CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
Space Seed - The Enterprise encounters an old Earth vessel drifting in space. The ship is from the 1990s, when the Eugenics Wars were fought. It's strange, I don't remember that war or Earth launching a space ship! Kirk, McCoy and Scotty beam over with Lt. McGivers, a historian whose name Kirk can't remember. Scotty puts the lights on and it accidentally brings the people onboard out of suspended animation. McGivers is turned on by Khan before he's even awake! Kirk breaks Khan out of his pod rather than let him die because he hasn't seen Wrath of Khan. The rest of the sleepers are revived too. McCoy sys "there's something inside this man that refuses to accept death" about Khan and Bob Orci took this line to mean "MAGIC BLOOD!" rather than him just being a genetic superman. Kirk tells off McGivers and he's right to, really. Then again, if Khan had been a hot woman I bet Kirk would have been swooning over her. The awake Khan grabs McCoy around the throat and holds a knife to him with his other hand and McCoy says "well either choke me or cut my throat, make up your mind!" which is FUCKING BADASS. Khan tells Kirk his name but Kirk doesn't recognised him as one of history's greatest monsters because records from the 1990s are spotty. That seems unlikely! Kirk even gives him access to the ship's technical manuels which seems like a mistake.
Khan flirts with McGivers and now I have sympathy for her because wow the young Ricardo Montalban is sexy and charismatic as fuck. They kiss and Kirk puts on a dinner for Khan. This is where Khan's true identity finally comes out when he talks about how great fascism is. It's a great scene. McGiver reveals she's into this but is also conflicted and Khan says "Go! Or stay! But do it because it is what you WISH to do!" It's great line delivery. He makes her beg to stay with him then threatens to break her arm while demanding she help him take the ship. Everyone talks about how Khan was the "best" of tyrants and how they all secretly admired him. Spock is appalled and so am I! But they all laugh and say they can admire someone while still being against them and I suppose that's true. Kirk finally puts security guards on Khan over half an hour into the episode. Man, this isn't a good episode for Kirk as a competent Captain. Khan pulls a locked door open with his fucking hands which is great. He and McGivers free the other supermen and take over enginereeing. Kirk records a Captain's Log even as Khan suffocates the Bridge crew! That part's great. Khan wants the crew to join him but they're all like fuck no. He makes the crew watch Kirk suffocate in a vacuum chamber in an attempt to get them to serve him. They all still refuse to join him. Maybe McGivers gave him a false idea of how weak 23rd century people are.
McGivers saves Kirk because she didn't realise getting it on with a space Nazi could result in death. But begs Kirk not to hurt Khan. Kirk and Spock gas the whole ship (Scotty punches a superman which is awesome) and Kirk and Khan have a fight in engineering (I guess it's the set that lends itself most to fight scenes.) They have a fight and if you thought Court Martial was bad...wow. You get close-ups of the stunt doubles' faces! Kirk wins the fight not by using his superior 23rd century knowledge but by beating up Khan with a pipe. Kirk is sad about the thought of locking Khan and his crew up (despite him being, you know, an evil dictator who tried to conquer the galaxy a minute ago) and exiles Khan and friends to a planet in the CETI ALPHA SYSTEM. He lets McGivers choose between going with Khan or facing court martial. She goes with him. The guy who was physically threatening her earlier in the episode. And it plays out like a happy ending! Kirk goes back to acting like Khan has a lot to offer the galaxy and that he can't wait to see what Khan and his crew do to the planet. If we were supposed to think Khan had positive qualities then maybe the episode should have shown them. Nothing that actually happened in the episode makes me think Khan could be a force for good.
SO THIS EPISODE. Not to beat around the bush: it has some BAD writing. Kirk seems like an idiot for a lot of it, giving a suspicious genetic superman full access to the computers. All the stuff with the crew expressing admiration for dictators gets a bit disturbing and the ending seems to be saying "let's see what happens if we let these super intelligent maniacs conquer a planet! That'll be fun!" The final fight scene is bad and the writing for McGivers is sexist as fuck. How did she even become a Starfleet officer? If the idea is that she's weak willed and easily manipulated by psychopaths than surely it's hugely irresonpsible for Kirk to basically order her to live with Khan at the end? AND YET it's still s pretty damn good episode thanks to Ricardo Montalban who is the best guest star to date and certainly the best villain of the week. He's magnetic! You can see why they brought him back for the movie (a movie which smartly does away with Marla and all the admiration for Khan and puts him against Kirk in a battle of wits.) So yeah, this definitely not the best work of Star Trek fiction involving the character of Khan but it's way better than Star Trek Into Darkness still!
SCORE: 8.5/10
A Taste of Armageddon - The Enterprise is on its way to make contract with two new civilisatons. There's a stuffy ambassador on board! A bit like the guy in The Galileo Seven. He has power of command because it's a diplomatic mission and INSTANTLY starts acting like a dick to Kirk and ordering him around. Kirk, Spock, a hot yeoman and some security guys beam down. They meet the leades of the planet and are told that they've been at war for five hundred years, yet there's no evidence of it on the planet. They are attacked by the planet they're at war with and yet there's still no evidence of conflict. Spock works out that they fight their wars with computers. Once deaths are registered those who are "killed" most report for disintegration within twenty four hours. It's a simulated war but the people really die. It's completely insane...and a great idea for an episode! The leader of the planet tells Kirk that the Enterprise was destroyed in the last simulation and they have 24 hours to report for disintegration. Kirk and his landing party are taken hostage. The woman they met with explains that if either side breaks the agreement to disintegrate their casualities the other side will attack with real weapons. And she herself has been declared a casuality.
Scotty's in charge of the Enterprise and he's pretty great! He has a fun clash with McCoy and instantly notices when a false message from Kirk is sent from the planet. Spock manages to mind meld with a guard through a door(!?) and the landing party escape. They capture the alien woman and stop her disintegrating herself. Ambassador Shittypants starts being a shit to Scotty and telling him not to attack the planet because it's a diplomatic matter. Scotty says "the best diplomat I know is a fully activated phase bank!" Kirk and Spock go around destroying disintegration chambers and plan to completely topple this society. Because that's how Kirk rolls. The stupid ambassador is fooled by the bad guy but Scotty refuses to lower the screens unless Kirk orders him to. Kirk meets the alien leader and threatens to bring down his whole planet by himself. And he's being sincere. He's captured again. The evil guy meets the ambassador and tells him he's to be killed and now finally the ambassador starts thinking "huh." Spock tells the Yeoman (who is hot, did I mention that) to knock down and sit on the alien lady if she has to. Spock is cool. The amassador helps him because he realises what a dick he's been. More disintegration chambers are destroyed. Kirk says "Stop it? I'm counting on it!" in another great line delivery.
He has Scotty threaten to destroy all the planet's cities for real if the hostages aren't released. Kirk has shown the aliens what war is really about. They've maken war neat and painless and forgotten the horror. Kirk destroys the planet's main computer and all the other computers blow up too (that's how computers work!) Kirk makes a great speech telling the alien leader he can either wage war on the other planet with real weapons or make peace. "We can admit that we're killers...but we're not going to kill today" is a great Kirk line! Ambassador Fox offers his services as a negotiator. Kirk admits that he didn't know if his plan would work but it was a calculated risk.
It's a great episode. It uses a science fiction concept to make a statement about the madness of war. That's the kind of thing Star Trek should do! The metaphor really works here as the story is sharply focused, unlike something like 'Return of the Achrons' which seemed to have something to say but got lost a bit along the way. This is the kind of episode that make Star Trek a worthwhile show! I konw there's a big "DID KIRK BREAK THE PRIME DIRECTIVE!?" debate but the aliens ordered the Enterprise crew disintegrated first. That's like an act of war. And even if what Kirk did stepped over the mark you've got to admire his balls to risk having two planets blow each other up all the gamble that they'd prefer peace. It's a great episode for Kirk and a strong performance from Shatner especially when he makes his speech. Spock and Scotty get good moments too. A top level episode.
ABOUT SCOTTY: I've always thought of him as being the fourth most important character (after the obvious three.) Watching the first season I was starting to think that was down to the movies because he hadn't been featured a massive amount before this episode. In fact I'd say Sulu had seemed more important that him in the first half of the season. He was the one who got all the background (fencing! antique pistols! plants!) BUT by this point Sulu seems to be fading into the background and Scotty becoming more important, maybe because Gene L. Coon or whoever recognised Doohan's charming performance. He literally says "the haggis is in the fire for sure!" in this episode!
SCORE: 9.5/10
This Side of Paradise - The Enterprise investigates a colony which hasn't checked in for three years and surprisingly find them still alive. There's a girl named Layla on the planet who is shot in soft focus and the cheesey romantic music from 'Shore Leave' plays whenever she's on screen. So you know there's a romance coming! She has a history with Spock. The episode gets a bit boring really as Kirk and the crew investigate the planet and find that something is up but they don't know what. McCoy reports that everyone on the planet is perfectly heatlhy, even to the point where old scars have healed and someone's appendix grew back. Layla finally revealst he spores to Spock and one shoots him in the face. Fifteen minutes into the episode and something has finally happened! Spock struggles but then the cheesey music plays again and he tells Layla he loves her and can finally feel love. The colony leader refuses to leave the planet even though Kirk has been ordered to remove him. Spock ignores his communicator and looks at clouds. Spock refuses orders "(I don't think so, SIR!") and Kirk and Bones are shocked.
Kirk and Bones find Spock hanging in a tree laughing and that finally the episode is becoming worthwhile! Sulu is shot by spores and instantly turns. McCoy is shot too...and turns all southern. He says "y'all"! That's as southern as you get. Kirk beams back to the ship and finds out Uhura and everyone else have been turned too. Kirk is immune I guess? The whole crew beam down to the colony to be hippies. McCoy says "Jim Boy" a lot. Why would being a hippy turn him into a stereotype? He wants to drink a mint julip! Spock tell Kirk the planet is a true Eden with no wants or needs. Kirk says man stagnates without those things. Kirk is alone on the ship and doesn't know what to do. What can he offer against paradise? A plant spookily appears on the bridge and shoots Kirk and he does a creepy Shatner grin. He tells Spock he understands now and will join him. But right away he looks at a medal he won (for being a great captain!) and snaps out of it. There's some "great" Shatner acting as he says "I...CAN'T...LEAVE!" He realises anger is the cure. I don't know why looking at that medal made him angry.
Kirk decides to turn Spock back first even though his great strength could kill him. Kirk trying to make Spock angry is a lot of fun. "Your father was a computer!" Spock snaps and decides to punch Kirk to death. Luckily he comes to his senses before killing him. Kirk asks Spock to build a subsonic transmitter to turn everyone else back. Layla calls Spock and I suppose it's sad that he doesn't love her anymore but I don't really care about her or their relationship. She begs Spock to come back as the sad music plays for the fiftieth time. She asks if he has another name and he says she couldn't pronounce it, which is quite sweet at least. The subsonic transmitter works and everyone starts fighting. Luckily they don't kill each other before they turn back! The colony leader realises that they've done nothing in three years and they're wasting their life. That's the message of the episode. Spock says for the first time in his life he was happy and that's the end.
This is an episode that sounds better when you recap it than when you actually watch it. The big draw is Spock showing emotions and that is fun and the part with him hanging from a tree is great, yes, but it's not enough to fill fifty minutes. There's a message expressed by Kirk that if everyone was a hippy we'd never get things done and that's fine, but the episode doens't really explore it or anything. Compare it to the previous episode where they argued both sides well. We don't even see much of what life on the colony is like. And over the top southern McCoy is cringeworthy. So yeah, there's good parts here (the Spock/Kirk fight is fun...but there's a much better one coming next season) but on the whole I find it dull.
SCORE: 6.5/10
Khan flirts with McGivers and now I have sympathy for her because wow the young Ricardo Montalban is sexy and charismatic as fuck. They kiss and Kirk puts on a dinner for Khan. This is where Khan's true identity finally comes out when he talks about how great fascism is. It's a great scene. McGiver reveals she's into this but is also conflicted and Khan says "Go! Or stay! But do it because it is what you WISH to do!" It's great line delivery. He makes her beg to stay with him then threatens to break her arm while demanding she help him take the ship. Everyone talks about how Khan was the "best" of tyrants and how they all secretly admired him. Spock is appalled and so am I! But they all laugh and say they can admire someone while still being against them and I suppose that's true. Kirk finally puts security guards on Khan over half an hour into the episode. Man, this isn't a good episode for Kirk as a competent Captain. Khan pulls a locked door open with his fucking hands which is great. He and McGivers free the other supermen and take over enginereeing. Kirk records a Captain's Log even as Khan suffocates the Bridge crew! That part's great. Khan wants the crew to join him but they're all like fuck no. He makes the crew watch Kirk suffocate in a vacuum chamber in an attempt to get them to serve him. They all still refuse to join him. Maybe McGivers gave him a false idea of how weak 23rd century people are.
McGivers saves Kirk because she didn't realise getting it on with a space Nazi could result in death. But begs Kirk not to hurt Khan. Kirk and Spock gas the whole ship (Scotty punches a superman which is awesome) and Kirk and Khan have a fight in engineering (I guess it's the set that lends itself most to fight scenes.) They have a fight and if you thought Court Martial was bad...wow. You get close-ups of the stunt doubles' faces! Kirk wins the fight not by using his superior 23rd century knowledge but by beating up Khan with a pipe. Kirk is sad about the thought of locking Khan and his crew up (despite him being, you know, an evil dictator who tried to conquer the galaxy a minute ago) and exiles Khan and friends to a planet in the CETI ALPHA SYSTEM. He lets McGivers choose between going with Khan or facing court martial. She goes with him. The guy who was physically threatening her earlier in the episode. And it plays out like a happy ending! Kirk goes back to acting like Khan has a lot to offer the galaxy and that he can't wait to see what Khan and his crew do to the planet. If we were supposed to think Khan had positive qualities then maybe the episode should have shown them. Nothing that actually happened in the episode makes me think Khan could be a force for good.
SO THIS EPISODE. Not to beat around the bush: it has some BAD writing. Kirk seems like an idiot for a lot of it, giving a suspicious genetic superman full access to the computers. All the stuff with the crew expressing admiration for dictators gets a bit disturbing and the ending seems to be saying "let's see what happens if we let these super intelligent maniacs conquer a planet! That'll be fun!" The final fight scene is bad and the writing for McGivers is sexist as fuck. How did she even become a Starfleet officer? If the idea is that she's weak willed and easily manipulated by psychopaths than surely it's hugely irresonpsible for Kirk to basically order her to live with Khan at the end? AND YET it's still s pretty damn good episode thanks to Ricardo Montalban who is the best guest star to date and certainly the best villain of the week. He's magnetic! You can see why they brought him back for the movie (a movie which smartly does away with Marla and all the admiration for Khan and puts him against Kirk in a battle of wits.) So yeah, this definitely not the best work of Star Trek fiction involving the character of Khan but it's way better than Star Trek Into Darkness still!
SCORE: 8.5/10
A Taste of Armageddon - The Enterprise is on its way to make contract with two new civilisatons. There's a stuffy ambassador on board! A bit like the guy in The Galileo Seven. He has power of command because it's a diplomatic mission and INSTANTLY starts acting like a dick to Kirk and ordering him around. Kirk, Spock, a hot yeoman and some security guys beam down. They meet the leades of the planet and are told that they've been at war for five hundred years, yet there's no evidence of it on the planet. They are attacked by the planet they're at war with and yet there's still no evidence of conflict. Spock works out that they fight their wars with computers. Once deaths are registered those who are "killed" most report for disintegration within twenty four hours. It's a simulated war but the people really die. It's completely insane...and a great idea for an episode! The leader of the planet tells Kirk that the Enterprise was destroyed in the last simulation and they have 24 hours to report for disintegration. Kirk and his landing party are taken hostage. The woman they met with explains that if either side breaks the agreement to disintegrate their casualities the other side will attack with real weapons. And she herself has been declared a casuality.
Scotty's in charge of the Enterprise and he's pretty great! He has a fun clash with McCoy and instantly notices when a false message from Kirk is sent from the planet. Spock manages to mind meld with a guard through a door(!?) and the landing party escape. They capture the alien woman and stop her disintegrating herself. Ambassador Shittypants starts being a shit to Scotty and telling him not to attack the planet because it's a diplomatic matter. Scotty says "the best diplomat I know is a fully activated phase bank!" Kirk and Spock go around destroying disintegration chambers and plan to completely topple this society. Because that's how Kirk rolls. The stupid ambassador is fooled by the bad guy but Scotty refuses to lower the screens unless Kirk orders him to. Kirk meets the alien leader and threatens to bring down his whole planet by himself. And he's being sincere. He's captured again. The evil guy meets the ambassador and tells him he's to be killed and now finally the ambassador starts thinking "huh." Spock tells the Yeoman (who is hot, did I mention that) to knock down and sit on the alien lady if she has to. Spock is cool. The amassador helps him because he realises what a dick he's been. More disintegration chambers are destroyed. Kirk says "Stop it? I'm counting on it!" in another great line delivery.
He has Scotty threaten to destroy all the planet's cities for real if the hostages aren't released. Kirk has shown the aliens what war is really about. They've maken war neat and painless and forgotten the horror. Kirk destroys the planet's main computer and all the other computers blow up too (that's how computers work!) Kirk makes a great speech telling the alien leader he can either wage war on the other planet with real weapons or make peace. "We can admit that we're killers...but we're not going to kill today" is a great Kirk line! Ambassador Fox offers his services as a negotiator. Kirk admits that he didn't know if his plan would work but it was a calculated risk.
It's a great episode. It uses a science fiction concept to make a statement about the madness of war. That's the kind of thing Star Trek should do! The metaphor really works here as the story is sharply focused, unlike something like 'Return of the Achrons' which seemed to have something to say but got lost a bit along the way. This is the kind of episode that make Star Trek a worthwhile show! I konw there's a big "DID KIRK BREAK THE PRIME DIRECTIVE!?" debate but the aliens ordered the Enterprise crew disintegrated first. That's like an act of war. And even if what Kirk did stepped over the mark you've got to admire his balls to risk having two planets blow each other up all the gamble that they'd prefer peace. It's a great episode for Kirk and a strong performance from Shatner especially when he makes his speech. Spock and Scotty get good moments too. A top level episode.
ABOUT SCOTTY: I've always thought of him as being the fourth most important character (after the obvious three.) Watching the first season I was starting to think that was down to the movies because he hadn't been featured a massive amount before this episode. In fact I'd say Sulu had seemed more important that him in the first half of the season. He was the one who got all the background (fencing! antique pistols! plants!) BUT by this point Sulu seems to be fading into the background and Scotty becoming more important, maybe because Gene L. Coon or whoever recognised Doohan's charming performance. He literally says "the haggis is in the fire for sure!" in this episode!
SCORE: 9.5/10
This Side of Paradise - The Enterprise investigates a colony which hasn't checked in for three years and surprisingly find them still alive. There's a girl named Layla on the planet who is shot in soft focus and the cheesey romantic music from 'Shore Leave' plays whenever she's on screen. So you know there's a romance coming! She has a history with Spock. The episode gets a bit boring really as Kirk and the crew investigate the planet and find that something is up but they don't know what. McCoy reports that everyone on the planet is perfectly heatlhy, even to the point where old scars have healed and someone's appendix grew back. Layla finally revealst he spores to Spock and one shoots him in the face. Fifteen minutes into the episode and something has finally happened! Spock struggles but then the cheesey music plays again and he tells Layla he loves her and can finally feel love. The colony leader refuses to leave the planet even though Kirk has been ordered to remove him. Spock ignores his communicator and looks at clouds. Spock refuses orders "(I don't think so, SIR!") and Kirk and Bones are shocked.
Kirk and Bones find Spock hanging in a tree laughing and that finally the episode is becoming worthwhile! Sulu is shot by spores and instantly turns. McCoy is shot too...and turns all southern. He says "y'all"! That's as southern as you get. Kirk beams back to the ship and finds out Uhura and everyone else have been turned too. Kirk is immune I guess? The whole crew beam down to the colony to be hippies. McCoy says "Jim Boy" a lot. Why would being a hippy turn him into a stereotype? He wants to drink a mint julip! Spock tell Kirk the planet is a true Eden with no wants or needs. Kirk says man stagnates without those things. Kirk is alone on the ship and doesn't know what to do. What can he offer against paradise? A plant spookily appears on the bridge and shoots Kirk and he does a creepy Shatner grin. He tells Spock he understands now and will join him. But right away he looks at a medal he won (for being a great captain!) and snaps out of it. There's some "great" Shatner acting as he says "I...CAN'T...LEAVE!" He realises anger is the cure. I don't know why looking at that medal made him angry.
Kirk decides to turn Spock back first even though his great strength could kill him. Kirk trying to make Spock angry is a lot of fun. "Your father was a computer!" Spock snaps and decides to punch Kirk to death. Luckily he comes to his senses before killing him. Kirk asks Spock to build a subsonic transmitter to turn everyone else back. Layla calls Spock and I suppose it's sad that he doesn't love her anymore but I don't really care about her or their relationship. She begs Spock to come back as the sad music plays for the fiftieth time. She asks if he has another name and he says she couldn't pronounce it, which is quite sweet at least. The subsonic transmitter works and everyone starts fighting. Luckily they don't kill each other before they turn back! The colony leader realises that they've done nothing in three years and they're wasting their life. That's the message of the episode. Spock says for the first time in his life he was happy and that's the end.
This is an episode that sounds better when you recap it than when you actually watch it. The big draw is Spock showing emotions and that is fun and the part with him hanging from a tree is great, yes, but it's not enough to fill fifty minutes. There's a message expressed by Kirk that if everyone was a hippy we'd never get things done and that's fine, but the episode doens't really explore it or anything. Compare it to the previous episode where they argued both sides well. We don't even see much of what life on the colony is like. And over the top southern McCoy is cringeworthy. So yeah, there's good parts here (the Spock/Kirk fight is fun...but there's a much better one coming next season) but on the whole I find it dull.
SCORE: 6.5/10