TOS reviews, yet again
Jul. 7th, 2009 02:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitI needed a little time away from watching Star Trek, but I've resumed now and have started season 3 of TOS. Spoilers under the cut for "Spock's Brain," "The Enterprise Incident," and "The Paradise Syndrome."
"Spock's Brain"
This is the episode everyone hates. I thought it was bad but not more so than, say, "The Alternative Factor" or "Who Mourns for Adonais." And by TOS standards the sexism wasn't especially outrageous; there are other episodes that bug me more in that regard. Although Kirk being completely unable to wrap his head around the idea that a woman might be in charge was pretty fail. And the planet's men referring to women as "the givers of pain and delight" . . . dear TOS writers: your weird sex issues, stop showing me them!
This episode does have some moments of greatness, including the most (unintentionally) hilarious line in TOS so far. Kirk is horrified to discover that Spock's in sickbay, and, voice swelling with emotion, demands of McCoy: "You've got him on complete life support. Why's he dead?" Normally I'm a sucker for slashy manpain, but "Why's he dead?" made me hit pause and laugh for a very long time.
Remote-controlled!Spock was also great. In less dire circumstances I think McCoy would've had fun with that. And McCoy gets to be awesome, what with the bravery and the saving the day with his doctorly learnings (new and old). I wish they'd trusted DeForest Kelley's acting a bit more, though, and not overegged the pudding in the surgery scene with weird blue uplighting and gallons of fake sweat.
In terms of slash (because when am I not thinking in terms of slash?), I noticed McCoy remarking upon Spock's "incredible Vulcan physique." By which he supposedly meant something like "endurance," but we know better, right? I'm now convinced that McCoy has a thing for Vulcans, and all those nasty cracks about pointy-eared devils are just overcompensation.
There's some nice Kirk/Spock, especially Spock's line "Captain, there is a definite pleasurable experience connected with the hearing of your voice." Mmm hmm. Tell us more about this pleasure you're feeling, Spock.
The best slashy bit, though, is between Kirk and McCoy, when McCoy collapses after the teacher program feeds him the surgical knowledge. Kirk holds him and just beams at him, which is obviously a way of saying, "You're gettin' some tonight, doctor, because you are just too wonderful not to sex up."
There should be Kirk/Spock/McCoy threesome fic set after this episode. Kirk is grateful that his boyfriend's not dead, and Spock's grateful not to be dead, and they talk it over and decide to express their gratitude with blowjobs. As you do.
"The Enterprise Incident"
OMG THIS EPISODE HAS A FEMALE CHARACTER WHO DOES NOT MAKE ME HEADDESK WITH FEMINIST RAGE, OMG OMG!
Ahem. Yes. The way the Romulan commander is depicted is 99% win. The other 1% being the line "If you will give me a moment, the soldier will transform herself into a woman." That line, though, doesn't actually reflect what's going on in the scene at all. I've heard this episode described as "the one where Spock seduces the Romulan commander to steal the cloaking device," but it's not. It's clear from various things (such as the fact that Spock's dinner with the commander screws up the timing of the heist) that there was no plan to seduce her--and how could there have been, given that they didn't know the commander would be a woman? More importantly, he doesn't seduce her, she seduces him. She's the initiator of everything.
Basically, she is Kirk. She's all "Ooh, hello hottie, let's spend some quality time together," and then she really starts to fall for him just like Kirk often falls for the women he meets. And I do think it's fabulous that in order to give Spock a love story that didn't involve alien sex pollen, they had to write a female Kirk.
Here's my new theory: Spock has a thing for (good) commanding officers. First there was Captain Pike, to whom Spock was so devoted that he mutinied in order to let Pike be happy. Then there was Kirk, and then there's the Romulan commander. These are three iterations of the same phenomenon. Emotionally, regardless of what he does in bed, Spock is a total bottom.
Two other things, one serious and one not. First, I wonder if the R.C. has a point when she suggests that species-ist prejudice is the reason Spock hasn't been offered a command.
And second: Kirk's pointy ears and angled eyebrows, oh yes. It looks rather strange on him, actually, but it's still a nifty moment. So among the 5000 other fanfics that I wished existed for TOS is one where Spock (or, given his Vulcan fetish, McCoy) finds Kirk's new look unbearably hot. Obviously Spock's comment at the end of the episode about the ears being "unaesthetic" on a human is just a cover for his true reaction, which is "I want to do you right here on the bridge and if you don't go away my self-control might not hold."
"The Paradise Syndrome"
I had a bad feeling about this episode as soon as I saw, from the summary, that it involved Native Americans. And oh, was I right. Noble savage stereotypes, white guy taken for a god, and white actors painted a very light brown. Ick. They didn't say "how," though, or use the words "braves" and "squaws," so I guess that's something. Maybe. TOS is pretty good about not being racist, most of the time, but Native Americans are often the subject of a romanticizing liberal racism, and the show falls right into it.
When Kirk introduced the locals to lamps and the concept of food preservation, I didn't know whether to laugh or kill something. Not only would they have had those technologies already, but Kirk would've been an incompetent idiot in this culture. He wouldn't have any useful skills like hunting or weapons-making; far from becoming a leader, he'd be completely dependent.
I was also irritated by the insistence that the tribe's life was paradisiacal. I'll bet Kirk would've felt differently if he'd beamed down during the winter (and there must be winters, since the pine trees indicate a coolish climate).
It's been implied in other episodes that part of Kirk longs for a quiet life without responsibilities, but that was taken a lot further here. Are we really supposed to believe this is the first time Kirk's ever been happy? Surely commanding the Enterprise makes him happy, even if it also sometimes leaves him longing for peace, leisure, and quiet? I think this inconsistency happens partly because the show doesn't care to challenge too energetically the idea that real happiness comes from marriage and children. If Kirk was happiest out among the stars, unmarried, without a blood family, that would either make him look too much like a playboy or make him look too gay.
Speaking of Kirk's gay marriage, poor Spock. Unable to eat or sleep, working and worrying himself half to death while Kirk's forgotten all about him. And McCoy's idea of emotional support is, as always, bizarre. Yelling at Spock for screwing up and then yelling at him for overworking to fix the screwup is kind of a mixed message, doctor.
(Randomly: Spock mentions "offshoots" of Vulcan culture that use musical tones as words. Was this ever followed up on? I wonder if he means subcultures on Vulcan itself, or more Vulcan-descended peoples like the Romulans.)
The episode ending with the death of a pregnant woman was a bit of a shock. I suppose there was no other way to do it--obviously they couldn't show Kirk abandoning Miramanee and their child--but it's pretty damn grim. I'm surprised that fanfic usually cites Edith Keeler, rather than Miramanee, as the great tragic love affair of Kirk's life. Kirk wasn't fully himself when he fell in love with Miramanee, of course. I hope that's the reason for the de-emphasis, rather than seeing a woman of color as less important.
*****
"Spock's Brain"
This is the episode everyone hates. I thought it was bad but not more so than, say, "The Alternative Factor" or "Who Mourns for Adonais." And by TOS standards the sexism wasn't especially outrageous; there are other episodes that bug me more in that regard. Although Kirk being completely unable to wrap his head around the idea that a woman might be in charge was pretty fail. And the planet's men referring to women as "the givers of pain and delight" . . . dear TOS writers: your weird sex issues, stop showing me them!
This episode does have some moments of greatness, including the most (unintentionally) hilarious line in TOS so far. Kirk is horrified to discover that Spock's in sickbay, and, voice swelling with emotion, demands of McCoy: "You've got him on complete life support. Why's he dead?" Normally I'm a sucker for slashy manpain, but "Why's he dead?" made me hit pause and laugh for a very long time.
Remote-controlled!Spock was also great. In less dire circumstances I think McCoy would've had fun with that. And McCoy gets to be awesome, what with the bravery and the saving the day with his doctorly learnings (new and old). I wish they'd trusted DeForest Kelley's acting a bit more, though, and not overegged the pudding in the surgery scene with weird blue uplighting and gallons of fake sweat.
In terms of slash (because when am I not thinking in terms of slash?), I noticed McCoy remarking upon Spock's "incredible Vulcan physique." By which he supposedly meant something like "endurance," but we know better, right? I'm now convinced that McCoy has a thing for Vulcans, and all those nasty cracks about pointy-eared devils are just overcompensation.
There's some nice Kirk/Spock, especially Spock's line "Captain, there is a definite pleasurable experience connected with the hearing of your voice." Mmm hmm. Tell us more about this pleasure you're feeling, Spock.
The best slashy bit, though, is between Kirk and McCoy, when McCoy collapses after the teacher program feeds him the surgical knowledge. Kirk holds him and just beams at him, which is obviously a way of saying, "You're gettin' some tonight, doctor, because you are just too wonderful not to sex up."
There should be Kirk/Spock/McCoy threesome fic set after this episode. Kirk is grateful that his boyfriend's not dead, and Spock's grateful not to be dead, and they talk it over and decide to express their gratitude with blowjobs. As you do.
"The Enterprise Incident"
OMG THIS EPISODE HAS A FEMALE CHARACTER WHO DOES NOT MAKE ME HEADDESK WITH FEMINIST RAGE, OMG OMG!
Ahem. Yes. The way the Romulan commander is depicted is 99% win. The other 1% being the line "If you will give me a moment, the soldier will transform herself into a woman." That line, though, doesn't actually reflect what's going on in the scene at all. I've heard this episode described as "the one where Spock seduces the Romulan commander to steal the cloaking device," but it's not. It's clear from various things (such as the fact that Spock's dinner with the commander screws up the timing of the heist) that there was no plan to seduce her--and how could there have been, given that they didn't know the commander would be a woman? More importantly, he doesn't seduce her, she seduces him. She's the initiator of everything.
Basically, she is Kirk. She's all "Ooh, hello hottie, let's spend some quality time together," and then she really starts to fall for him just like Kirk often falls for the women he meets. And I do think it's fabulous that in order to give Spock a love story that didn't involve alien sex pollen, they had to write a female Kirk.
Here's my new theory: Spock has a thing for (good) commanding officers. First there was Captain Pike, to whom Spock was so devoted that he mutinied in order to let Pike be happy. Then there was Kirk, and then there's the Romulan commander. These are three iterations of the same phenomenon. Emotionally, regardless of what he does in bed, Spock is a total bottom.
Two other things, one serious and one not. First, I wonder if the R.C. has a point when she suggests that species-ist prejudice is the reason Spock hasn't been offered a command.
And second: Kirk's pointy ears and angled eyebrows, oh yes. It looks rather strange on him, actually, but it's still a nifty moment. So among the 5000 other fanfics that I wished existed for TOS is one where Spock (or, given his Vulcan fetish, McCoy) finds Kirk's new look unbearably hot. Obviously Spock's comment at the end of the episode about the ears being "unaesthetic" on a human is just a cover for his true reaction, which is "I want to do you right here on the bridge and if you don't go away my self-control might not hold."
"The Paradise Syndrome"
I had a bad feeling about this episode as soon as I saw, from the summary, that it involved Native Americans. And oh, was I right. Noble savage stereotypes, white guy taken for a god, and white actors painted a very light brown. Ick. They didn't say "how," though, or use the words "braves" and "squaws," so I guess that's something. Maybe. TOS is pretty good about not being racist, most of the time, but Native Americans are often the subject of a romanticizing liberal racism, and the show falls right into it.
When Kirk introduced the locals to lamps and the concept of food preservation, I didn't know whether to laugh or kill something. Not only would they have had those technologies already, but Kirk would've been an incompetent idiot in this culture. He wouldn't have any useful skills like hunting or weapons-making; far from becoming a leader, he'd be completely dependent.
I was also irritated by the insistence that the tribe's life was paradisiacal. I'll bet Kirk would've felt differently if he'd beamed down during the winter (and there must be winters, since the pine trees indicate a coolish climate).
It's been implied in other episodes that part of Kirk longs for a quiet life without responsibilities, but that was taken a lot further here. Are we really supposed to believe this is the first time Kirk's ever been happy? Surely commanding the Enterprise makes him happy, even if it also sometimes leaves him longing for peace, leisure, and quiet? I think this inconsistency happens partly because the show doesn't care to challenge too energetically the idea that real happiness comes from marriage and children. If Kirk was happiest out among the stars, unmarried, without a blood family, that would either make him look too much like a playboy or make him look too gay.
Speaking of Kirk's gay marriage, poor Spock. Unable to eat or sleep, working and worrying himself half to death while Kirk's forgotten all about him. And McCoy's idea of emotional support is, as always, bizarre. Yelling at Spock for screwing up and then yelling at him for overworking to fix the screwup is kind of a mixed message, doctor.
(Randomly: Spock mentions "offshoots" of Vulcan culture that use musical tones as words. Was this ever followed up on? I wonder if he means subcultures on Vulcan itself, or more Vulcan-descended peoples like the Romulans.)
The episode ending with the death of a pregnant woman was a bit of a shock. I suppose there was no other way to do it--obviously they couldn't show Kirk abandoning Miramanee and their child--but it's pretty damn grim. I'm surprised that fanfic usually cites Edith Keeler, rather than Miramanee, as the great tragic love affair of Kirk's life. Kirk wasn't fully himself when he fell in love with Miramanee, of course. I hope that's the reason for the de-emphasis, rather than seeing a woman of color as less important.
*****
no subject
Date: 2009-07-07 12:09 pm (UTC)Are you familiar with The Price of the Phoenix and The Fate of the Phoenix? (Spoilery reviews, but if you're mainly reading with slash goggles, you probably won't mind.)
Spock mentions "offshoots" of Vulcan culture that use musical tones as words. Was this ever followed up on?
Not onscreen, AFAIK, and not in published novels up to the late 1980s. I lost touch with the books after that.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-07 06:43 pm (UTC)