TOS reviews
Jul. 19th, 2009 11:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitSpoilers under the cut for "Plato's Stepchildren," "Wink of an Eye," "The Empath," and "Elaan of Troyius."
"Plato's Stepchildren"
This episode made me deeply uncomfortable because it's so incoherent in how it portrays what's done to Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Superficially, of course, we're supposed to sympathize with our heroes as they're tortured. The Platonians are vicious voyeurs and sadists, as the text tells us repeatedly (and shows us quite effectively in their reactions to what they see).
And yet, a lot of what we (like them) see is pleasurable to watch. It's hard not to laugh at Kirk being made to slap himself or Spock dancing and singing. It's sexy to see them half-naked, especially Spock (who doesn't get undressed nearly enough, in my opinion). Even Kirk snapping a whip at Uhura has an aspect of kinky titillation (and, of course, a number of highly unpleasant aspects, including skeevy racial symbolism).
If I thought the show was deliberately making the audience complicit in order to make us question ourselves, I'd be all for it. But I don't feel that kind of metacommentary happening here; the episode's not even as self-aware as "Bread and Circuses," with its TV industry parody. It's not a deliberate ambiguity or a problematization of how we enjoy watching suffering; I think the audience is meant to roundly condemn the Platonians without questioning itself at all.
Just to make things weirder, there's the fact that the actors are clearly having a hell of a good time. Especially Nimoy, who I'm sure found the Spock role terribly constraining. According to Memory Alpha he wrote the song he sings in this episode, and naturally enough he delivers it with gusto. I'm certainly in favor of the actors having fun, but there's a vast difference of context between this episode and "I, Mudd," where the crazy shenanigans are a ploy by the characters. Here, everything we're seeing is inflicted on the characters as psychological torture (and, when we get to the forced kissing, sexual assault).
It's also notable that Spock gets more torture than anybody else. It's easier to torture Spock, of course, because for him, behaviors that are normal for a human are taboo and humiliating. But I'm still uncomfortable about the amount of gleeful Spock-torture in this episode, and also with how often the show does this kind of thing to him. In the comments on another of my review posts,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
starlady38 argued that all of the Star Trek series have a tendency to punish Vulcan characters for being Vulcans. I can't speak to the other series, not having seen them, but I do think this is accurate for TOS. No other character has the foundations of his self-image undermined again and again as Spock does. No other character's ordinary behavior is subject to such criticism or repeatedly shown to be in the wrong. Since the show treats human culture as monolithic, apart from a few surface trappings like Uhura's African art or Chekov's accent, I'd say its celebration of diversity is a lot more lip-service than practice. The one character who genuinely shows difference is repeatedly made to suffer for it. (And I say this as someone who thinks that Vulcan culture is pretty fucked-up and that Spock really would benefit from allowing himself more emotional expression.)
The episode's treatment of Alexander has similar problems. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy treat him a lot better than his fellow Platonians do, of course. But Kirk's claim that "where I come from size, shape, or color makes no difference" doesn't hold up well against the way Kirk patronizes him. Kirk speaks to him like he's a child just because his body is small. And there are a couple of size jokes that infuriated me, such as Kirk telling Scotty at the end that "I've got a little surprise." Michael Dunn, who plays Alexander, does a lot to rescue the character from being comic relief, but he's struggling against a script that, again, isn't nearly as pro-diversity as it thinks it is. I'd also note the scene where the weeping Spock lays his head in Alexander's lap. On the one hand, it's an incredibly sweet moment of caring, and I love how concerned Alexander is throughout the episode about Spock's well-being. On the other hand, if Alexander were an average-sized man instead of a dwarf, there's no way in hell the scene would've been played that way, because it would've seemed too potentially erotic. But Alexander's dwarfism apparently disqualifies him from being seen as a sexual adult, so it's okay for him and Spock to cuddle.
Although I obviously have reservations about the episode's treatment of Spock, I have to say that Nimoy gives a great performance. The scene after the first torture session, when Spock is practically catatonic at first as he tries to cope with what's been done to him, is especially outstanding. McCoy's attempts at consolation are lovely as well, even though he Does It Wrong. It always makes me happy to see McCoy get protective of Spock or vice versa.
The forced kiss between Spock and Christine Chapel is wrenching; whenever Chapel has to confront her feelings about Spock, Majel Barrett gives her a dignified vulnerability that transcends the generally unsubtle writing.
Nichelle Nichols, similarly, gives Uhura strength and dignity even when the kiss-scene dialogue tries to turn her into another of Kirk's conquests. Her delivery of "I am not afraid" mercifully washes away the previous quasi-romantic stuff about how Kirk is the awesomest captain ever. The kiss itself, widely applauded due to its being the first interracial kiss (between fictional characters) on American television, was such a cop-out by the network that I wanted to throw things. Change of camera angle so that viewers won't have to sully their eyes = FAIL.
You might not believe it from this review, but there was a lot I enjoyed about this episode as I was watching it. Unfortunately, the more I thought about it, the more disturbed I became.
"Wink of an Eye"
Trippy time-slowing effects! Spock making a dreadful pun! Kirk seducing Deela to save his ship! Deela consistently being smarter than Kirk and not fooled by his shenanigans! The Scalosian men's shiny, sparkly princess outfits!
Spock risking being caught in the altered timestream to save Kirk! Kirk greeting him with a little smile! The two of them wordlessly understanding each other!
Also, less exclamation-pointy, Kathie Browne as Deela reminded me so much of Gwyneth Paltrow that it was eerie.
And that's absolutely all I have to say about this one.
"The Empath"
In which McCoy is the woobiest woobie and finally gets the love he deserves from Kirk and Spock. Yes, that's what this episode is about. If you're me.
Like "Plato's Stepchildren," this episode has a lot of tortureporn. I'm less uncomfortable with this one, though, perhaps because Spock isn't getting the brunt of it (or indeed any of it), perhaps because the element of humiliation is absent. It certainly is presented for our viewing pleasure, though, or at least the Kirk-torture is: shirtless!sweaty!Shatner, still reasonably fit after the hiatus, is displayed in all his glory. McCoy, notably, keeps his shirt on.
"The Empath" is the ultimate OT3 episode. The boys' mutual protectiveness is just lovely, especially the way they all keep trying to take each other's place as victim. I love Spock approving of McCoy using the hypo on Kirk so he won't have to choose between them, especially the way Spock obviously delights in telling McCoy that his plan has partially backfired--Spock's in charge now, and Spock's going to be the one to go. Even more, I love McCoy waiting until he's distracted and hypo-ing him too.
Best of all, I love all the tenderness and cuddliness. There's a sweet and completely wordless bit after Kirk is returned from being tortured. Spock sits down beside him and just looks at him for a long moment, until Gem catches him at it. She then touches him, presumably gets a blast of everything he's feeling, and smiles very soppily. It's adorable. Even more remarkable is the way Spock touches the dying McCoy. There's no necessity for it, no logical justification; it's pure affection and comfort, to the point that McCoy even says, "You've got a good bedside manner, Spock." *melts into a gooey puddle*
We also see the uglier side of the intense tie between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. They're not much more concerned than the Vians are about the risk Gem takes when she uses her healing powers. In fact, McCoy seems about ready to force her to heal Kirk, and at that point they've got no idea at all of how much she can do without damaging herself. McCoy's only concession is to say that she might know Kirk well enough yet to want to risk her life for him.
Kirk's eventual speechifying to the Vians about compassion has everything to do with McCoy and little to do with Gem, even though poor Gem's been tested like a lab rat and the Vians are going to let her entire species die if she fails. It's an interesting (although probably unintentional) commentary on the moral ambiguity of individual love--the people we love mean so much to us that we're quite often willing to let other people suffer if it will help/protect those we love. I imagine this is a subject on which Spock meditates often.
"Elaan of Troyius"
I was very much the resistant reader with this episode, because instead of wanting Elaan to grow up and learn responsibility, I wanted her to escape. I mean, WTF, does the Federation not have any kind of human rights legislation? The poor woman keeps saying that she doesn't want to go to Troyius, she doesn't want to be forced to marry the Troyian ruler, and nobody does a damn thing to help her. I understand that the marriage is meant to create a much-needed peace between the planets, a peace which will be hugely beneficial to both societies, and that Elaan's personal wishes are pretty insignificant next to that. But that kind of self-sacrifice has to be her choice; it can't ethically be forced on her. Eventually she accepts the marriage as a necessity, but I'm still deeply dismayed that the Federation helped facilitate the marriage when it was obviously against her will.
Also, I liked Elaan much better when she was ill-mannered and butch than when she turned all stereotypically feminine and limited herself to the (stereotypically feminine) tactic of trying to manipulate Kirk. Naturally, this transition is presented in the episode as positive and a sign of her growing maturity, just as her earlier refusal to defer to Kirk and behave like a proper woman is shown as immaturity. Needless to say, Kirk threatening to spank her creeped me the hell out, especially since it's so obviously sexualized. (Let me hasten to add that I have no problem with spanking for fun among consenting adults. But the spanking threat in the episode is something else entirely, a strategy for enforcing male dominance against an uncooperative woman.)
The love-inducing tears thing was . . . interesting. Gosh, it's been a long time since Kirk has voluntarily (and in his right mind) had a relationship with a woman, hasn't it? Because obviously Spock won't stand for it. My favorite moment of the episode was Spock, towards the end, noticing anomalous readings on the bridge and saying "She is the source." That "she" is highly disdainful, as indeed is Spock's behavior towards her from the moment Kirk falls for her. (The scene is here at about 41:30 if you're curious.)
Even if one doesn't read it slashily, the fact that Kirk doesn't really fall as hard for her as he should have, given the power of the tears, is interesting. Spock says it's because "The Enterprise infected the captain long before the Dohlman did," and of course the show makes it clear time and again that no woman will ever mean as much to Kirk as his career does. This obviously relates to the sexist stereotype that men are roamers by nature and that women's role is to civilize them and make them stay put. Even so, I find it oddly refreshing, since modern American television relentlessly pushes the idea that not wanting familial domesticity is weird and bad, to see such a thoroughly undomestic hero.
A couple of random things to conclude. Ambassador Petri is wonderfully campy and I adore him. And the Elasian guards' costumes are the most pathetic things I've ever seen. According to Memory Alpha, they were made out of plastic placemats--and it shows. They look like something a busy parent would work up in an hour for a kid's Halloween costume. Clearly the costume department spent all their money on Elaan's outfits. And it's certainly no hardship to look at her in that blue dress.
*****
"Plato's Stepchildren"
This episode made me deeply uncomfortable because it's so incoherent in how it portrays what's done to Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Superficially, of course, we're supposed to sympathize with our heroes as they're tortured. The Platonians are vicious voyeurs and sadists, as the text tells us repeatedly (and shows us quite effectively in their reactions to what they see).
And yet, a lot of what we (like them) see is pleasurable to watch. It's hard not to laugh at Kirk being made to slap himself or Spock dancing and singing. It's sexy to see them half-naked, especially Spock (who doesn't get undressed nearly enough, in my opinion). Even Kirk snapping a whip at Uhura has an aspect of kinky titillation (and, of course, a number of highly unpleasant aspects, including skeevy racial symbolism).
If I thought the show was deliberately making the audience complicit in order to make us question ourselves, I'd be all for it. But I don't feel that kind of metacommentary happening here; the episode's not even as self-aware as "Bread and Circuses," with its TV industry parody. It's not a deliberate ambiguity or a problematization of how we enjoy watching suffering; I think the audience is meant to roundly condemn the Platonians without questioning itself at all.
Just to make things weirder, there's the fact that the actors are clearly having a hell of a good time. Especially Nimoy, who I'm sure found the Spock role terribly constraining. According to Memory Alpha he wrote the song he sings in this episode, and naturally enough he delivers it with gusto. I'm certainly in favor of the actors having fun, but there's a vast difference of context between this episode and "I, Mudd," where the crazy shenanigans are a ploy by the characters. Here, everything we're seeing is inflicted on the characters as psychological torture (and, when we get to the forced kissing, sexual assault).
It's also notable that Spock gets more torture than anybody else. It's easier to torture Spock, of course, because for him, behaviors that are normal for a human are taboo and humiliating. But I'm still uncomfortable about the amount of gleeful Spock-torture in this episode, and also with how often the show does this kind of thing to him. In the comments on another of my review posts,
starlady38 argued that all of the Star Trek series have a tendency to punish Vulcan characters for being Vulcans. I can't speak to the other series, not having seen them, but I do think this is accurate for TOS. No other character has the foundations of his self-image undermined again and again as Spock does. No other character's ordinary behavior is subject to such criticism or repeatedly shown to be in the wrong. Since the show treats human culture as monolithic, apart from a few surface trappings like Uhura's African art or Chekov's accent, I'd say its celebration of diversity is a lot more lip-service than practice. The one character who genuinely shows difference is repeatedly made to suffer for it. (And I say this as someone who thinks that Vulcan culture is pretty fucked-up and that Spock really would benefit from allowing himself more emotional expression.) The episode's treatment of Alexander has similar problems. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy treat him a lot better than his fellow Platonians do, of course. But Kirk's claim that "where I come from size, shape, or color makes no difference" doesn't hold up well against the way Kirk patronizes him. Kirk speaks to him like he's a child just because his body is small. And there are a couple of size jokes that infuriated me, such as Kirk telling Scotty at the end that "I've got a little surprise." Michael Dunn, who plays Alexander, does a lot to rescue the character from being comic relief, but he's struggling against a script that, again, isn't nearly as pro-diversity as it thinks it is. I'd also note the scene where the weeping Spock lays his head in Alexander's lap. On the one hand, it's an incredibly sweet moment of caring, and I love how concerned Alexander is throughout the episode about Spock's well-being. On the other hand, if Alexander were an average-sized man instead of a dwarf, there's no way in hell the scene would've been played that way, because it would've seemed too potentially erotic. But Alexander's dwarfism apparently disqualifies him from being seen as a sexual adult, so it's okay for him and Spock to cuddle.
Although I obviously have reservations about the episode's treatment of Spock, I have to say that Nimoy gives a great performance. The scene after the first torture session, when Spock is practically catatonic at first as he tries to cope with what's been done to him, is especially outstanding. McCoy's attempts at consolation are lovely as well, even though he Does It Wrong. It always makes me happy to see McCoy get protective of Spock or vice versa.
The forced kiss between Spock and Christine Chapel is wrenching; whenever Chapel has to confront her feelings about Spock, Majel Barrett gives her a dignified vulnerability that transcends the generally unsubtle writing.
Nichelle Nichols, similarly, gives Uhura strength and dignity even when the kiss-scene dialogue tries to turn her into another of Kirk's conquests. Her delivery of "I am not afraid" mercifully washes away the previous quasi-romantic stuff about how Kirk is the awesomest captain ever. The kiss itself, widely applauded due to its being the first interracial kiss (between fictional characters) on American television, was such a cop-out by the network that I wanted to throw things. Change of camera angle so that viewers won't have to sully their eyes = FAIL.
You might not believe it from this review, but there was a lot I enjoyed about this episode as I was watching it. Unfortunately, the more I thought about it, the more disturbed I became.
"Wink of an Eye"
Trippy time-slowing effects! Spock making a dreadful pun! Kirk seducing Deela to save his ship! Deela consistently being smarter than Kirk and not fooled by his shenanigans! The Scalosian men's shiny, sparkly princess outfits!
Spock risking being caught in the altered timestream to save Kirk! Kirk greeting him with a little smile! The two of them wordlessly understanding each other!
Also, less exclamation-pointy, Kathie Browne as Deela reminded me so much of Gwyneth Paltrow that it was eerie.
And that's absolutely all I have to say about this one.
"The Empath"
In which McCoy is the woobiest woobie and finally gets the love he deserves from Kirk and Spock. Yes, that's what this episode is about. If you're me.
Like "Plato's Stepchildren," this episode has a lot of tortureporn. I'm less uncomfortable with this one, though, perhaps because Spock isn't getting the brunt of it (or indeed any of it), perhaps because the element of humiliation is absent. It certainly is presented for our viewing pleasure, though, or at least the Kirk-torture is: shirtless!sweaty!Shatner, still reasonably fit after the hiatus, is displayed in all his glory. McCoy, notably, keeps his shirt on.
"The Empath" is the ultimate OT3 episode. The boys' mutual protectiveness is just lovely, especially the way they all keep trying to take each other's place as victim. I love Spock approving of McCoy using the hypo on Kirk so he won't have to choose between them, especially the way Spock obviously delights in telling McCoy that his plan has partially backfired--Spock's in charge now, and Spock's going to be the one to go. Even more, I love McCoy waiting until he's distracted and hypo-ing him too.
Best of all, I love all the tenderness and cuddliness. There's a sweet and completely wordless bit after Kirk is returned from being tortured. Spock sits down beside him and just looks at him for a long moment, until Gem catches him at it. She then touches him, presumably gets a blast of everything he's feeling, and smiles very soppily. It's adorable. Even more remarkable is the way Spock touches the dying McCoy. There's no necessity for it, no logical justification; it's pure affection and comfort, to the point that McCoy even says, "You've got a good bedside manner, Spock." *melts into a gooey puddle*
We also see the uglier side of the intense tie between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. They're not much more concerned than the Vians are about the risk Gem takes when she uses her healing powers. In fact, McCoy seems about ready to force her to heal Kirk, and at that point they've got no idea at all of how much she can do without damaging herself. McCoy's only concession is to say that she might know Kirk well enough yet to want to risk her life for him.
Kirk's eventual speechifying to the Vians about compassion has everything to do with McCoy and little to do with Gem, even though poor Gem's been tested like a lab rat and the Vians are going to let her entire species die if she fails. It's an interesting (although probably unintentional) commentary on the moral ambiguity of individual love--the people we love mean so much to us that we're quite often willing to let other people suffer if it will help/protect those we love. I imagine this is a subject on which Spock meditates often.
"Elaan of Troyius"
I was very much the resistant reader with this episode, because instead of wanting Elaan to grow up and learn responsibility, I wanted her to escape. I mean, WTF, does the Federation not have any kind of human rights legislation? The poor woman keeps saying that she doesn't want to go to Troyius, she doesn't want to be forced to marry the Troyian ruler, and nobody does a damn thing to help her. I understand that the marriage is meant to create a much-needed peace between the planets, a peace which will be hugely beneficial to both societies, and that Elaan's personal wishes are pretty insignificant next to that. But that kind of self-sacrifice has to be her choice; it can't ethically be forced on her. Eventually she accepts the marriage as a necessity, but I'm still deeply dismayed that the Federation helped facilitate the marriage when it was obviously against her will.
Also, I liked Elaan much better when she was ill-mannered and butch than when she turned all stereotypically feminine and limited herself to the (stereotypically feminine) tactic of trying to manipulate Kirk. Naturally, this transition is presented in the episode as positive and a sign of her growing maturity, just as her earlier refusal to defer to Kirk and behave like a proper woman is shown as immaturity. Needless to say, Kirk threatening to spank her creeped me the hell out, especially since it's so obviously sexualized. (Let me hasten to add that I have no problem with spanking for fun among consenting adults. But the spanking threat in the episode is something else entirely, a strategy for enforcing male dominance against an uncooperative woman.)
The love-inducing tears thing was . . . interesting. Gosh, it's been a long time since Kirk has voluntarily (and in his right mind) had a relationship with a woman, hasn't it? Because obviously Spock won't stand for it. My favorite moment of the episode was Spock, towards the end, noticing anomalous readings on the bridge and saying "She is the source." That "she" is highly disdainful, as indeed is Spock's behavior towards her from the moment Kirk falls for her. (The scene is here at about 41:30 if you're curious.)
Even if one doesn't read it slashily, the fact that Kirk doesn't really fall as hard for her as he should have, given the power of the tears, is interesting. Spock says it's because "The Enterprise infected the captain long before the Dohlman did," and of course the show makes it clear time and again that no woman will ever mean as much to Kirk as his career does. This obviously relates to the sexist stereotype that men are roamers by nature and that women's role is to civilize them and make them stay put. Even so, I find it oddly refreshing, since modern American television relentlessly pushes the idea that not wanting familial domesticity is weird and bad, to see such a thoroughly undomestic hero.
A couple of random things to conclude. Ambassador Petri is wonderfully campy and I adore him. And the Elasian guards' costumes are the most pathetic things I've ever seen. According to Memory Alpha, they were made out of plastic placemats--and it shows. They look like something a busy parent would work up in an hour for a kid's Halloween costume. Clearly the costume department spent all their money on Elaan's outfits. And it's certainly no hardship to look at her in that blue dress.
*****
no subject
Date: 2009-07-20 07:16 am (UTC)Yes, when you know that white and Latino actors had kissed on network TV before, that white and black actors had kissed in film, and that NBC itself had already shown a real white person kissing a real black person, this episode stops looking at all impressive.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-20 03:51 pm (UTC)