of babies and tribbles
Jun. 9th, 2009 01:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitThis batch includes the show's best serious episode and best funny episode so far. Spoilery discussion of "Friday's Child," "The Deadly Years," "Obsession," "The Wolf in the Fold," and "The Trouble with Tribbles."
"Friday's Child"
This episode is a bunch of plotholes loosely held together by questionable characterization. WTF, Scotty not figuring out immediately that the distress call was a trap? WTF, inexplicable gap in which our guys and Eleen somehow find their communicators and escape from the encampment? WTF, McCoy hitting a pregnant woman???? (Yes, I know she hit him first, repeatedly. Even so. And why did he need to touch her belly anyway? What the hell is that supposed to do that his scanning equipment can't?)
The sexism of the set-up (nobody can touch the chief's wife!) is challenged in some ways by Eleen herself, who is a tough cookie and who, I suspect, will still be running the tribe after her son is grown. On the other hand, we do get Eleen falling in love with McCoy after/because he hit her, which, ICK.
Kirk and Spock both seem a little off in this episode, whereas Bones is awesome (apart from, you know, hitting Eleen). There's the best iteration of That Line so far: "I'm a doctor, not an escalator"! I love him being all cootchie-coo with the baby, too--he's much more maternal than Eleen. And McCoy trying to make Spock hold the baby is comedy gold.
In the realm of unintentional comedy, there's the bows and arrows, which are not exactly masterpieces of construction. They might possibly be able to shoot an arrow with enough force to cause a mild bruise at close range, but deadly weapons these things are not.
"The Deadly Years"
I'll admit it: I cried. The episode has personal resonance for me because of my mother's dementia, but it's also well-written and well-acted, with Shatner (who has to carry a lot of the emotional work of the story) toning down his mannerisms and achieving a lot with subtlety. The body language of all the aging characters--notably Kirk's twitchy, restless hands--is especially remarkable
Everything to do with Kirk's gradual loss of ability was brilliant and heartbreaking. The whole cast does a great job at conveying the pain and horror they feel even as they try to pretend everything is normal and to compensate for Kirk's memory problems. The bit with Kirk asleep in the command chair is great--the way everything on the bridge has just sort of stopped because they can't believe it's happening. And Spock, OMG Spock, showing so much grief with those tiny little microexpressions that are all he allows himself.
I particularly like how the competency hearing was handled: Spock's illogical reluctance to hold it at all and his grim determination to do his duty once he has no choice; the witnesses' attempts to protect Kirk; the commodore's admiration for Kirk, which makes the story much more effective than if he'd just been a heartless bureaucrat. And then of course there's the aftermath--Kirk's rejection of Spock for "betraying" him. That whole speech (with the sad violins in the background!) just about kills me, especially the very end, when Kirk says "I never want to have to look at you again" and Spock just ducks his head and walks away. *sniffles*
The plot stuff with the neutral zone and the Klingons wasn't really necessary, and I didn't like how the commodore was shown as incompetent. That undermined what I'd liked before about him not being malicious or stupid as obstacle characters usually are. It was funny when Kirk used the corbomite bluff again, though.
Another randomly funny thing: the early scene with Kirk changing his shirt (*takes a drink*). What's great is that when he decides to call Spock on the video communicator thing, he puts down the shirt in his hand so that he can make the call still shirtless. The secret of Kirk's success is multi-tasking: he can take care of vital ship's business and seduce Spock at the same time!
"Obsession"
It's unfortunate that this was aired right after "The Deadly Years," since this episode requires McCoy and Spock to threaten to declare Kirk unfit for command--it's too similar. I suspect that the network's airing schedule was made by pulling episode titles out of a hat. Certainly there's no discernable principle behind it.
The plot here doesn't make much sense; surely the fact that the symptoms displayed in the current deaths are identical to the symptoms of the massacred crew on the Farragut should be evidence enough? At least it should prove that Kirk isn't crazy.
On the other hand, I do find myself wondering if Kirk, who's a survivor of two massacres (the one on Tarsus IV when he was a boy and the one on the Farragut), has ever received adequate therapy. The man has a serious guilt complex with much deeper origins than just his sense of responsibility as captain. Given what he's been through, there's no way he wouldn't have issues with survivor's guilt.
Kirk's guilt might make some sense of what's otherwise inexplicable--the choice to hang around on the planet while the energy creature finds the antimatter. WTF? The antimatter explosion is so powerful that it doesn't matter if the creature's right on top of the stuff or 20 yards away, so there's no reason for him and Garrovick to hang around as bait. It's Kirk's need to put himself at risk, to have the chance of dying, as part of him obviously feels he should have died years ago (and he inflicts it on Garrovick, his alter ego, as well).
I'm charmed by Spock's attempt at amateur therapy (i.e., logic-ing Kirk out of his guilt) and the fact that when it doesn't work on Kirk, he tries again with Garrovick. Spock, obviously you do have feelings or you wouldn't care so much aboutKirk's other people's.
And finally: I know the special effects budget was low, but you'd think someone would've realized that when Kirk thumps on a rock, it shouldn't sound hollow. Paging the Foley editor.
"Wolf in the Fold"
Wait, what? Scotty's been injured in an explosion that was all a woman's fault, so he's started to hate women, so Kirk and McCoy take him to the Planet of Free Love so that he can get laid and feel better?! Thank god the Enterprise will someday have a qualified psychologist on staff. (All right, according to "The Court Martial," McCoy is a qualified psychologist--in fact, a specialist in space psychology--but that's less believable than the styrofoam rocks.)
Initially I thought this episode was going for double fail, with Orientalism on top of the usual sexism. And I'm still not happy about the belly-dancing scene, but the story uses the superficial Orientalism to good effect. The planetary administrator, the one who's in a Federation-style (i.e., western-style) suit and talks about how the locals are "gentle, harmless people," but "not very efficient, you know" turns out to be the killer. Meanwhile, the local leader is smart and independent-minded, and his wife really does have telepathy that provides key clues to finding the killer. Plus, the local culture of hedonism and (it's strongly implied) non-monogamy is not shown as "stagnation" that the Federation needs to fix, nor is the dead woman's fiancé's jealousy depicted as a sign that he knows what real, natural love should be. Nope, the local culture works just fine and has prevented violence for centuries, and jealous!guy's possessiveness had driven away the woman he loves even before she was killed. This episode is the only instance I can recall so far in Trek where a non-high-tech culture is treated with full respect.
On one level I wasn't thrilled with the choice of Hengist as villain, and that's his "effeminacy." Even though Hengist is supposedly an alien predator rather than a human serial killer, I suspect a Freudian narrative at work under the surface. (And I rolled my eyes at the time-travelling-Jack-the-Ripper idea, but perhaps this was the first use of it and it wasn't a cliché yet.)
I can't say I enjoyed this episode much, except for seeing the crew high on happy shots (especially Sulu, who is always awesome and should get more screen time) and Kirk trying to talk Spock into going to the café with the sexy women. Darling Kirk, if it doesn't seem worthwhile going to hang out with sexy women unless you bring your male friends along . . . perhaps you ought to think about that.
"The Trouble With Tribbles"
What is there to say about this one, really? It's hilarious and I loved seeing the show poke fun at itself a bit.
Best bits: Chekov going shopping with Uhura (now I want Uhura-n-Chekov friendship fic); Spock stroking the tribble while proclaiming himself immune to its effects; Kirk and Spock randomly wandering the ship together (apparently this is how they spend their off-duty time); the general married-ness of Kirk and Spock in this episode, like Spock directing Quelling Looks at Kirk whenever he starts to yell at the bureaucrats; Scotty preferring technical journals to shore leave; the whole brawl scene, but especially Cyrano Jones taking advantage of the chaos to get himself free drinks; unexpected use of the word "bisexual," even though it was used to mean "hermaphroditic"; and Kirk up to his manly chest in tribbles, with more falling on his head.
There's excellent Spock-McCoy bickering, too, notably this scene:
An ermine violin, Spock? Have you been reading surrealist poetry or something?
Excellent fun, and I wish more than one of David Gerrold's scripts had been produced.
*****
"Friday's Child"
This episode is a bunch of plotholes loosely held together by questionable characterization. WTF, Scotty not figuring out immediately that the distress call was a trap? WTF, inexplicable gap in which our guys and Eleen somehow find their communicators and escape from the encampment? WTF, McCoy hitting a pregnant woman???? (Yes, I know she hit him first, repeatedly. Even so. And why did he need to touch her belly anyway? What the hell is that supposed to do that his scanning equipment can't?)
The sexism of the set-up (nobody can touch the chief's wife!) is challenged in some ways by Eleen herself, who is a tough cookie and who, I suspect, will still be running the tribe after her son is grown. On the other hand, we do get Eleen falling in love with McCoy after/because he hit her, which, ICK.
Kirk and Spock both seem a little off in this episode, whereas Bones is awesome (apart from, you know, hitting Eleen). There's the best iteration of That Line so far: "I'm a doctor, not an escalator"! I love him being all cootchie-coo with the baby, too--he's much more maternal than Eleen. And McCoy trying to make Spock hold the baby is comedy gold.
In the realm of unintentional comedy, there's the bows and arrows, which are not exactly masterpieces of construction. They might possibly be able to shoot an arrow with enough force to cause a mild bruise at close range, but deadly weapons these things are not.
"The Deadly Years"
I'll admit it: I cried. The episode has personal resonance for me because of my mother's dementia, but it's also well-written and well-acted, with Shatner (who has to carry a lot of the emotional work of the story) toning down his mannerisms and achieving a lot with subtlety. The body language of all the aging characters--notably Kirk's twitchy, restless hands--is especially remarkable
Everything to do with Kirk's gradual loss of ability was brilliant and heartbreaking. The whole cast does a great job at conveying the pain and horror they feel even as they try to pretend everything is normal and to compensate for Kirk's memory problems. The bit with Kirk asleep in the command chair is great--the way everything on the bridge has just sort of stopped because they can't believe it's happening. And Spock, OMG Spock, showing so much grief with those tiny little microexpressions that are all he allows himself.
I particularly like how the competency hearing was handled: Spock's illogical reluctance to hold it at all and his grim determination to do his duty once he has no choice; the witnesses' attempts to protect Kirk; the commodore's admiration for Kirk, which makes the story much more effective than if he'd just been a heartless bureaucrat. And then of course there's the aftermath--Kirk's rejection of Spock for "betraying" him. That whole speech (with the sad violins in the background!) just about kills me, especially the very end, when Kirk says "I never want to have to look at you again" and Spock just ducks his head and walks away. *sniffles*
The plot stuff with the neutral zone and the Klingons wasn't really necessary, and I didn't like how the commodore was shown as incompetent. That undermined what I'd liked before about him not being malicious or stupid as obstacle characters usually are. It was funny when Kirk used the corbomite bluff again, though.
Another randomly funny thing: the early scene with Kirk changing his shirt (*takes a drink*). What's great is that when he decides to call Spock on the video communicator thing, he puts down the shirt in his hand so that he can make the call still shirtless. The secret of Kirk's success is multi-tasking: he can take care of vital ship's business and seduce Spock at the same time!
"Obsession"
It's unfortunate that this was aired right after "The Deadly Years," since this episode requires McCoy and Spock to threaten to declare Kirk unfit for command--it's too similar. I suspect that the network's airing schedule was made by pulling episode titles out of a hat. Certainly there's no discernable principle behind it.
The plot here doesn't make much sense; surely the fact that the symptoms displayed in the current deaths are identical to the symptoms of the massacred crew on the Farragut should be evidence enough? At least it should prove that Kirk isn't crazy.
On the other hand, I do find myself wondering if Kirk, who's a survivor of two massacres (the one on Tarsus IV when he was a boy and the one on the Farragut), has ever received adequate therapy. The man has a serious guilt complex with much deeper origins than just his sense of responsibility as captain. Given what he's been through, there's no way he wouldn't have issues with survivor's guilt.
Kirk's guilt might make some sense of what's otherwise inexplicable--the choice to hang around on the planet while the energy creature finds the antimatter. WTF? The antimatter explosion is so powerful that it doesn't matter if the creature's right on top of the stuff or 20 yards away, so there's no reason for him and Garrovick to hang around as bait. It's Kirk's need to put himself at risk, to have the chance of dying, as part of him obviously feels he should have died years ago (and he inflicts it on Garrovick, his alter ego, as well).
I'm charmed by Spock's attempt at amateur therapy (i.e., logic-ing Kirk out of his guilt) and the fact that when it doesn't work on Kirk, he tries again with Garrovick. Spock, obviously you do have feelings or you wouldn't care so much about
And finally: I know the special effects budget was low, but you'd think someone would've realized that when Kirk thumps on a rock, it shouldn't sound hollow. Paging the Foley editor.
"Wolf in the Fold"
Wait, what? Scotty's been injured in an explosion that was all a woman's fault, so he's started to hate women, so Kirk and McCoy take him to the Planet of Free Love so that he can get laid and feel better?! Thank god the Enterprise will someday have a qualified psychologist on staff. (All right, according to "The Court Martial," McCoy is a qualified psychologist--in fact, a specialist in space psychology--but that's less believable than the styrofoam rocks.)
Initially I thought this episode was going for double fail, with Orientalism on top of the usual sexism. And I'm still not happy about the belly-dancing scene, but the story uses the superficial Orientalism to good effect. The planetary administrator, the one who's in a Federation-style (i.e., western-style) suit and talks about how the locals are "gentle, harmless people," but "not very efficient, you know" turns out to be the killer. Meanwhile, the local leader is smart and independent-minded, and his wife really does have telepathy that provides key clues to finding the killer. Plus, the local culture of hedonism and (it's strongly implied) non-monogamy is not shown as "stagnation" that the Federation needs to fix, nor is the dead woman's fiancé's jealousy depicted as a sign that he knows what real, natural love should be. Nope, the local culture works just fine and has prevented violence for centuries, and jealous!guy's possessiveness had driven away the woman he loves even before she was killed. This episode is the only instance I can recall so far in Trek where a non-high-tech culture is treated with full respect.
On one level I wasn't thrilled with the choice of Hengist as villain, and that's his "effeminacy." Even though Hengist is supposedly an alien predator rather than a human serial killer, I suspect a Freudian narrative at work under the surface. (And I rolled my eyes at the time-travelling-Jack-the-Ripper idea, but perhaps this was the first use of it and it wasn't a cliché yet.)
I can't say I enjoyed this episode much, except for seeing the crew high on happy shots (especially Sulu, who is always awesome and should get more screen time) and Kirk trying to talk Spock into going to the café with the sexy women. Darling Kirk, if it doesn't seem worthwhile going to hang out with sexy women unless you bring your male friends along . . . perhaps you ought to think about that.
"The Trouble With Tribbles"
What is there to say about this one, really? It's hilarious and I loved seeing the show poke fun at itself a bit.
Best bits: Chekov going shopping with Uhura (now I want Uhura-n-Chekov friendship fic); Spock stroking the tribble while proclaiming himself immune to its effects; Kirk and Spock randomly wandering the ship together (apparently this is how they spend their off-duty time); the general married-ness of Kirk and Spock in this episode, like Spock directing Quelling Looks at Kirk whenever he starts to yell at the bureaucrats; Scotty preferring technical journals to shore leave; the whole brawl scene, but especially Cyrano Jones taking advantage of the chaos to get himself free drinks; unexpected use of the word "bisexual," even though it was used to mean "hermaphroditic"; and Kirk up to his manly chest in tribbles, with more falling on his head.
There's excellent Spock-McCoy bickering, too, notably this scene:
Spock: I see no practical use for them.
McCoy: Does everything have to have a practical use for you? They're nice, they're soft, and they're furry, and they make a pleasant sound.
Spock: So would an ermine violin, doctor, but I see no advantage in having one.
McCoy: It is a human characteristic to love little animals, especially if they're attractive in some way.
Spock: Doctor, I am well aware of human characteristics. I am frequently inundated by them, but I have trained myself to put up with practically anything.
McCoy: Spock, I don't know too much about these little Tribbles yet, but there is one thing that I have discovered.
Spock: What is that, doctor?
McCoy: I like them. Better than I like you.
Spock: Doctor, they do indeed have one redeeming characteristic. They do not talk too much.
An ermine violin, Spock? Have you been reading surrealist poetry or something?
Excellent fun, and I wish more than one of David Gerrold's scripts had been produced.
*****
