Cast:Shari Nims (Sayana)
David Soul (Makora)
Celeste Yarnell (Yeoman Martha Landon)
Keith Andes (Akuta)
Mal Friedman (Hendorff)
Jerry Daniels (Marple)
This is the kind of episode that I dread when watching a large number of original Star Trek episodes. Indeed, my dread of stuff like this actually account for why I it is taking me so long to get through these original episodes.
The crew of the Enterprise encounter a giant paper mache dragons head thing that contains a massive computer thing that is running the lives of all of the people on the planet (not that there are many, and no children). The computer stops the population from shagging and has put crap antenna in their heads that look rather like twisted bits of tin foil glued just behind their ears.
Some of the scripting is just awful as well. Before the opening titles, a member of the crew is killed by a plant that shoots poisanous spikes. So rather than beam back up to the ship and continue in some form of environment suit, they carry on and it is actually Kirk who nearly falls foul of them again. Add to these rocks that are chemically so unstable that treading on them makes them explode like a land mine and you are somewhere unfit for humans. After the death of a second crewmember (who trod on the wrong type of rock) Spock says that Kirk has behaved correctly and there was nothing else he could have done. Yeah, right.
Add to it the "it came from Russia" gag that is already wearing thin and the fact that the race on the planet learn about physical contact from watching Checkov snog some Yeoman... just skip this one. It's crap.
Crew Deaths: 2
Total Crew Deaths So Far: 32
Score: 3/10
1 comment:
I just watched this one and you are right, it's crap. I really dislike Chekhov and his incredibly inaccurate, phony Russia accent but in this episode he's particularly annoying.
In addition to that, and Kirk's bad judgment, I find it hard to believe that even then they couldn't have fashioned more believable props.
They're still using Fahrenheit in the 23rd century, and casually making references to Judeo-Christian mythology?
The lowest point for me was the discussion about what would happen if one of the indigenous people died - how they would be replaced.
This is an episode that is all about heavy-handed moralizing and lame comedy, but even so that scene was hard to watch. Spock getting flustered like that? That's not the Spock we know.
Post a Comment