of the acting. Nancy Kovack, who plays Nona, stands out as particularly stiff. She plays Nona with an unnatural quality and many of her lines are delivered with the actress keeping on a face of confusion, as if she were not quite sure what it was she was saying. She and actor Michael Whitney, who plays Tyree, have absolutely no onscreen chemistry, making it easier for the audience to believe that the Klingons could make such an incursion without the Federation noticing over the idea that their two characters actually had any backstory! They have an incredible stiffness to them - possibly due to the dialect they are asked to employ - that makes them seem like an absolutely improbable couple.

Conversely, DeForest Kelley gives one of the performances of his career. He might not have a lot of scenes, but the ones he does are absolutely wonderful. Kelley sits quietly watching for several scenes, then bursts out with one of the most memorable monologues he presents as Dr. McCoy on Star Trek. Erased is his character's cynicism in a wave of love that makes him demand the viewer concede his point. He truly is electric and one suspects he knew he was "on" in this episode because when called upon, he delivers and there is a hint of real energy and purpose in his eyes!

"A Private Little War" is accessible to any audience, not just science fiction fans. Indeed, this is another episode that works wonderfully for a general audience and is likely to be appreciated by anyone who likes a decent drama. Anyone who fights for peace will find something to take from this episode and those who do not might well be swayed by some of the points in it. But it's not a perfect episode, far from it. The mixing of the supernatural into it does weaken the reality of the piece and makes it seem somewhat dated.

Fortunately, the idea of taking a stand for peace never does.

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

7/10

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

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


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Star Trek's Most Comical Adversary To Date Returns With "I, Mudd!"

The Good: Well, the cast of Star Trek gets to mime . . . Moments of humor
The Bad: Ridiculous, Overdone plot, No real message, Nothing astonishing in character or acting
The Basics: When Harry Mudd returns, Star Trek recycles a plot used only a few episodes prior and manages to execute it even worse than before with "I, Mudd!"


It is only in my latest trip through the Star Trek seasons that I am truly catching some of the overwhelming themes and recurring bits. So, for example, I've been noticing more and more that Spock is characterized as logical and unemotional more by reputation than by how he actually acts. I've noticed that Eddie Paskey appears on the bridge as Lt. Leslie in almost as many episodes as George Takei does as Sulu. And I've noticed that no new technology appears on Star Trek without appearing overbearing, controlling or dehumanizing. The Enterprise takes on more computers and androids in its brief run than most series' ever do! The latest example, and one of the poorest, is "I, Mudd."

"I, Mudd" marks the return of Harcourt Fenton Mudd, the con man first seen in the first season episode "Mudd's Women" (click here for that review!). That episode might not have been all that great, but at least it had a message and a decent one. If anything, "Mudd's Women" promoted the positive idea that people do not need drugs to be happy and that beauty comes from within. Sure, it may sound hokey when put that way, but those themes are the only aspects of that episode that truly make it work in the lives of ordinary people.

The U.S.S. Enterprise takes on a bulky lieutenant in the sciences named Norman and shortly after Kirk expresses concerns about how he is (or is not) fitting in on the ship, Norman turns out to be an android. Norman hijacks the ship and takes it to a remote world where its crew is forced down to the palace/prison where Kirk learns he and his crew are now at the mercy of Harry Mudd. Mudd commands a legion of thousands of androids who exist to serve him. Mudd's plan includes taking the Enterprise away from the planet and stranding Kirk and his crew there. But when the androids con Mudd, Kirk must team with Harry Mudd to thwart the androids and get his ship back.

Wow, this is a stupid episode.

I wish I could leave it at that and still have this review be considered very helpful. Because all of the androids have numbers around their neck to indicate which one of the identical androids they are - like Alice 12, Alice 16 and John 8, John 927 - there is some debate among fans as to whether the title "I, Mudd" is a reference to Isaac Asimov's beloved novels "I, Robot" or if it is intended to be "Mudd One," as if Mudd had an android designation. It's pretty sad when one of the best things people can do to discuss an episode of Star Trek is nit-pick over the title. I suspect that is largely because most fans do not want to admit just how bad this episode is.

The majority of Star Trek's full ensemble cast performs a mime sequence in "I, Mudd." That troubles me. It's not that I have anything against mimes, it is simply that the sequence feels ridiculous and it feels that way largely because it is. This is all part of Captain Kirk's plan to thwart the androids by confounding them. By this point in the series, we have seen Kirk take on the robots and computers in exactly this way. Indeed, just a few episodes prior in "The Changeling" (click here for that review!) Kirk destroyed a robot using the exact same plan as he uses against the androids in this episode. Were people in the '60s really that dense that they didn't catch the show duplicating itself that close together? Or were they just that starved for television entertainment in color that they were happy to watch the same plot recast over and over again?

The problem with this particular recast is it is just plain silly. Star Trek has the ability to do humorous episodes, but what separates the two best humor episodes from the ones that fail (like "I, Mudd") is that there is a serious plot that works parallel to the humorous one. In this episode, everything is banked on the android plot and the humor (supposedly) of Harry Mudd having to work with the Enterprise crew.

The problem here is that Harry Mudd is a ridiculous adversary and he's completely the antithesis of empathetic as an ally. He is a con man and a parody of a swashbuckler or pirate to boot. He speaks with exaggerated vocal tones and he is very cartoonish. Yes, Harry Mudd is the living embodiment of a cartoon character in the Star Trek tradition. The thing is, as a fan of Star Trek, I expect the characters to conform to some semblance of adult behavior. I want my adults to be adults, not parodies that might amuse children. Harry Mudd is the ridiculous sent in to muss up the straightlaced crew of the Enterprise.

And we've seen that before from Mudd in his other appearance. Harry Mudd acts as an opportunist and swindler the first time we see him, this time he is a flat-out criminal and the viewer is expected to care about him when his plan goes sour. Given that Mudd has nothing genuinely useful to contribute even to the jailbreak effort, it is hard to care about him.

Furthermore, the androids that Mudd surrounds himself are the most shamefully stupid androids ever constructed. They become crippled by the Enterprise crewmembers acting irrationally. But it is how the "heroes" act irrationally that brings the episode into the range of ridiculous and just plain stupid. For example, two of the crew pretend to make a bomb out of thin air by simply pantomiming it and talking through what they are doing. This confounds the androids because they cannot see a bomb. And they are thwarted.

If it seems like I am belaboring how ridiculous and problematic the resolution of the episode is, there is a reason for that; the first act of the episode is wasted getting to the planet, the next act is wasted establishing Harry Mudd and having less-than-witty banter between Mudd and Kirk, the third act has Mudd stranding everyone and preparing to leave, and the last two acts find Mudd's plan thwarted by his own androids who simply live to serve him. After the build-up for the first three acts, the last act's execution where the androids are pretty effortlessly dispatched just makes the viewer feel like they have wasted their time on the earlier acts.

Roger Carmel returns to play Harry Mudd and he portrays him almost identically to how he played him in his first outing, as an over-the-top buffoon with aspirations to profit and survive whatever problems he has gotten himself into. Carmel does not truly stretch himself in the role, save to perform his part with a more physical comedy sensibility. Whereas his role in "Mudd's Women" began with him playing Mudd somewhat slimy and smarmy, here Carmel plays him with the most ridiculous affectations and gesticulations. Carmel seems like a vaudeville comic more than a television actor and it makes his character impossible to take seriously.

There is no character development among the main crew in "I, Mudd." They simply show up and go through the motions (much like the viewer does). Similarly, the acting yields nothing of note and most of the professionals who comprise the main cast and supporting cast of Star Trek come out of "I, Mudd" looking silly, like they are not part of an endeavor that strives to hold deeper meanings and engage its audience.

This episode fails and it is unlikely to entertain anyone who likes science fiction or comedy.

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

2.5/10

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

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


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Advent Of The Alternate Universe With Star Trek's "Mirror, Mirror!"

The Good: Great concept, Wonderful acting, Mood, Effects/Costumes, Character work
The Bad: You know what? None!
The Basics: When four members of the Enterprise crew end up in a ruthless alternate reality, they struggle to return home before being killed in a perfect episode of Star Trek!


In the history of television, there are very few series' that have more than one perfect episode. Indeed, there are a plethora of television series' where the show never even comes close to a perfect piece. Star Trek hits perfection a few times, but not as many as I might have thought before I began honestly reviewing them. And for me, the effects are not a big deal, so it's not like I'm advocating the Remastered versions of the episodes. But sometimes when I sit down to write these reviews, I write the pros and the cons and I realize that I've stumbled upon something that is of such enduring greatness that there are no cons. In television episodes, that means a perfect episode to me. With Star Trek, one of the few episodes I would classify as "perfect" would have to be "Mirror, Mirror."

"Mirror, Mirror" is a strong science fiction episode that allows many of the characters to exist as part of a twisted character study to help viewers realize who our heroes truly are . . . and what they could be if history had been far more cruel!

When the U.S.S. Enterprise visits the Halkan homeworld to negotiate for much needed ore, they meet resistance from the Halkan Council. The Halkans are extreme pacifists and will not allow their planet to support war by proxy, such that they refuse to sell their ore to the Federation because StarFleet cannot guarantee that their ore would never be used to take even a single life. Frustrated at his failure to get the ore, Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, and Uhura beam up through an ion storm that has come between the Enterprise and the Halkan planet.

The four officers beam aboard the Enterprise, the I.S.S. Enterprise, a starship populated by vicious killers, conniving backstabbers and corrupt mercenaries. They encounter First Officer Spock, the ruthlessly efficient second in command, who prepares to execute the Imperial Standing Order whenever resistance is met; he prepares to bomb Halkan cities. Kirk stalls for time while he, Scotty, McCoy and Uhura try to figure out where they are, what has happened and how to get back home. They soon reason that they have passed over into an alternate universe, a universe where officers advance by killing their superior officers and Kirk finds that Chekov and Sulu are chomping at the bit for promotions! Kirk and his team work to survive long enough - with the aid of the Captain's Woman, Marlena - to figure out how to get home, a prospect that looks dimmer with each passing moment!

"Mirror, Mirror" truly does go where Star Trek had not yet gone before this. The idea of other universes had not so much been discussed even and the illustration of one with this episode is intense and dark. This is an episode that, despite being high science fiction, is riveting and dramatic. It has a science fiction concept, an action-adventure sense of pace and tone, and a classic dramatic character exploration. And writer Jerome Bixby and director Marc Daniels pull it off masterfully!

The reason this episode is so popular - other than the very cool image of Spock with a goatee and a methodical attitude best suited to delivering pain - is that it very clearly and effectively establishes a strong sense of setting and characters. The Mirror Universe (as it is known in the canon) is a distinct place where things are opposite of how they are in our universe. As a result, the peaceful Federation is an oppressive Empire. Instead of promotions based on merit, they come at the point of a gun and the tip of a knife. And instead of loyalty, it's very much every man for himself.

But Bixby makes the episode far more complicated than that and while non-Trek fans may appreciate the reversals and the sense of place, it is the true fans that will get the most out of "Mirror, Mirror." Bixby is attentive to character and the reversals played with in the episode work because not all of them are in-your-face overt. So, for example, through seeing the avaricious and dangerous Security Chief Sulu, we come to understand that the Sulu we know seems very content with his place as chief helmsman and is generally one of the most reliable and safest crewmembers aboard the Enterprise. Similarly, Uhura in our universe - outside singing in the mess hall - is virtually a model of chastity (outside "The Man Trap," where we see her ideal man). In the alternate universe, to blend in, she has to play the vixen. The character twists are intriguing and often compelling. But more often than not, they help to reveal more about our principle characters than they would seem to at first glance.

It is worth noting that the costumes in this episode are the major special effect. The alternate universe uniforms are sexier for the women (hard to believe given how little they wear on the Enterprise!) and tighter and more regal for the men. The weaponry the characters all carry in the alternate universe has a wicked look to it and outside the notion of how the crewmembers transported to the alternate universe, but their clothes remained in the home universe, this episode is a masterwork of attention to detail. And on a visceral level, it just looks cool!

It is the acting that sells "Mirror, Mirror" to its full potential and this might well be the best ensemble work Star Trek does in the television series. People often tend to forget that Star Trek only starred William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and in two of the three seasons DeForest Kelley. Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), George Takei (Sulu), James Doohan (Scotty) and Walter Koenig (Chekov) were recurring and were billed in the closing credits as "Also Starring!" But here, each of the seven performers gets their moment. Indeed, while DeForest Kelley is largely ignored until a pivotal scene near the end and James Doohan and Leonard Nimoy essentially play their same characters (honestly, outside the goatee, Mirror Universe Spock is virtually identical to our Spock!), the others truly shine.

The truly notable performances come from Nichelle Nichols and George Takei. In the Mirror Universe, Sulu has his eye on Uhura and is happy to be unprofessionally frisky with her while Kirk and Spock are away from the bridge. Nichelle Nichols does a masterful job of playing Uhura first scared and then in control of her fear as she has to confront Sulu. Nichols emotes with her eyes and the entirety of her body language to make both of the performances distinctive, yet within character. And Takei, Takei manages to twist his good-natured smile into the most horrid leering smirk one might imagine to characterize the alternate universe Sulu even better than the scar the make-up department puts along his face.

And William Shatner delivers as Captain Kirk, though for the majority of the episode he is playing Kirk as a fish-out-of-water character trying to adapt to the new setting. Shatner's most impressive moments come when he acts opposite Barbara Luna, whose outing in Star Trek as Marlena is one of the more risque characters Star Trek created. Shatner and Luna have wonderful on-screen chemistry and they play their scenes of seduction and anger on just the right side of melodrama to make their characters distinctive.

"Mirror, Mirror" may well be a strong science fiction piece and work within the conceits of science fiction, but it is accessible to anyone and unless someone is rabidly against anything remotely creative, there is something for any adult to enjoy in this episode! It truly is one of the best episodes Star Trek did and it deserves to be enjoyed by all audiences.

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

10/10

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

© 2010, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Dodgy Premise Rocks "The Changeling"

The Good: Interesting idea, Moments of decent acting
The Bad: Nothing impressive or notable on the character front, Plot wears itself out quick
The Basics: With one simple idea, stretched out into an hour program, "The Changeling" pits Kirk and Spock against a robot bent on destroying imperfect people.


Every now and then, there was a Star Trek episode that was basically a very simple idea that was stretched out into a full hour and often those episodes stand apart, somewhat obvious as a simple idea that was pulled for all it was worth. Many of the episodes that are like that are the weaker ones of the series and "The Changeling" definitely fits that category.

The U.S.S. Enterprise is cruising through space toward a heavily populated solar system that is now lifeless. There they discover Nomad, a small floating robotic device that boards the ship and becomes convinced that Captain Kirk is its creator. It's mission, it declares, is to sterilize all imperfect life forms. As Nomad travels through the ship, it begins to eliminate imperfections and the silly little floating robot becomes deadly to all aboard.

This is one of those "simple problem, simple solution" episodes that is bothersome because the essential idea of it is clear and not bad, but also not enough to sustain an entire hour episode with. No, this is a simple idea by writer John Meredyth Lucas, who apparently sat down one day and said, "It would be neat if there was one robot that had a mission to seek out life and another robot that was sent out to sterilize problems it found and the two collided and their missions merged. Gosh that would be clever. I'll write it as a Star Trek episode." The problem, of course, being that that's it. That's the ballgame. That's all he wrote. Everything else in the episode is built around servicing that concept and it's not enough to build an episode around.

Certainly, there are moments that are intriguing enough. Nomad is a cool enough looking robot and the idea is pretty cool. It's fun to watch Nomad float around the ship and erase Uhura's memory and kill Scotty, but that's pretty much it. Once the note is sung, the episode is simply waiting to end. And the solution is simple as well.

In fact, the solution is so simple, it was repeated four episodes later in "I, Mudd." Yes, writer John Meredyth Lucas creates a simple, direct way to take out a robot that it becomes the standard used by Kirk and company later in the season. Sigh. That's not a good sigh.

The problem with an episode like "The Changeling" is that it does not give the cast and crew much to work with, much less the articulate reviewer. The episode largely consists of Nomad floating around the Enterprise zapping people and things and Kirk and Spock desperately trying to foil it. It's not honestly more than that and it's a stretch to call the episode anything remotely entertaining after the first appearance of Nomad and Spock's exposition as to what exactly the probe robot is.

There is no character development whatsoever in "The Changeling." This is a villain of the week episode and Kirk and Spock develop no new skills, attitudes or abilities in learning how to foil Nomad. Instead, this is just a waiting for the pair to figure things out and in the meantime, it's all about Nomad. There are no real ethical dilemmas in this episode, no social commentary, it's a simple episode.

Leonard Nimoy portrays Spock well in "The Changeling" and this is one of the few episodes where Spock is logical, emotionless and very Vulcan. Nimoy pulls it off and he is distinctive for his performance only in that it is very different from Nimoy as a person. there is nothing here we have not seen before in his performance.

Even William Shatner is somewhat muted in "The Changeling." His acting is subdued, as if the actor realized he was working with a shaky premise that was being stretched well beyond even his ability to stretch.

The only person who does anything even remotely interesting with acting is Nichelle Nichols, who plays Uhura. Uhura sings and has her memory erased by Nomad. Nichelle Nichols is given the opportunity to do something other than say "Hailing frequencies open" and she delivers quite well, given the chance. When Uhura's memory is wiped, Nichols plays without affect and later with childlike simplicity as Uhura is forced to relearn everything. Her performance is interesting and different, but she has a very small part in this episode.

Ironically, "The Changeling" was one of the episodes ripped off to create Star Trek The Motion Picture and the longer version did no better at making the basic idea interesting or engaging. I cannot think of who would enjoy this episode, it's certainly not for anyone who does not like science fiction, though!

And if there were anything more I could say about this episode, I would. But truly, this is a one-trick pony and nothing extraordinary or even interesting to watch.

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

3/10

For other reviews of Star Trek episodes and movies, please visit my index page!

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


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The Enterprise - And Star Trek - Get Blown Out Of The Stars With "The Doomsday Machine!"

The Good: Good acting, Moments of character, Plot, Generally the effects
The Bad: Decker's character problems are annoyingly recurring.
The Basics: When the U.S.S. Enterprise encounters an incredible planet-destroying machine, the ship faces wonderful conflict external and internal that may destroy the ship!


Perhaps the fundamental difference between Star Trek and Star Wars is the overriding concept; exploration vs. warfare. In Star Trek, there are remarkably few space battles. Indeed, by the time "The Doomsday Machine" comes along as the thirty-fifth episode of the series, there had only been one prior, on-screen space battle in the series and that was the first season's "Balance Of Terror." "The Doomsday Machine" presents possibly the boldest presentation Star Trek (the original series) made into the realm of space battles and the nice thing about the episode is that it is not mindless carnage, the space battles are a fight for survival and they are shaded with an aura of desperation throughout, making for a compelling hour of television.

The U.S.S. Enterprise is investigating a pattern of destroyed solar systems when it comes across the wreckage of the U.S.S. Constellation, its sister ship. Beaming over, Kirk and his team find Commodore Matthew Decker incoherent and barely alive. He is unable to articulate what happened to the crew of the Constellation, though it soon becomes clear when a massive planet-destroying device is found in the area. The planet killer begins to pursue the Enterprise and while Commodore Decker is transported there, Kirk is stranded aboard the Constellation. Decker soon reveals his madness in the form of a desperate pursuit of the planet killer which destroyed the planet his crew had beamed down to. With vengeance on his mind and no way Spock may relieve him of command, Decker begins a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an invincible foe while Kirk is forced to watch from the sidelines!

"The Doomsday Machine" is pretty much a straightforward political/war thriller. The Enterprise is hunted by a predator that is so massive and apparently unstoppable as to make the odds loaded impossibly against it. The crew is further hampered by the change in command when Decker takes over in lieu of the stranded Kirk. This is not an episode about communications; the weapon is headed toward the most populous region of the galaxy! This is an episode where the goal is simply to stop the enemy from killing more people, at any cost. And that goal is hampered by the guilt and fear one man has over his past dealings with the weapon.

"The Doomsday Machine" is essentially a rewrite of The Caine Mutiny with Commodore Decker playing the role of Captain Queeg. Within the episode this works especially well; Decker is a vividly demented character haunted by the demons of his failure to stop the planet killer before. He has gone crazy, arguably, but he also retains the knowledge of rule and regulations and a basic sense of strategy (even if it's a lousy strategy!) to insinuate just what he was before the breakdown. Commodore Decker is an intriguing character and his imperfections are a far cry from what we are used to seeing on Star Trek and it works to make him a character most can empathize with!

My problem with Commodore Decker is how he fits into the larger Star Trek mythos. Decker is the latest in a long line of people who outrank Captain Kirk or are part of the Federation political establishment that runs parallel to the more military StarFleet who is either insane, annoying, bossy, egotistical and/or utterly incompetent. That Star Trek presents such a wide range of characters in positions of authority who all suffer from the same poor character traits clearly indicates what was going through the mind of the staff at the time. The problem is, Decker falling into that same category undermines his character some for fans of the entire series. We come to expect Decker to be a failure, loser and basketcase because he outranks Kirk. To his credit and the credit of writer Norman Spinrad, Decker does seem to have more shades to him that insinuate that he wasn't always a crazy, bloodthirsty jerk. Indeed, it is easy to see from his performance why they used his son, Willard Decker, as the conflicted captain-turned-first officer of the Enterprise (though it's not made explicit in the film) in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Decker is quite well portrayed by actor William Windom and despite his character's unlikability, he is eminently watchable. His performance stays just on the right side of being over-the-top and he plays broken and disheartened extraordinarily well. His performance is everything one might want it to be, dramatic, emotional and memorable.

Windom gives the superlative performance of the episode, though Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley give decent supporting performances as Spock and McCoy. This is an episode where Nimoy and Kelley play off one another very well and it works to establish the real sense of desperation throughout the episode. Furthermore, William Shatner gives a good performance as his plays the anxious Captain Kirk, stranded away from his vessel. Shatner is often playing to a viewscreen and he has to emote as if he is seeing what is projected there and he does a great job at making the usually calm and collected captain seem quite agitated.

But beyond Commodore Decker and his momentous character struggle and losing battle with sanity, "The Doomsday Machine" is a bit light on character. After all, we have already seen Captain Kirk pine for the Enterprise and place its safety above his own, we have already seen Spock act efficient and be in command (or be the advisor to the commander of the Enterprise) and we've already seen Dr. McCoy get worked up over Spock not intervening into a situation that is dangerous. This may be the first time we see Scotty pull a genuine engineering miracle out of his bag of tricks, but for the most part, the primary characters of the series are simply reaffirming their characters with this episode.

"The Doomsday Machine" is easily accessible to anyone who has not watched Star Trek before and it is a wonderful episode to get people into because it is so exciting and does not have any over-the-top acting or sequences that seem campy or dated. Instead, it is a pretty tight episode and one that is bound to please anyone who likes a good cat-and-mouse chase story or high drama in general. This is a wonderful hour of television and one of the best Star Trek produced!

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

9.5/10

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

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

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Rewatching To Confirm That "Who Mourns For Adonais?" Truly Is That Bad!

The Good: Most basic concept, Moments of Michael Forest's performance
The Bad: Characters, Plot, Most of the acting, effects, Execution of concept.
The Basics: When Captain Kirk and the Enterprise crew encounter the god Apollo, the results are exactly as bad as it might seem.


Every now and then I have to sit down to an episode of Star Trek that I did not enjoy the prior times I saw them and confirm that it truly was as bad as I remembered it being. The last time I felt inspired to sit and watch "Who Mourns For Adonais?" to see if it lived down to my expectations was when I met Michael Forest, who played Apollo, at a Star Trek convention. He was one of the most friendly actors I had met and when I returned home, I said to myself, "He was so nice, that episode can't be as bad as I seem to think it was!" Sadly, upon rewatching, "Who Mourns For Adonais?" truly endures as one of the worst episodes of the series, regardless of how nice a guy Michael Forest is!

The U.S.S. Enterprise is near Pollux IV when a giant hand in space grabs it and prevents it from moving away. Beaming down, Kirk, McCoy, Chekov, Scott and Lt. Palamas beam down to Pollux IV to find none other than Apollo, Greek God of Light living there. He demands fealty and worship from the Enterprise crew and is distracted by the beauty of Lt. Palamas. The crew resists, in the process Scotty is almost killed, and Kirk realizes that Apollo is dangerous and superpowered, but might be distracted by Lt. Palamas long enough for the Enterprise to break away. He sets his plan into motion with predictable results.

The lone worthwhile aspect of "Who Mourns For Adonais?" is the theme. The episode is all about what happens when gods are set aside. When humanity progresses to the point where wisdom, reason and respect prevail and society no longer needs god images to keep its population in line using fear and archaic rules, they tend to set aside their gods. This episode asks, what happens to the gods when humanity outgrows them. The answer here is that they become pathetic and kind of crazy and go off on power trips. It's hard not to admire the sense of humor that conceived that.

The problem is the execution. This is not the first time that Captain Kirk and his crew have faced off with godlike creatures, but it is the first time they have faced off against an actual god. Sadly, this ends up being a recasting of the terrible episode "The Squire Of Gothos" wherein Kirk and his crew take some time to find the source of Apollo's power and thwart him by knocking his power out. What works poorly with this idea is that the god Apollo is granted no inherent powers, he is just a conduit through which a machine rearranges forces in the galaxy. That is pretty pathetic and very ungodly. In other words, it's never a fair fight for the god or godlike being when they encounter the crew of the Enterprise. At least when the fifth season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer dealt with heroes taking on a god, the concept was well-executed and there was not a cop-out that allowed them to be victorious. With "Who Mourns For Adonais?" the issue of taking on a deity is kept simpler and wrapped up nicely within the hour.

Sadly, the episode gets off on the wrong foot with the appearance of the giant hand. The special effects in this episode are just awful and they seriously detract from the story being told. In this case, the special effects work as a detriment to the story instead of enhancing it (like good effects ought to).

Furthermore, this is an episode where character seems to come last, as if the writers spent so much time working out the details for the idea of what the piece was going to be about that they forgot entirely who the characters were. As a result, Scotty plays a lovesick fool, Lt. Palamas seems content with being ogled by Apollo for just her good looks and Chekov just shows up and acts like a parody of a Russian. Kirk is not a particularly impressive leader in this episode and when the plot falls into the same rut as the previously mentioned "Squire Of Gothos" did, Kirk simply reacts pretty much the same way he did before.

And Apollo is just a jerk. One wishes that there could have been more from Apollo, but here he's just a megalomaniacal jerk. He's bossy, rude and petty, a far cry from the way Apollo is treated in Greek literature. Indeed, while the producers of Star Trek may have gotten the good looking part down, Apollo is not given any lines or part that does not make him seem like far less than a mortal. Indeed, the viewer spends their time rooting for Kirk and wondering why Palamas is even tempted!

Apollo is played by Michael Forest and my lament is that he's a nice guy, but the character is written poorly. Perhaps this is a sign of what a good actor Forest is; the character is such a jerk, but the actor is not. Ergo, Forest's acting rules. I wish I could stand by that. The role is big and kind of crazy and Forest plays it adequately as it is written, but the part does not so much go anywhere with the godlike thing.

As for the main cast, none of them show up with their a-game. They trudge through the episode delivering ridiculous lines with a sense that they know the episode is silly and beneath them. As a result, only Leslie Parrish, who plays Palamas stands out. She is forced to emote and the guest actress steals the show on the acting front by being able to cry and look afraid at key points in the episode.

This episode is also marred by some of the weirdest camera moves and angles in the entire series. For sure, Marc Daniels had a purpose in the crane shot that allows the viewer to look down upon Kirk, McCoy and Chekov the way Apollo was, but some of the shots during the climax of the episode when Kirk, Palamas and Apollo are duking it out are just directoral exercises with little advancement of the story told through them.

The result is an episode that is all-around awful and it's impossible to recommend to anyone, even Star Trek fans or general science fiction enthusiasts. Anyone who doesn't love genre will certainly deplore "Who Mourns For Adonais?" As someone who loves the series, it's hard for me not to!

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

3/10

For other television episode reviews, please check out my index page!

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



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Enter An Intriguing Villain With "Space Seed," Star Trek's Enshrined Slam Dunk (Sort Of).

The Good: Decent acting, Decent plot, Good pace
The Bad: Light on character development
The Basics: When the Enterprise is taken over by a genetically engineered villain, Star Trek creates a memorable episode . . . which has disturbing weaknesses.


There are a few elements that are taken as granted in the Star Trek fandom universe, but no idea is so enshrined in the fandom culture than the idea that the best villain in the franchise is Khan Noonien Singh, from the episode "Space Seed." Khan is a strong villain, no doubt, but I put my money with Gul Dukat from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for the front-runner for best villain in the franchise. Khan is somewhat monolithic, whereas Dukat has facets. And as far as the cinematic endeavors go, Khan talks, Kruge kills. Kruge is the Klingon nemesis from Star Trek III: The Search For Spock. My point is, Khan is a decent villain, but he's not the clear front-runner when one looks objectively at the Star Trek franchise as a whole the way many would have one believe.

"Space Seed" introduces Khan Noonien Singh and the episode clearly establishes the tenants of the Star Trek universe's timeline, a problematic little bit that has buggered the writers of the modern Trek series. In the novels, writer Greg Cox was charged with explaining the Eugenics Wars (see below) in the context of history as it actually occurred as opposed to being imaginative and allowing the timeline to diverge from reality. In other words, as later series's in the Star Trek franchise have entered years referenced in Star Trek, most significantly in "Space Seed," the franchise has tried to make the series match reality as opposed to being creative. For some reason, I suppose they want fans to buy into the idea that Star Trek's universe will somehow truly come to pass. Go figure. But "Space Seed" had imagination in it and it casts the die for the franchise that commits it to a direction or a contradiction. Sadly, too often, it has been contradicted.

The U.S.S. Enterprise comes across a ship adrift in space, the S.S. Botany Bay, a sleeper ship from the mid-1990s. After centuries drifting in space, Kirk and a landing party beam over to discover the crew of the ship in suspended animation. Their presence awakens the leader of the ship, a man in weakened condition who is returned to the Enterprise to recuperate. Once his strength is back, he attacks Dr. McCoy and demands information. McCoy, now suspicious of the man's strength and speed, encourages Kirk, Spock and the ship's historian to figure out just who the man who goes simply by Khan actually is. Khan, as it turns out, is a genetically enhanced warlord who used his armies to rule over the majority of the world in the Eugenics Wars, a series of conflicts that seems to have engulfed the world prior to World War III. Khan and his followers escaped death and trial by leaving Earth and when Khan awakens his people, they set to taking over the Enterprise, a task they seem quite able to pull off!

"Space Seed" is a decent idea, which is probably why the basic concept is reused in every other series of the franchise in one form or another. And while "Space Seed" is a pretty solid hour of television, it's not the end all and be all flawless episode that many fans of "Star Trek" would have us believe (and for those who have not read my extensive collection of reviews on this entire franchise, I am one of them!). Khan Noonien Singh is portrayed as smart, sexy, strong, ambitious and somewhat ruthless. Khan is also abusive - he smacks Uhura full across the face with no real provocation - and cruel and it's hard to see why Lt. McGivers, the ship's historian, falls for him. I suppose for all the evolution Roddenberry wanted Star Trek to embody he was all right with women falling for guys for purely superficial reasons. To be fair to Roddenberry, he did not write "Space Seed," but as Executive Producer, one suspects he had some control in these matters.

The problem with Khan is that he is characterized as smart, strong and sexy almost entirely through exposition and appearance. Khan, we are told, is incredibly smart, as evidenced by him reading through the ship's library at an extraordinary speed. And yet, he is easily outwitted by Spock and . . . Lt. McGivers. There's no real brain trust here! We see no evidence that he actually is smart! And we are told that he is superstrong, yet Kirk is able to defeat him in hand to hand combat . . . after nearly being killed himself. My point with this is that the idea of Khan is more villainous than the execution of Khan.

And "Space Seed" is weakened by that. Heroes are made more heroic by the capabilities of the villains. The more powerful and incredible the villains are, the more heroic and decent the heroes must be to defeat them. By allowing Khan to be outwitted and overcome at the first opportunity, Khan is just a thug! Kirk wasn't able to defeat Kor, the first Klingon adversary, in the episode "Errand of Mercy," but few (if any) declare Kor the greatest villain of the franchise. Indeed, Kirk and his crew dispatch Khan and his followers with relative ease, whereas the far lamer first season villains like Charlie Evans, Trelane and Kor (who is not lame) are all only stopped by the intervention of even more powerful forces or beings. And the aliens in "The Galileo Seven" are not defeated! My point with this is that in this season alone, there are four villains who outmatched Kirk and his crew, Khan - in that context - is a relative lightweight.

That said, I like "Space Seed." Khan is interesting and the way everyone seems to recognize him for the despot he was once he "comes out" makes it disturbing that none of the characters figured it out beforehand. Sulu, for example, is known for being fascinated with Earth history, it would have been wonderful for his character to have a moment when . . . Sulu doesn't even appear in the episode. Hmmm . . . that makes it sound like I don't like it that much . . . Let's try again. Okay, Kirk, Spock and the ship's computer are a bit dense when it comes to identifying the Botany Bay and Khan's true identity. But once they do, they take all precautions to prevent . . . no, they lose the ship to the members of Khan's cadre.

Okay, the thing is, I LIKE this episode. It's fun to watch it. The episode moves along at a decent pace, develops well (so long as one doesn't really think about it) and has an exciting conclusion. And despite the characters being somewhat dense (I mean, if they had recovered Adolf Hitler from the ship, one suspects one of the command crew would have recognized him pretty much right away) the acting is good.

William Shatner gives a good performance when Kirk is weakened and beaten up and DeForest Kelley does great bringing strength and resolve to Dr. McCoy. Nimoy is actually great in this episode at creating Spock as a methodical, logical and unemotional character (most episodes find Spock having an "exception" to the Vulcan behavior rules!). Even guest actress Madlyn Rhue is decent as McGivers, quickly creating a memorable guest character with her brief role.

But it is Ricardo Montalban who steals the show as Khan Noonien Singh. Montalban has a great performance that takes him from weakened and vulnerable to commanding and ruthless. He's great and charismatic as Khan. It's easy to see why he is liked, he has the same magnetism that Shatner has when playing Kirk. Montalban is easily able to portray a natural leader and that brings him instant credibility. But the best moments with his acting are the first moments Khan is awake and he is weak and hoarse. Impressive, completely believable acting.

But Montalban's performance does not cover the weaknesses of Khan's character. The result of the character weaknesses and plot problems - this is a very simple plot and it does seem the obstacles are too easily overcome - make the episode better for escapist fun that actually holding up with meaning and significance. The movie falls closer to average than one might like as a result. "Space Seed" is good, it's enjoyable and it's suspenseful and worth watching multiple times so long as one doesn't think about it, but it's not the end all and be all most of us fans want it to be.

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

7.5/10

For other Star Trek episode reviews, please check out my index page!

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


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Best Clipshow Ever! Star Trek's "The Menagerie" Recycles Unused Episode Well!

The Good: Decent idea, Nice usage of footage, Fine acting, Good characterization
The Bad: Plot holes, Ultimately it seems somewhat pointless
The Basics: When Spock steals the Enterprise, Kirk must capture him and sit through the first Star Trek pilot in a fun court clipshow of Star Trek!


Star Trek and its descendants managed to not fall into too many of the traps of long-running television series’s. Ironically, the short-lived Star Trek fell into one of the most disappointing ones very early on in its run; a clip-show of sorts. For sure, it’s not anywhere near as bad as Star Trek: The Next Generation’s pure clip-show, the pathetic second season finale “Shades Of Gray”, but with “The Menagerie,” Star Trek reuses footage from the unaired pilot to create a “new” two-part episode. And for the record, in every official count of Star Trek episodes, “The Menagerie” is treated as a single episode.

When the U.S.S. Enterprise is visiting a Starbase because Spock is contacted by his old captain, Pike, Kirk begins to suspect something is wrong. At Starbase 11, Kirk discovers that Pike is confined to a mobile chair, barely more than a torso and head connected to a computer on wheels, unable to talk. The mystery is put on hold almost immediately when Spock hijacks the Enterprise, abducts Pike and heads the ship in the direction of Talos IV, the only planet on record that warrants the death penalty in the Federation!

When Captain Kirk and Commodore Mendez, the head of Starbase 11, pursue the Enterprise in a shuttlecraft, the soon fall behind and prepare to die in space when they run out of fuel. Spock, unable to let Kirk die, recovers the shuttlecraft and immediately an inquiry is begun into Spock’s actions . . . an inquiry that threatens Spock with death! In his defense, Spock illustrates why he did what he did by showing what happened on the only other mission to Talos 4, a mission he was a part of, when he served under Captain Pike.

“The Menagerie” hardly feels like a clip show because the episode works to balance the footage in the courtroom with the footage on the courtroom monitor. Indeed, it seems when watching the episode now that “The Menagerie” takes quite a bit of time to get to the point where the Talos IV mission actually is projected on the screen. The mission, of course, is “The Cage,” the first pilot to Star Trek. The series was entirely recast when NBC refused to buy that pilot, save Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock. This allows Star Trek to use the footage from “The Cage,” without actually airing the episode. The result is an episode that did not cost much to make and allowed less footage to be lost or wasted.

“The Menagerie” works because it is generally motivated by character. Sure, there’s the huge plot contrivance of the Enterprise being hijacked in order to start a trial in order to show “The Cage,” er the Talos IV footage, but the question is why does it happen? Spock. Spock does everything and why? It seems to be out of loyalty to Captain Pike, who serves as one of the judges against Spock. This adds a level of intrigue; why would Spock risk everything for Pike.

The answer starts with the idea that Spock served under Captain Pike for approximately fifteen years. This little fact presented in “The Menagerie” guts the idea of James Kirk and Spock going through the Academy contemporaneously (shame on you William Shatner – he wrote a new novel that puts them there together!). We are also able to see Spock as both resilient, loyal and strangely insubordinate all at the same time! In “The Menagerie,” he takes a moral stand and refuses to back down from it. It’s pretty courageous. Is it Vulcan? Well, the loyalty part is, the lying and misleading is not.

This is a rather new character trait for Spock and while the series would later show a similar devotion to Kirk, which was reciprocated by Kirk in works like Star Trek III: The Search For Spock”, this is the first time we see Spock work so hard based on loyalty alone.

The footage from “The Cage” is worthwhile; it’s a good episode which finds the Enterprise, under Captain Christopher Pike, investigating Talos IV only to become a captive to a group of telepathic aliens. The Talosians want Pike to mate with another local human, a woman named Vina and they manipulate and punish him to try to achieve their goals. In “The Menagerie,” Pike is barely conscious, a leader’s mind trapped within a crippled body that makes him instantly sympathetic and sells the episode’s reason for being.

Following so closely on the heels of “Court-Martial” (click here for the review!), “The Menagerie” might make it seem like Star Trek has become obsessed with courtroom dramas. Whereas “Court-Martial” seemed more like Perry Mason than Trek, “The Menagerie” makes a good show of it, but the trial ultimately feels like a pretense to play the footage from “The Cage.” The thing is, it works! The usage of the new footage to create a viable story around which “The Cage” could be shown is a decent idea that is executed well.

While much of the episode, Captain Kirk is relegated to the same place as the audience – watching the monitor in the trial room – William Shatner does a decent job of keeping the character focused and the plot moving when presenting the non-flashback plot. Shatner plays Kirk as somewhat conflicted, wanting to believe that Spock had a good reason for doing what he was doing (including leading Kirk on a chase that nearly cost him his life) and believing there is the real possibility Spock has gone mad. Shatner wisely plays Kirk with a decent mix of anger and sympathy, loss and understanding.

Spock, in addition to his interesting new character developments in the form of a genuine spine, is well portrayed by Leonard Nimoy. In “The Menagerie,” Nimoy presents Spock with a sense of coldness and a methodical quality that is haunting and he makes the character feel haunted. While viewers have seen Spock logical, he has never seemed quite so detached and accepting of what he views as inevitable before. Nimoy executes that perfectly. He does not let a hint of emotion cross his face, not even his usual occasional bemused expression. Here, Nimoy perfects the silent efficiency of Spock and he sells him as a truly real and viable character while doing that.

In all, “The Menagerie” is likely to be enjoyed by anyone who likes science fiction. It is generally clever, fun and tells a decent story well. I will (always) recommend “The Cage” over “The Menagerie,” but to be fair, this version does cut out some of the moralizing and character, which is fine in the larger context because the character we come to care the most about in “The Cage” is Captain Pike, who didn’t make it to any other episodes other than “The Cage” and this one. In that same larger context, though, “The Menagerie” is redundant. When we can watch “The Cage,” uncensored, this episode has less relevance.

Still, it’s decent and it is a worthwhile episode.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into "Star Trek - The Complete First Season" on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the premiere season by clicking here!
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7/10

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