There really is something about the even numbered TOS movies. And to be fair a lot of it is probably Nicholas Meyer who directed II and VI and wrote IV and VI. The Undiscovered Country feels like the perfect way to conclude a series like this. Just the fact that it is mostly about Kirk learning he was wrong about something puts it so far ahead of V and it is unreal. The fight in zero gravity probably would have benefited from some modern computer graphics, but the shots of the ships in combat look totally top notch. There is something about the way the Enterprise model takes damage that really makes it feel so much more real.
The Undiscovered Country opens with Captain Sulu enjoying a cup of tea on the bridge of the Excelsior. He is congratulating himself on completing a successful three year cruise on the Excelsior. Suddenly the ship is rocked by a massive shock wave. The Klingon moon Praxis has exploded! We cut to a briefing on earth attended by a bunch of Admirals and the senior crew of the Enterprise. Spock explains that since Praxis exploded it has doomed the Klingon homeworld to destruction within 50 years. Spock has reached out to the chancellor of the Klingon High Council to negotiate peace with the Federation. Spock has volunteered Kirk and the Enterprise to escort the Chancellor to peace negotiations. Kirk is pissed, but has little choice in the matter.
The Enterprise rendezvous with a Klingon battle cruiser and Kirk invites Chancellor Gorkon over for dinner. Things don't go great as Kirk can't help constantly bickering with the Klingon General Chang. After dinner Kirk is retreating to his quarters when he is summoned to the bridge by Spock. There is a radiation surge coming from the Enterprise or possibly very near by. Suddenly two torpedoes appear to fire from the Enterprise and strike the Klingon vessel. It is heavily damaged and two people in helmets and Federation uniforms beam over and start killing Klingons left and right. The make there way to Gorkon and kill him before beaming away. The Klingons recover enough to bring their ship about and prepare to fire, but Kirk surrenders and beams over with McCoy to see if they can help. Despite McCoys best efforts Gorkon dies and the two of them are arrested.
The Klingons will only agree to continue peace negotiations if the Federation lets them bring Kirk and McCoy to trial. There is little doubt they will be convicted and sure enough they are both sent to a dilithium mine on a barren, snow covered asteroid. Prison life isn't great and when Kirk isn't getting into fights he is hanging out with a shapeshifter. With the aid of the shapeshifter they escape, but it was of course a trap. Luckily Spock planted a tracker on Kirk so he manages to beam them to safety just in time. Back on the Enterprise the two assassins are found dead but Kirk manages to trick the assassin into revealing herself, it is their new Vulcan science officer! Spock is so pissed he mindmelds with her against her will and figures out that there is an admiral in starfleet among others leading the plot.
The Enterprise must now rush to the peace negotiations to stop another assassination. Spock has correctly guessed that there is a Klingon bird of prey which can fire while cloaked. After taking some direct hits with the Excelsior showing up to help Spock and McCoy rig a torpedo to find the bird of prey. They blow it out of space and beam down to the conference just in time to save the President of the Federation and restore hope for the future.
Review: Not Wrath of Khan, but as close as the movies ever came. It also isn't quite as personal a story as Journey, but it gets close there too. Some of the antics searching the ship seem a little silly, but that is about all I can think of to complain about.
9 out of 10
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
This is the first Trek film I saw in theaters, and even at the time I remember being a little disappointed. My favorite parts of the film and when Kirk is off camping with Spock and McCoy. The character moments between the three of them are all the redeems this from being among the very worst of the films. Sybok as an emotional Vulcan is about as entertaining as Data with the emotion chip. Even the Klingons aren't at their best in this film with the one rogue captain with wild hair not really adding much tension.
The movie begins with some dude with no teeth digging on a the planet of galactic peace. Some bearded guy on a horse comes and offers to take away his pain and the toothless guy seems excited. We join Kirk halfway up El Capitan in Yosemite climbing the face with no rope. McCoy is freaking out below and Spock decides to fly in with rocket boots to say hi. Kirk falls and Spock saves him just before he hits the ground. We rejoin them around the campfire enjoying baked beans and roasting marshmallows. Back on the ship Scotty and Uhura are having a hell of a time getting things working. Back on the planet Nimbus III (aka galactic peace I guess) Sybok (the dude who takes peoples pain) takes control of the city of paradise and seizes the ambassadors to the Klingons, Romulans and Federation. This is apparently enough of a crisis to summon Kirk and company back from shore leave and send the barely functional Enterprise to investigate, but not a big enough deal to send any other Federation vessels. A bored Klingon ship joins in as well.
Kirk plans a raid on paradise which involves Uhura distracting some nomads with her fan dance and Kirk stealing a bunch of horses. Paradise puts on a fight but in the end of course Kirk wins but the ambassadors all want to work with Sybok so they surrender for some reason despite having just won. They take a shuttlecraft back up but of course the Klingons show up and Sulu has to crash land the shuttle into the shuttle bay. Spock refuses to shoot Sybok and he captures the captain and apparently the entire ship as well without any fight. He brainwashes Chekov and Uhura and throws Spock, McCoy and Kirk into the brig. Scotty manages to blast them out but knocks himself unconsious before he can help any more.
They think they have contacted Starfleet but in fact have contacted the Klingons. Sybok shows up and there is a long scene where he goes through McCoy and Spock's painful memories and I guess frees them which seems to work at least mostly with McCoy, but not at all with Spock. But no time! They have come to THE GALACTIC BARRIER! Only instead of being around the galaxy it is in the middle. Now before we go further I want to point out this barrier is penetrated with easy by both Enterprise and Klingon bird of prey making it more of an advisory than a barrier. Anyway they fly in and find a planet inside. Sybok flies down with Kirk, Spock and McCoy and they meet god only he is an evil alien, not god. Kirk has Sulu shoot a torpedo at him but it doesn't work. Spock and McCoy beam up but the Klingons show up and damage the transporters. Spock has the Klingon ambassador convince the bird of prey to stand down and it blasts the god thing and saves Kirk. Now they apparently are cool and there is peace the end.
Review: I kinda glossed over some of the stuff like Sulu, the ships navigator, getting lost in the woods or pretty much everyone on the ship being willing to betray Kirk at the drop of a hat. Shatner directed this one and you can tell his ego was on the line. If you want a better story about going to the center of the galaxy and meeting the god/devil go watch The Magicks of Megus-tu instead.
3 out of 10
The movie begins with some dude with no teeth digging on a the planet of galactic peace. Some bearded guy on a horse comes and offers to take away his pain and the toothless guy seems excited. We join Kirk halfway up El Capitan in Yosemite climbing the face with no rope. McCoy is freaking out below and Spock decides to fly in with rocket boots to say hi. Kirk falls and Spock saves him just before he hits the ground. We rejoin them around the campfire enjoying baked beans and roasting marshmallows. Back on the ship Scotty and Uhura are having a hell of a time getting things working. Back on the planet Nimbus III (aka galactic peace I guess) Sybok (the dude who takes peoples pain) takes control of the city of paradise and seizes the ambassadors to the Klingons, Romulans and Federation. This is apparently enough of a crisis to summon Kirk and company back from shore leave and send the barely functional Enterprise to investigate, but not a big enough deal to send any other Federation vessels. A bored Klingon ship joins in as well.
Kirk plans a raid on paradise which involves Uhura distracting some nomads with her fan dance and Kirk stealing a bunch of horses. Paradise puts on a fight but in the end of course Kirk wins but the ambassadors all want to work with Sybok so they surrender for some reason despite having just won. They take a shuttlecraft back up but of course the Klingons show up and Sulu has to crash land the shuttle into the shuttle bay. Spock refuses to shoot Sybok and he captures the captain and apparently the entire ship as well without any fight. He brainwashes Chekov and Uhura and throws Spock, McCoy and Kirk into the brig. Scotty manages to blast them out but knocks himself unconsious before he can help any more.
They think they have contacted Starfleet but in fact have contacted the Klingons. Sybok shows up and there is a long scene where he goes through McCoy and Spock's painful memories and I guess frees them which seems to work at least mostly with McCoy, but not at all with Spock. But no time! They have come to THE GALACTIC BARRIER! Only instead of being around the galaxy it is in the middle. Now before we go further I want to point out this barrier is penetrated with easy by both Enterprise and Klingon bird of prey making it more of an advisory than a barrier. Anyway they fly in and find a planet inside. Sybok flies down with Kirk, Spock and McCoy and they meet god only he is an evil alien, not god. Kirk has Sulu shoot a torpedo at him but it doesn't work. Spock and McCoy beam up but the Klingons show up and damage the transporters. Spock has the Klingon ambassador convince the bird of prey to stand down and it blasts the god thing and saves Kirk. Now they apparently are cool and there is peace the end.
Review: I kinda glossed over some of the stuff like Sulu, the ships navigator, getting lost in the woods or pretty much everyone on the ship being willing to betray Kirk at the drop of a hat. Shatner directed this one and you can tell his ego was on the line. If you want a better story about going to the center of the galaxy and meeting the god/devil go watch The Magicks of Megus-tu instead.
3 out of 10
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Growing up this was always my favorite Trek film. I know everybody always talks about Wrath being the greatest, but for me it was all about the whales. It doesn't hurt that I grew up in the bay area in the 80's so this one always felt a lot more personal than all the others. Seeing the Winchell's Donuts sign brings me right back. But watching it today feels like a different experience. It is a voyage back quite a few years into the past not just for those from the 23rd century. A few of the cultural references seem dated, but some like the yellow pages being the place to look for things are more relevant now than at the time since no one uses such reference books any more. It does look like whales will survive humanity at this point, but when filmed it was a lot less clear. Also damn they did some things to the space time continuum.
The movie begins with a Federation vessel encountering and being neutralized by the alien probe. Back on earth the Klingon ambassador is calling for Kirk to be charged with the death of the Klingons killed in the destruction of the Enterprise. We join our crew on Vulcan preparing to return and face charges. Spock is coming with them, but he hardly seems all there. They begin flying home, but before they arrive we cut back to earth. The probe has arrived and in addition to knocking out all spacecraft and stations it is destroying the atmosphere and oceans of the planet. Uhura receives the planetary distress signal and they all watch in horror. Kirk has Uhura put the alien signal on speakers and Spock correctly guesses it is aimed at the earths oceans. After modifying the conditions to match being underwater Spock figures out at the signal is intended for humpbacked whales which are extinct. The only solution is to fly back in time and find some whales! Spock does the math and Sulu punches it towards the sun!
After a trippy traveling through time montage they find themselves over the coast of California. Kirk has Sulu set the ship down in Golden gate park, but they have a problem, the Dilithium is decrystallized. The only solution is to get some high energy particles from a working nuclear reactor. They also have to find some whales and modify the ship to carry them. And of course they can't just put them in a metal bulkhead like would make sense, we have to be able to see them since this is a movie! Spock and Kirk go looking for whales while Sulu, Scotty and McCoy look for materials to modify the ship. Chekov and Uhura go looking for a nuclear reactor. Kirk and Spock quickly find two captive humpback whales in Monterey I mean Sausalito. Spock causes a ruckus by diving in and mindmelding with one of the whales while on a tour. The whale biologist leading the tour is pissed, but offers them a ride home when she sees them walking back. Spock acts like Spock and Kirk asks her out to dinner. During dinner he is forced to reveal his communicator when Uhura and Chekov ask permission to beam aboard the USS Enterprise to steal photons from the reactor or something. Kirk explains what they are really doing but the biologist doesn't believe him.
Over on the aircraft carrier Enterprise Chekov and Uhura manage to get the photons but Scotty can only beam them back one at a time. Uhura makes it back with the collector device, but Chekov is captured and badly injured trying to escape. Scotty has managed to trade knowledge of the future for some plexiglass panels for the whale tank and they are ready to go other than missing a crewman. The biologist learns the whales have been released at sea without her knowledge and runs to the park where she dropped off Kirk in time to see the plexiglass being dropped off into the invisible Klingon ship. Kirk beams her aboard and she helps them get Chekov out of the hospital. There is a lot of hijinks but them make it out safe. Just as she is about to be left behind the biologist jumps on Kirk and is beamed aboard as well. They make for the sea and beam the whales up just as they are about to be shot by evil whalers. Spock has to wing the math but of course they make it back exactly when they left and release the whales and save the planet. Kirk is demoted back to Captain as a reward/punishment and they fly off in the brand new Enterprise-A.
Review: This one isn't as serious a film as Wrath despite the threat to the entire population of earth and pretty much all of Starfleet as well. It is a very personal film that uses all of the cast to make this a true ensemble piece. Time travel movies where a thing in the 80's and by travelling to the current time rather than recreating some other time this film succeeds at what it was going for very well.
10 out of 10
The movie begins with a Federation vessel encountering and being neutralized by the alien probe. Back on earth the Klingon ambassador is calling for Kirk to be charged with the death of the Klingons killed in the destruction of the Enterprise. We join our crew on Vulcan preparing to return and face charges. Spock is coming with them, but he hardly seems all there. They begin flying home, but before they arrive we cut back to earth. The probe has arrived and in addition to knocking out all spacecraft and stations it is destroying the atmosphere and oceans of the planet. Uhura receives the planetary distress signal and they all watch in horror. Kirk has Uhura put the alien signal on speakers and Spock correctly guesses it is aimed at the earths oceans. After modifying the conditions to match being underwater Spock figures out at the signal is intended for humpbacked whales which are extinct. The only solution is to fly back in time and find some whales! Spock does the math and Sulu punches it towards the sun!
After a trippy traveling through time montage they find themselves over the coast of California. Kirk has Sulu set the ship down in Golden gate park, but they have a problem, the Dilithium is decrystallized. The only solution is to get some high energy particles from a working nuclear reactor. They also have to find some whales and modify the ship to carry them. And of course they can't just put them in a metal bulkhead like would make sense, we have to be able to see them since this is a movie! Spock and Kirk go looking for whales while Sulu, Scotty and McCoy look for materials to modify the ship. Chekov and Uhura go looking for a nuclear reactor. Kirk and Spock quickly find two captive humpback whales in Monterey I mean Sausalito. Spock causes a ruckus by diving in and mindmelding with one of the whales while on a tour. The whale biologist leading the tour is pissed, but offers them a ride home when she sees them walking back. Spock acts like Spock and Kirk asks her out to dinner. During dinner he is forced to reveal his communicator when Uhura and Chekov ask permission to beam aboard the USS Enterprise to steal photons from the reactor or something. Kirk explains what they are really doing but the biologist doesn't believe him.
Over on the aircraft carrier Enterprise Chekov and Uhura manage to get the photons but Scotty can only beam them back one at a time. Uhura makes it back with the collector device, but Chekov is captured and badly injured trying to escape. Scotty has managed to trade knowledge of the future for some plexiglass panels for the whale tank and they are ready to go other than missing a crewman. The biologist learns the whales have been released at sea without her knowledge and runs to the park where she dropped off Kirk in time to see the plexiglass being dropped off into the invisible Klingon ship. Kirk beams her aboard and she helps them get Chekov out of the hospital. There is a lot of hijinks but them make it out safe. Just as she is about to be left behind the biologist jumps on Kirk and is beamed aboard as well. They make for the sea and beam the whales up just as they are about to be shot by evil whalers. Spock has to wing the math but of course they make it back exactly when they left and release the whales and save the planet. Kirk is demoted back to Captain as a reward/punishment and they fly off in the brand new Enterprise-A.
Review: This one isn't as serious a film as Wrath despite the threat to the entire population of earth and pretty much all of Starfleet as well. It is a very personal film that uses all of the cast to make this a true ensemble piece. Time travel movies where a thing in the 80's and by travelling to the current time rather than recreating some other time this film succeeds at what it was going for very well.
10 out of 10
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Watching these movies one after another really pointed out to me how much of a middle movie TSFS is. The first ten or so minutes tells and retells the story of Spock's death and funeral straight from the last film. Once it gets moving it does at least get interesting although despite his best efforts Christopher Lloyd is no Ricardo Montalban and this movie hurts for a weaker villain. It isn't really that Lloyd is a weaker actor, it is that Kruge doesn't have as strong a motivation other than generic hate of humans. Despite its efforts to remind us of the emotional impact of Spock's death, the fact that this is a movie about him coming back to life cheapens that a bit as well.
The movie opens with Enterprise limping back to space dock with only rudimentary repairs after the battle with Khan. On the way in they pass the gleaming new NX-Excelsior, an experimental ship which Scotty is quickly transferred to. Meanwhile a Klingon woman on a merchant ship meets with Captain Kruge and transfers him information about project Genesis. After he learns she looked at the information he destroys the merchant ship. Back on the ship someone has broken into Spock's quarters. Kirk rushes in and finds McCoy mumbling about a mountain on Vulcan and then he passes out. Back on earth they are informed that the Enterprise is going to be decommissioned.
Having learned of Genesis and its power Kruge decides he must have it for the Klingon Empire. The action moves to the USS Grissom, a science vessel surveying the Genesis planet. They have detected life signs and a metal tube. Kirks some David and Saavik beam down and find Spock's empty coffin and a bunch of slimy creatures. Back on earth Sarek confronts Kirk and insists on mindmelding with him to see if Spock's katra is within Kirk. It isn't, but Kirk checks the tapes from the last movie and we see Spock transferring his memories to McCoy. McCoy has gotten himself committed for trying to illegally book a ship to the Genesis planet. Back on Genesis David and Saavik hear the screaming of a child rush to him as the planet shakes.
On earth Kirk is denied his request to take the Enterprise back to Genesis to look for Spock's body. He ignores the orders and along with his core crew steal the ship. They warp away from spacedock and the Excelsior's engines shutdown due to sabotage by Scotty. Kruge makes his way to Genesis and destroys the Grissom. Down on the planet Saavik and David have found young Spock rapidly aging and lacking memories or coherent thoughts. They try hide but are quickly captured by the Klingons. The Enterprise shows up and manages to cripple the Klingon ship before taking a serious blow. Unable to fight back Kirk manages to trick the Klingons into sending over most of their crew only to blow up the Enterprise, but not before Kruge orders David killed. Kirk is devastated both by the loss of his son and his ship which he watches burning from the surface.
Kirk and the remaining crew make their way to Saavik and young Spock. After taking out the last Klingon, Kirk talks Kruge into beaming down. There is a short struggle but Kirk manages to throw Kruge off a cliff into lava. They capture the Klingon ship from the one remaining crewman on board and fly to Vulcan to put Spock's mind back in. There is a lot of chanting but it appears the ancient ritual no one is sure will work and is highly illogical works first time no problem. There is an emotional reunion and we are on the Voyage Home.
Review: Certainly not the worst of the Trek films, but the fact that it wraps up one better film and then sets up another better film really makes this one feel a little less. Also the death of Kirk's son never felt like it had the emotional punch it deserved. Just suddenly his life is threatened and then he is dead. The destruction of the Enterprise had a lot more impact in the film. Looking forward to some whales tomorrow!
6 out of 10
The movie opens with Enterprise limping back to space dock with only rudimentary repairs after the battle with Khan. On the way in they pass the gleaming new NX-Excelsior, an experimental ship which Scotty is quickly transferred to. Meanwhile a Klingon woman on a merchant ship meets with Captain Kruge and transfers him information about project Genesis. After he learns she looked at the information he destroys the merchant ship. Back on the ship someone has broken into Spock's quarters. Kirk rushes in and finds McCoy mumbling about a mountain on Vulcan and then he passes out. Back on earth they are informed that the Enterprise is going to be decommissioned.
Having learned of Genesis and its power Kruge decides he must have it for the Klingon Empire. The action moves to the USS Grissom, a science vessel surveying the Genesis planet. They have detected life signs and a metal tube. Kirks some David and Saavik beam down and find Spock's empty coffin and a bunch of slimy creatures. Back on earth Sarek confronts Kirk and insists on mindmelding with him to see if Spock's katra is within Kirk. It isn't, but Kirk checks the tapes from the last movie and we see Spock transferring his memories to McCoy. McCoy has gotten himself committed for trying to illegally book a ship to the Genesis planet. Back on Genesis David and Saavik hear the screaming of a child rush to him as the planet shakes.
On earth Kirk is denied his request to take the Enterprise back to Genesis to look for Spock's body. He ignores the orders and along with his core crew steal the ship. They warp away from spacedock and the Excelsior's engines shutdown due to sabotage by Scotty. Kruge makes his way to Genesis and destroys the Grissom. Down on the planet Saavik and David have found young Spock rapidly aging and lacking memories or coherent thoughts. They try hide but are quickly captured by the Klingons. The Enterprise shows up and manages to cripple the Klingon ship before taking a serious blow. Unable to fight back Kirk manages to trick the Klingons into sending over most of their crew only to blow up the Enterprise, but not before Kruge orders David killed. Kirk is devastated both by the loss of his son and his ship which he watches burning from the surface.
Kirk and the remaining crew make their way to Saavik and young Spock. After taking out the last Klingon, Kirk talks Kruge into beaming down. There is a short struggle but Kirk manages to throw Kruge off a cliff into lava. They capture the Klingon ship from the one remaining crewman on board and fly to Vulcan to put Spock's mind back in. There is a lot of chanting but it appears the ancient ritual no one is sure will work and is highly illogical works first time no problem. There is an emotional reunion and we are on the Voyage Home.
Review: Certainly not the worst of the Trek films, but the fact that it wraps up one better film and then sets up another better film really makes this one feel a little less. Also the death of Kirk's son never felt like it had the emotional punch it deserved. Just suddenly his life is threatened and then he is dead. The destruction of the Enterprise had a lot more impact in the film. Looking forward to some whales tomorrow!
6 out of 10
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Ok, now this is what I am talking about. While this is clearly a movie it functions enough like a really good episode of TOS to really feel like Star Trek. I have read that Roddenberry had much less of a role in TWOK than in TMP, and apparently that is a good thing. Yes, it is more violent, but the Federation is only shown in the best light. There is great interplay between all the main cast in addition to the showdown between Kirk and Khan. Having just watched TMP last night it was pretty obvious that some of the effects shots were picked directly from it, but they were the length they should have been in TMP and didn't drag down the action. Also the damage effects on the Enterprise are probably the best in all of Trek.
We begin with the fake out opening meant to deal with rumors that Spock would die. But by doing so and introducing the idea of the Kobayashi Maru it tells us a lot about both Starfleet and Kirk himself. After that we go to Kirk and McCoy sharing a drink and talking about growing old. McCoy tells Kirk to do everything he can to keep his command and Kirk doesn't exactly argue. Cut to the Reliant checking out what it believes to be Ceti Alpha VI. They are looking for a planet totally devoid of lifeforms to test the Genesis device on. They detect what may or may not be life and after checking in with the scientists on project Genesis captain Terrell and Chekov beam down to check things out. They discover what looks to be abandoned cargo containers what were clearly lived in at some point. Suddenly they are captured by Khan and his people. After being left on Ceti Alpha V the next planet exploded wiping out almost all life and moving the planets around. This part and the next are the only parts they don't make sense. Khan recognizes Chekov despite him not being on the Enterprise during Space Seed. Khan puts mind control bugs into their heads and heads to the Genesis station to take it calling ahead saying Kirk authorized it.
Kirk and the Enterprise are on a test cruise when the distress call comes out from the Genesis station. They are of course the only ship in the quadrant so despite having a training crew Kirk assumes command and rushes in. On they way they encounter the Reliant and despite not having radio contact and Saavik pointing out they should raise their shields Enterprise walks into Khan's trap. Reliant fires and badly damages Enterprise. They keep shooting only stopping just before destroying her. Khan then calls Kirk and demands he surrender and send all information about Genesis over. Kirk stalls for time and manages to shut down Reliants shields and badly damage her. Khan and Reliant flee leaving the Enterprise with the Genesis station.
Kirk beams down with McCoy and Saavik and discover Genesis gone and the computers wiped. Chekov and Terrell aren't dead though and explain that Khan failed to control them. Spock calls to tell them that the ship will take 2 hours to get working but since he knows Khan is likely listening he makes it sound like it will take 2 days. Kirk figures out that his some and ex are missing and that the transporters are still on. They all beam down and discover the Genesis device in a cave. Kirk's son attacks them but his mom calls him off. Suddenly Chekov and Terrell pull their weapons. Khan was listening in and controlling them the whole time. Khan steals Genesis and orders them to kill Kirk. Terrell kills himself and Chekov somehow gets the bug thing out of his brain. Khan leaves them trapped.
In the Genesis cave Kirk explains to Saavik that he cheated the Kobayashi Maru test. Then the Enterprise calls and beams them back. The ship is working again and they flee into a nebula. Khan's crew doesn't want to do it but Khan leads them in after the Enterprise. There is much maneuvering during which Khan manages to fail to understand space isn't a flat plane. Kirk manages to badly damage Reliant, but Khan activates Genesis. The Enterprise is doomed unless someone goes into the badly irradiated engine room and restores main power. Spock dumps his memories into McCoy before going in and saving the day. He has an emotional farewell with Kirk before dying and having his body shot out a torpedo tube onto the newly cooling Genesis planet. Kirk gives a moving eulogy and we are treated to Leonard Nemoy reading the normal opening to the show.
Review: I don't think it is going to get any better than this in the next almost two years of watching Star Trek. This movie has great action, good character moments and a classic story of revenge. It has also already been retold twice in other Star Trek movies alone (Nemesis and Into Darkness). Neither had a villain half as chilling and determined as Khan in this film. The cold, calculating Khan of Space Seed has been replaced by a seething madman bent on revenge.
10 out of 10
We begin with the fake out opening meant to deal with rumors that Spock would die. But by doing so and introducing the idea of the Kobayashi Maru it tells us a lot about both Starfleet and Kirk himself. After that we go to Kirk and McCoy sharing a drink and talking about growing old. McCoy tells Kirk to do everything he can to keep his command and Kirk doesn't exactly argue. Cut to the Reliant checking out what it believes to be Ceti Alpha VI. They are looking for a planet totally devoid of lifeforms to test the Genesis device on. They detect what may or may not be life and after checking in with the scientists on project Genesis captain Terrell and Chekov beam down to check things out. They discover what looks to be abandoned cargo containers what were clearly lived in at some point. Suddenly they are captured by Khan and his people. After being left on Ceti Alpha V the next planet exploded wiping out almost all life and moving the planets around. This part and the next are the only parts they don't make sense. Khan recognizes Chekov despite him not being on the Enterprise during Space Seed. Khan puts mind control bugs into their heads and heads to the Genesis station to take it calling ahead saying Kirk authorized it.
Kirk and the Enterprise are on a test cruise when the distress call comes out from the Genesis station. They are of course the only ship in the quadrant so despite having a training crew Kirk assumes command and rushes in. On they way they encounter the Reliant and despite not having radio contact and Saavik pointing out they should raise their shields Enterprise walks into Khan's trap. Reliant fires and badly damages Enterprise. They keep shooting only stopping just before destroying her. Khan then calls Kirk and demands he surrender and send all information about Genesis over. Kirk stalls for time and manages to shut down Reliants shields and badly damage her. Khan and Reliant flee leaving the Enterprise with the Genesis station.
Kirk beams down with McCoy and Saavik and discover Genesis gone and the computers wiped. Chekov and Terrell aren't dead though and explain that Khan failed to control them. Spock calls to tell them that the ship will take 2 hours to get working but since he knows Khan is likely listening he makes it sound like it will take 2 days. Kirk figures out that his some and ex are missing and that the transporters are still on. They all beam down and discover the Genesis device in a cave. Kirk's son attacks them but his mom calls him off. Suddenly Chekov and Terrell pull their weapons. Khan was listening in and controlling them the whole time. Khan steals Genesis and orders them to kill Kirk. Terrell kills himself and Chekov somehow gets the bug thing out of his brain. Khan leaves them trapped.
In the Genesis cave Kirk explains to Saavik that he cheated the Kobayashi Maru test. Then the Enterprise calls and beams them back. The ship is working again and they flee into a nebula. Khan's crew doesn't want to do it but Khan leads them in after the Enterprise. There is much maneuvering during which Khan manages to fail to understand space isn't a flat plane. Kirk manages to badly damage Reliant, but Khan activates Genesis. The Enterprise is doomed unless someone goes into the badly irradiated engine room and restores main power. Spock dumps his memories into McCoy before going in and saving the day. He has an emotional farewell with Kirk before dying and having his body shot out a torpedo tube onto the newly cooling Genesis planet. Kirk gives a moving eulogy and we are treated to Leonard Nemoy reading the normal opening to the show.
Review: I don't think it is going to get any better than this in the next almost two years of watching Star Trek. This movie has great action, good character moments and a classic story of revenge. It has also already been retold twice in other Star Trek movies alone (Nemesis and Into Darkness). Neither had a villain half as chilling and determined as Khan in this film. The cold, calculating Khan of Space Seed has been replaced by a seething madman bent on revenge.
10 out of 10
Monday, May 25, 2015
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
I'm back baby! Not watching and writing about Trek for a few days felt really odd, and it is good to be back! Some time in the mountains is good for anybody and I think it has prepared me for what I saw tonight pretty well. I was probably in 5th grade or so the last time I saw TMP and I am pretty sure I fell asleep for a few minutes of the Enterprise flying into V'ger, but upon rewatching, I don't think I missed anything. I don't remember all the antics at the beginning at all, maybe because the pace of the movie totally changes when they encounter V'ger and by changes I mean stops. Not that it was going at all that great a clip before, but wow, those shots of the inside of V'ger are minutes long with nothing happening except the occasional Kirk or Sulu reacting or Spock not reacting shot.
TMP opens with three Klingon ships encountering a strange blue cloud. Their first reaction is of course to open fire. Before we move on I want to point out two things, first they spend way to long showing slow motion shots of the Klingon ships, and second wow, the transitional Klingon makeup doesn't look great. We cut to a Federation listening post which can apparently see what is happening both on the Klingon bridges and outside their ships somehow. The Klingons are destroyed and we cut to Spock on Vulcan. After walking towards a bad matte painting he is greeted by three Klingons who offer him a token of his rejection of emotions, be he rejects it.
The action moves to San Francisco where Kirk is greeting his new Vulcan science officer who doesn't seem pleased to be working with him. Kirk is now an admiral and has somehow regained control of the newly retrofitted Enterprise. He tells the science officer to meet him on the ship in an hour and meets up with a very mustachioed Scotty. They get on pod and spend at least an hour flying around the Enterprise in awe. Scotty rushes to engineering to work on the engines and Kirk starts wandering around. It turns out the Enterprise had another captain who Kirk is pushing aside. His name is Decker and since I didn't remember him I correctly assumed he didn't make it through the episode I mean movie. Decker is kept on as second in command. The is a transporter accident that for some reason Kirk thinks he can fix even though Scotty is there and the new science officer dies.
Despite the ship not being ready they fly out and go to warp and immediately get sucked into what the call a wormhole that doesn't seem like any wormhole from actual physics or the rest of Trek. Of course they escape but in the process Decker shows he knows the ship better than Kirk. For some reason the run into Spock who takes over as science officer despite having left Starfleet. And off they go to meet the cloud thing. Kirk ignores Decker and goes in without shields which of course works. The bald navigator Ilia is taken by the alien thing and returned as a maybe evil robot to watch them. There is lots of flying inside until the come to a narrow opening to small for the ship. Spock sneaks off and enters it using a space suit and manages to mindmeld with it but it learns nothing.
The thing has arrive at earth and is sending out extra probes to remove the carbon based infestation from the planet. Kirk manages to bluff the robot Ilia into letting him meet V'ger itself and it opens the door and fills itself with oxygen. The go inside and find that it is a probe from Earth that met with robots or something. After a lot of messing around they discover it wants to merge with a human and Decker volunteers since he used to love Ilia. There a light show and V'ger disappears into a higher reality or something.
Review: I had forgotten that the first half of this movie does have more than just glamour shots of the Enterprise, but it doesn't have a lot more. The summary of this is only a bit longer than your average TOS episode and there is a reason, there are way to many effects shots of both the Enterprise and the insides of V'ger. Also damn the uniforms suck in this movie. I am very glad it was successful enough to warrant a bunch of sequels at least.
4 out of 10
TMP opens with three Klingon ships encountering a strange blue cloud. Their first reaction is of course to open fire. Before we move on I want to point out two things, first they spend way to long showing slow motion shots of the Klingon ships, and second wow, the transitional Klingon makeup doesn't look great. We cut to a Federation listening post which can apparently see what is happening both on the Klingon bridges and outside their ships somehow. The Klingons are destroyed and we cut to Spock on Vulcan. After walking towards a bad matte painting he is greeted by three Klingons who offer him a token of his rejection of emotions, be he rejects it.
The action moves to San Francisco where Kirk is greeting his new Vulcan science officer who doesn't seem pleased to be working with him. Kirk is now an admiral and has somehow regained control of the newly retrofitted Enterprise. He tells the science officer to meet him on the ship in an hour and meets up with a very mustachioed Scotty. They get on pod and spend at least an hour flying around the Enterprise in awe. Scotty rushes to engineering to work on the engines and Kirk starts wandering around. It turns out the Enterprise had another captain who Kirk is pushing aside. His name is Decker and since I didn't remember him I correctly assumed he didn't make it through the episode I mean movie. Decker is kept on as second in command. The is a transporter accident that for some reason Kirk thinks he can fix even though Scotty is there and the new science officer dies.
Despite the ship not being ready they fly out and go to warp and immediately get sucked into what the call a wormhole that doesn't seem like any wormhole from actual physics or the rest of Trek. Of course they escape but in the process Decker shows he knows the ship better than Kirk. For some reason the run into Spock who takes over as science officer despite having left Starfleet. And off they go to meet the cloud thing. Kirk ignores Decker and goes in without shields which of course works. The bald navigator Ilia is taken by the alien thing and returned as a maybe evil robot to watch them. There is lots of flying inside until the come to a narrow opening to small for the ship. Spock sneaks off and enters it using a space suit and manages to mindmeld with it but it learns nothing.
The thing has arrive at earth and is sending out extra probes to remove the carbon based infestation from the planet. Kirk manages to bluff the robot Ilia into letting him meet V'ger itself and it opens the door and fills itself with oxygen. The go inside and find that it is a probe from Earth that met with robots or something. After a lot of messing around they discover it wants to merge with a human and Decker volunteers since he used to love Ilia. There a light show and V'ger disappears into a higher reality or something.
Review: I had forgotten that the first half of this movie does have more than just glamour shots of the Enterprise, but it doesn't have a lot more. The summary of this is only a bit longer than your average TOS episode and there is a reason, there are way to many effects shots of both the Enterprise and the insides of V'ger. Also damn the uniforms suck in this movie. I am very glad it was successful enough to warrant a bunch of sequels at least.
4 out of 10
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
TAS: The Counterclock Incident
TAS has been a lot of fun, but it has now come to an end. The Counterclock Incident is another episode that feels like it would have worked just as well as a live action episode as it did as a cartoon. It would have been expensive to have several younger actors for each character as they aged in reverse, but that never seemed to be a problem on TNG (although by focusing on the children instead of the remaining adults the TNG adults as children episode is WAY more annoying). I will also say I was quite pleased that the Commodore in this episode, who was the first commander of the Enterprise, is both rational and a really good person unlike pretty much every previous Commodore. I kinda expected him to start usurping Kirk when the reverse aging started but he only took command when it was actually reasonable and necessary.
The episode begins with the Enterprise transporting Commodore April, the first commander of the Enterprise, to his retirement ceremony where he will be honored both as a former captain and as an ambassador for the Federation. In the way they stop to check out a cool nova (they use the term nova and supernova interchangeably in this episode when they mostly mean supernova remnant) along the way. Suddenly a ship approaches at warp 36 headed straight for the nova! Kirk tries to slow them down with a tractor beam, but the Enterprise gets dragged in as well! They are hailed by the captain of the other vessel is talking backwards and before they can figure out what is going on they are dragged into a backwards universe where even time flows in reverse.
They follow the other ship back to its planet of origin and discover the people here are born old and die as babies (this raises questions about how they are actually born that are better left uncontemplated). After looking at some maps they figure out that when a nova takes place in both universes in the same spot it is possible to get between universes so they find a start that is about to nova in the reverse universe and rig the other ship to explode and make it nova to carry them home. They set out to carry out the plan, but as they are rapidly aging in reverse all the ships crew are turning into children. Luckily Spock is older than the rest of them so he takes the helm while Commodore April takes over command. They escape just in time and can fix the reverse aging with the transporters but for some reason the Commodore and his wife decide not to stay young.
Review: This is a really fun episode that fits well with the rest of Trek. If you are going to remove parts of TAS from canon (a move I now fully understand) this is one that would be better off left in. I am not sure how the comments about the construction of the Enterprise as well as it being the first warp capable ship line up with the established timeline, but it works well in the context of this episode.
7 out of 10
Final note: I am going to be away from computers and televisions for Memorial day weekend so I will fall behind a bit on reviews. When I get back I will start in on the movies before starting the somewhat questionable first season of TNG!
The episode begins with the Enterprise transporting Commodore April, the first commander of the Enterprise, to his retirement ceremony where he will be honored both as a former captain and as an ambassador for the Federation. In the way they stop to check out a cool nova (they use the term nova and supernova interchangeably in this episode when they mostly mean supernova remnant) along the way. Suddenly a ship approaches at warp 36 headed straight for the nova! Kirk tries to slow them down with a tractor beam, but the Enterprise gets dragged in as well! They are hailed by the captain of the other vessel is talking backwards and before they can figure out what is going on they are dragged into a backwards universe where even time flows in reverse.
They follow the other ship back to its planet of origin and discover the people here are born old and die as babies (this raises questions about how they are actually born that are better left uncontemplated). After looking at some maps they figure out that when a nova takes place in both universes in the same spot it is possible to get between universes so they find a start that is about to nova in the reverse universe and rig the other ship to explode and make it nova to carry them home. They set out to carry out the plan, but as they are rapidly aging in reverse all the ships crew are turning into children. Luckily Spock is older than the rest of them so he takes the helm while Commodore April takes over command. They escape just in time and can fix the reverse aging with the transporters but for some reason the Commodore and his wife decide not to stay young.
Review: This is a really fun episode that fits well with the rest of Trek. If you are going to remove parts of TAS from canon (a move I now fully understand) this is one that would be better off left in. I am not sure how the comments about the construction of the Enterprise as well as it being the first warp capable ship line up with the established timeline, but it works well in the context of this episode.
7 out of 10
Final note: I am going to be away from computers and televisions for Memorial day weekend so I will fall behind a bit on reviews. When I get back I will start in on the movies before starting the somewhat questionable first season of TNG!
Monday, May 18, 2015
TAS: How, Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth
TOS had the planet of the Greek gods and TAS has the spaceship of the dragon/feathered serpent god. This episode probably would have been better if they hadn't already had an episode establishing that some of the ancient gods of earth were in fact aliens who visited us. This particular episode happened as excitement over the Mayans had at least momentarily surpassed excitement over the Egyptians, but because there are pyramids and obelisks they get mentioned as well.
Earth has been visited by a probe from an unknown star system and before it could be examined it self destructed. The Enterprise has been sent to follow the trail back to where ever it came from. As they push into unexplored space they encounter a crystal ship that quickly traps them in a force bubble they are unable to break free from. After some extensive probing the ship changes appears to look like a giant feathered serpent which pilot Walking Bear recognizes as Kukulkan from Mayan and Aztec mythology. Kukulkan is pleased to be recognized and transports Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Walking Bear over to his ship.
On the serpents ship they four of them are shown an ancient city Kukulkan instructed the people of earth to build for him to signal to him, but it was never built. They mess around with some giant serpent heads and get them to shine light at a pyramid which I guess is what he wanted? Kukulkan then transports them to his private zoo filled with dangerous animals being fed illusions to keep them docile. He keeps trash talking how violent the humans are, but his zoo doesn't seem very humane. Spock manages to ship the Enterprise into reverse and blasts they way out of the force field while Kirk and company distract the serpent by breaking open the zoo cages. They save the serpent from an electric cat thing and he lets them go. That's pretty much it other than some comments about how much they could have learned and how we are ungrateful children.
Review: Not my favorite episode despite my personal interest in Mayan history and culture. The idea that all ancient cultures were inspired to build pyramids by the same aliens however is one of my pet peeves.
3 out of 10
Earth has been visited by a probe from an unknown star system and before it could be examined it self destructed. The Enterprise has been sent to follow the trail back to where ever it came from. As they push into unexplored space they encounter a crystal ship that quickly traps them in a force bubble they are unable to break free from. After some extensive probing the ship changes appears to look like a giant feathered serpent which pilot Walking Bear recognizes as Kukulkan from Mayan and Aztec mythology. Kukulkan is pleased to be recognized and transports Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Walking Bear over to his ship.
On the serpents ship they four of them are shown an ancient city Kukulkan instructed the people of earth to build for him to signal to him, but it was never built. They mess around with some giant serpent heads and get them to shine light at a pyramid which I guess is what he wanted? Kukulkan then transports them to his private zoo filled with dangerous animals being fed illusions to keep them docile. He keeps trash talking how violent the humans are, but his zoo doesn't seem very humane. Spock manages to ship the Enterprise into reverse and blasts they way out of the force field while Kirk and company distract the serpent by breaking open the zoo cages. They save the serpent from an electric cat thing and he lets them go. That's pretty much it other than some comments about how much they could have learned and how we are ungrateful children.
Review: Not my favorite episode despite my personal interest in Mayan history and culture. The idea that all ancient cultures were inspired to build pyramids by the same aliens however is one of my pet peeves.
3 out of 10
Sunday, May 17, 2015
TAS: Albatross
Now this is what I am looking for in a classic Trek episode: aliens randomly accusing members of the crew of genocide, space plague, aurora plague???, and just in the nick of time solutions to all the above problems. Albatross features some rather interesting looking aliens with truly alien hands that split in ways human hands and fingers don't. It also features a disease with the most cartoon friendly of symptoms, peoples skin changes color to show how sick they are.
The episode begins with Kirk being thanked for medical supplies by the leader of Dramia, but just before they are about to leave the leader has one more thing, a warrant for the arrest of McCoy for killing off an entire planet with a plague he spread 19 years earlier. Kirk doesn't believe it, but the warrant is legal so McCoy surrenders himself. Kirk promises to look for a solution and beams aboard the ship and heads to the planet with the plague. They are pursued by a Dramian vessel which Kirk tricks into trying to sneak aboard and then seizes the ship and arrests head of Dramian security who is the stowaway.
They rush to the plague ravaged Dramia II and find it in ruins. They do manage to beam down right next to the one survivor of the plague to remembers McCoy being a good doctor and not at all evil. They take him aboard as a witness and start rushing back, but before they arrive both Dramians and all the human crew start changing colors, they have the disease! Spock isn't affected and breaks McCoy out of jail to help cure the disease. They somehow decide the color changes aren't actually the diseases but are actually caused by aurora but that doesn't help at all. Then Spock tells McCoy about the one survivor and he realizes what he did for him must have been what cures the disease and everybody is better minutes later. Instead of arresting McCoy the Dramians honor him as a hero.
Review: Other than being a bit simpler than average this story at least has some good character drama and an adventurous plot. Also, who doesn't like to see McCoy wondering if maybe he did accidentally spread a space plague responsible for millions of deaths?
6 out of 10
The episode begins with Kirk being thanked for medical supplies by the leader of Dramia, but just before they are about to leave the leader has one more thing, a warrant for the arrest of McCoy for killing off an entire planet with a plague he spread 19 years earlier. Kirk doesn't believe it, but the warrant is legal so McCoy surrenders himself. Kirk promises to look for a solution and beams aboard the ship and heads to the planet with the plague. They are pursued by a Dramian vessel which Kirk tricks into trying to sneak aboard and then seizes the ship and arrests head of Dramian security who is the stowaway.
They rush to the plague ravaged Dramia II and find it in ruins. They do manage to beam down right next to the one survivor of the plague to remembers McCoy being a good doctor and not at all evil. They take him aboard as a witness and start rushing back, but before they arrive both Dramians and all the human crew start changing colors, they have the disease! Spock isn't affected and breaks McCoy out of jail to help cure the disease. They somehow decide the color changes aren't actually the diseases but are actually caused by aurora but that doesn't help at all. Then Spock tells McCoy about the one survivor and he realizes what he did for him must have been what cures the disease and everybody is better minutes later. Instead of arresting McCoy the Dramians honor him as a hero.
Review: Other than being a bit simpler than average this story at least has some good character drama and an adventurous plot. Also, who doesn't like to see McCoy wondering if maybe he did accidentally spread a space plague responsible for millions of deaths?
6 out of 10
Saturday, May 16, 2015
TAS: The Practical Joker
Second season episodes of TAS feel more like kids cartoons than the first season. This episode is filled with goofy practical jokes and doesn't really make a lot of sense. It does introduce the Recreation Rooms which are pretty much just holodecks with a less fancy name. And just like the holodeck they are immediately causing problems and threatening the lives of the crew hoping to use it to recreate.
The episode begins with the Enterprise wrapping up a routing asteroid survey when they are suddenly attacked by three Romulan ships! The Enterprise is damaged and forced to flee. The Romulan captain hails them and claims they violated the neutral zone which is clearly not true. The Romulan ships pursue the Enterprise which flees into an unsurveyed energy cloud. They emerge seemingly unscathed other than the damage from the Romulans which they stop to repairs as the Romulans broke off the pursuit. It is then that the jokes begin. At dinner the glasses have all been modified to leak on the person using them. Then Spock finds a new instrument on his desk that has ink on it that gets on his face. And food flies out of the maybe not replicator. You get the idea.
Things get more dangerous when McCoy, Uhura and Sulu decide now is the perfect time to use the recreation room to go wandering in a forest. The computer keeps them from hearing the general quarters call and then traps them in a pit in the forest. Then it tries to freeze them to death as Scotty and his team try to pry the door open. Eventually they escape and Scotty tries to disable the ships computer. It reverses gravity until he gives up. Just then the Romulans show up but are distracted by a giant inflatable Enterprise the ship somehow makes and deploys. Kirk acts scared of going into the energy field again which I guess tricks the computer into doing it which cures the Enterprise computer and messes up the Romulans.
Review: Not a very complicated or a particularly good plot. I guess introducing the holodeck is of some note but this childish 2001 ripoff doesn't come off very well. One extra point however for introducing and ruining holodecks in the same episode.
3 out of 10
The episode begins with the Enterprise wrapping up a routing asteroid survey when they are suddenly attacked by three Romulan ships! The Enterprise is damaged and forced to flee. The Romulan captain hails them and claims they violated the neutral zone which is clearly not true. The Romulan ships pursue the Enterprise which flees into an unsurveyed energy cloud. They emerge seemingly unscathed other than the damage from the Romulans which they stop to repairs as the Romulans broke off the pursuit. It is then that the jokes begin. At dinner the glasses have all been modified to leak on the person using them. Then Spock finds a new instrument on his desk that has ink on it that gets on his face. And food flies out of the maybe not replicator. You get the idea.
Things get more dangerous when McCoy, Uhura and Sulu decide now is the perfect time to use the recreation room to go wandering in a forest. The computer keeps them from hearing the general quarters call and then traps them in a pit in the forest. Then it tries to freeze them to death as Scotty and his team try to pry the door open. Eventually they escape and Scotty tries to disable the ships computer. It reverses gravity until he gives up. Just then the Romulans show up but are distracted by a giant inflatable Enterprise the ship somehow makes and deploys. Kirk acts scared of going into the energy field again which I guess tricks the computer into doing it which cures the Enterprise computer and messes up the Romulans.
Review: Not a very complicated or a particularly good plot. I guess introducing the holodeck is of some note but this childish 2001 ripoff doesn't come off very well. One extra point however for introducing and ruining holodecks in the same episode.
3 out of 10
TAS: Bem
This is an episode about how awesome Star Fleet and James Tiberius Kirk are in particular. Their moral superiority is so great that all other races should just give up and join Star Fleet unless they are primitive in which case they can only be messed with by godlike energy beings. In case you can't tell from the above ranting this is a kinda preachy episode without a lot of meat to it. It does contribute to Trek lore in its own way by containing the first mention of Kirk's middle name Tiberius.
The episode begins with Kirk introducing guest officer Bem, a member of a non-Federation species sent to observe operations on the Enterprise. He has apparently spent the entire time in his quarters until they approach an unexplored planet with only primitive life. Bem insists on beaming to the surface despite Kirk's objections that it both won't be safe and is a potentially diplomatically challenging situation. Bem insists so Kirk agrees I guess. They beam down and Kirk and Spock fall into a lake along with Bem. Under the water Bem's legs detach and walk under Kirk and Spock and steal their phasers and communicators and replace them with fakes. As soon as they get back on land Bem says he detects aliens and runs off. Kirk and Spock go after him but he is captured by the aliens.
Unable to communicate or use their phasers Kirk and Spock are captured as well. An powerful alien intelligence tells them they need to leave the people of the planet alone. Bem tells them he doesn't want them to use their weapons but is also all upset they haven't helped him. Kirk manages to talk the alien intelligence into letting him call the Enterprise to get them all out of there. It agrees but Kirk instead beams down a security team. They blast him out of prison and then go and stun the primitive aliens and rescue Bem. Only then does the intelligence show up again and Kirk tells it he will give the planet prime directive protection and won't mess with it anymore. Bem is apparently embarrassed and threatens suicide but the intelligence talks him down.
Review: This episode didn't make a ton of sense to me and I don't think it is just because I watched it late at night after work. Bem is annoying and the episode is preachy. Also not all that much happens.
2 out of 10
The episode begins with Kirk introducing guest officer Bem, a member of a non-Federation species sent to observe operations on the Enterprise. He has apparently spent the entire time in his quarters until they approach an unexplored planet with only primitive life. Bem insists on beaming to the surface despite Kirk's objections that it both won't be safe and is a potentially diplomatically challenging situation. Bem insists so Kirk agrees I guess. They beam down and Kirk and Spock fall into a lake along with Bem. Under the water Bem's legs detach and walk under Kirk and Spock and steal their phasers and communicators and replace them with fakes. As soon as they get back on land Bem says he detects aliens and runs off. Kirk and Spock go after him but he is captured by the aliens.
Unable to communicate or use their phasers Kirk and Spock are captured as well. An powerful alien intelligence tells them they need to leave the people of the planet alone. Bem tells them he doesn't want them to use their weapons but is also all upset they haven't helped him. Kirk manages to talk the alien intelligence into letting him call the Enterprise to get them all out of there. It agrees but Kirk instead beams down a security team. They blast him out of prison and then go and stun the primitive aliens and rescue Bem. Only then does the intelligence show up again and Kirk tells it he will give the planet prime directive protection and won't mess with it anymore. Bem is apparently embarrassed and threatens suicide but the intelligence talks him down.
Review: This episode didn't make a ton of sense to me and I don't think it is just because I watched it late at night after work. Bem is annoying and the episode is preachy. Also not all that much happens.
2 out of 10
Thursday, May 14, 2015
TAS: Pirates of Orion
Pirates of Orion is structured like many classic Trek episodes from many series. An important member of the crew is struck with a fatal ailment and the only way they can be saved is with some rare ingredient or item. The ship then diverts to get the thing only to be stopped by the villain of the week who is determined to keep the thing for themselves. This episode benefits from its call backs to Journey to Babel, the episode which introduced Sarek along with several other staple races of TOS and TAS. I wasn't sure while watching, but I guess they are just supposed to be horribly mispronouncing "Orion" in this episode and it in fact has the same villain race as Journey.
The Enterprise is being affected by a disease that McCoy believes he has contained as they go about their business. Suddenly Spock collapses, he has the disease and it will be fatal unless they get a rare drug to save his life! Spock keeps working, but is far below his normal efficiency. The action moves to the SS Huron, the cargo ship that is carrying the drug Spock needs. On their way to rendezvous with the Enterprise they are attacked by a mysterious ship and the drug is stolen along with a shipment of dilithium crystals (which again look different than the last time we saw them).
The Enterprise manages to track down the pirates in an asteroid field made of rare asteroids which explode violently if struck or hit with phasers. The Orion pirates attack the Enterprise but their weapons are ineffective. Kirk manages to negotiate with the Orion captain to hand over the drug if the Enterprise overlooks the stolen dilithium. The Orion agrees, but plans to take a bomb with him to destroy both ships. The Orion people it turns out are officially neutral and if the Federation learns they are pirating they will be turned against. The two captains meet on the asteroid and Scotty manages to detect and beam out the bomb before it can go off. They arrest the Orion and save Spock. They even talk the Orion crew into not self destructing!
Review: This is a pretty straightforward episode, but that isn't a bad thing in this case. The Orions don't really get to return as villains that I know of (I haven't seen really any ENT, so maybe they get to come back there) but they are a part of Trek lore so it is cool to see them here. The element of Spock on his deathbed keeps the tension up.
7 out of 10
The Enterprise is being affected by a disease that McCoy believes he has contained as they go about their business. Suddenly Spock collapses, he has the disease and it will be fatal unless they get a rare drug to save his life! Spock keeps working, but is far below his normal efficiency. The action moves to the SS Huron, the cargo ship that is carrying the drug Spock needs. On their way to rendezvous with the Enterprise they are attacked by a mysterious ship and the drug is stolen along with a shipment of dilithium crystals (which again look different than the last time we saw them).
The Enterprise manages to track down the pirates in an asteroid field made of rare asteroids which explode violently if struck or hit with phasers. The Orion pirates attack the Enterprise but their weapons are ineffective. Kirk manages to negotiate with the Orion captain to hand over the drug if the Enterprise overlooks the stolen dilithium. The Orion agrees, but plans to take a bomb with him to destroy both ships. The Orion people it turns out are officially neutral and if the Federation learns they are pirating they will be turned against. The two captains meet on the asteroid and Scotty manages to detect and beam out the bomb before it can go off. They arrest the Orion and save Spock. They even talk the Orion crew into not self destructing!
Review: This is a pretty straightforward episode, but that isn't a bad thing in this case. The Orions don't really get to return as villains that I know of (I haven't seen really any ENT, so maybe they get to come back there) but they are a part of Trek lore so it is cool to see them here. The element of Spock on his deathbed keeps the tension up.
7 out of 10
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
TAS: The Time Trap
When I finish watching all the Star Trek's I am going to calculate the average of all the series, and with the way things are going TAS is going to be hard to beat. Sure it had a few questionable episodes (I am looking at you Magicks of Megus-Tu) but episodes like the one I watched tonight are really going to help. The idea of a society built from the survivors are starships trapped in a spacetime bubble for all eternity is both cool and very Star Trek. The only real issues with continuity in this episode is that Kirk does not have the irrational hatred of Klingons he exhibits in some other episodes and movies. This is more of the Kirk from the end of V, but that is ok too.
The episode begins with the Enterprise investigating the Bermuda triangle, I mean Delta Triangle, a mysterious region of space know for starships disappearing without a trace. Sure enough their instruments stop working right and suddenly a Klingon warship appears and opens fire. The Enterprise barely has time to get its shields up and return fire before the Klingon ship disappears in a very confusing way. On their way out the Enterprise runs into several Klingon ships who accuse them of destroying the first vessel. Not being the type to talk things out the Klingons open fire and the Enterprise flees to the spot the first ship disappeared and sure enough, they disappear as well.
After some brief nausea they find themselves in a graveyard of dead starships. Some are centuries old and as they explore the Klingons prepare to attack. When the Klingons fire on the defenseless Enterprise their weapons don't work. The same happens when the Enterprise attempts to return fire. Both captains are suddenly beamed before a council of aliens. The council explains that they have built a peaceful society in this time pocket and that both ships are welcome as long as they are peaceful as well. If either ship or its crew breaks the peace they will be sentenced to a century of being trapped on their ship alone.
Back on their ships Spock starts calculating and the Klingons start throwing their ship at the barrier keeping them there. After a bit of this Spock realizes they can escape if they work together. The Klingon captain uncharacteristically agrees to work with the Enterprise so of course he is planning something. The alien council isn't pumped they are going to risk their lives trying to escape, but as long as they are peaceful they aren't too upset. The night before the great escape they have a party on the Enterprise. The Klingon captains wife dances with McCoy to start a fight between him and the Klingon captain. Both Kirk and the Klingon are summoned to the council chamber and Kirk argues he needs the Klingons help to escape so they let them both go. Meanwhile the wife hides a bomb in the Enterprise computer.
It is the big day and the two ships awkwardly dock with each other and start warping towards the barrier. At the last moment one of the council psychics detects the bomb and calls the Enterprise to warn them. Spock and Scotty manage to find the bomb and throw it out a hatch just before it blows. The escape plan works luckily and they are both on their way.
Review: This is a fun episode of adventure. As an added bonus Shatner gets to mispronounce, "sabotage," again which I am going to add a point to the score for. Also, who doesn't love some Klingon trickery?
9 out of 10
The episode begins with the Enterprise investigating the Bermuda triangle, I mean Delta Triangle, a mysterious region of space know for starships disappearing without a trace. Sure enough their instruments stop working right and suddenly a Klingon warship appears and opens fire. The Enterprise barely has time to get its shields up and return fire before the Klingon ship disappears in a very confusing way. On their way out the Enterprise runs into several Klingon ships who accuse them of destroying the first vessel. Not being the type to talk things out the Klingons open fire and the Enterprise flees to the spot the first ship disappeared and sure enough, they disappear as well.
After some brief nausea they find themselves in a graveyard of dead starships. Some are centuries old and as they explore the Klingons prepare to attack. When the Klingons fire on the defenseless Enterprise their weapons don't work. The same happens when the Enterprise attempts to return fire. Both captains are suddenly beamed before a council of aliens. The council explains that they have built a peaceful society in this time pocket and that both ships are welcome as long as they are peaceful as well. If either ship or its crew breaks the peace they will be sentenced to a century of being trapped on their ship alone.
Back on their ships Spock starts calculating and the Klingons start throwing their ship at the barrier keeping them there. After a bit of this Spock realizes they can escape if they work together. The Klingon captain uncharacteristically agrees to work with the Enterprise so of course he is planning something. The alien council isn't pumped they are going to risk their lives trying to escape, but as long as they are peaceful they aren't too upset. The night before the great escape they have a party on the Enterprise. The Klingon captains wife dances with McCoy to start a fight between him and the Klingon captain. Both Kirk and the Klingon are summoned to the council chamber and Kirk argues he needs the Klingons help to escape so they let them both go. Meanwhile the wife hides a bomb in the Enterprise computer.
It is the big day and the two ships awkwardly dock with each other and start warping towards the barrier. At the last moment one of the council psychics detects the bomb and calls the Enterprise to warn them. Spock and Scotty manage to find the bomb and throw it out a hatch just before it blows. The escape plan works luckily and they are both on their way.
Review: This is a fun episode of adventure. As an added bonus Shatner gets to mispronounce, "sabotage," again which I am going to add a point to the score for. Also, who doesn't love some Klingon trickery?
9 out of 10
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
TAS: Jihad
I admit that when I decided I was obligated to watch TAS I looked down the episode list and spotted Jihad near the bottom and got worried. Apparently 40 years ago Jihad didn't have the same connotations as today because instead of being an episode at all about religion this turned out to be a heist adventure. Other than the fact that it is Trek and there are scifi trappings this is a classic heist both in set up (a gang of misfits are each picked for their individual talents) and it conclusion (oh noes, one of them WAS the villain).
The episode begins with the Enterprise rendezvousing with a group of ships from various races across the galaxy. They have been called together to help deal with a threat to all civilizations, but they can't be told what the threat is! Kirk and Spock beam to the surface and are greeted by a group of aliens. There is a woman who is the greatest hunter/tracker in the galaxy, an insect who is an amazing thief/lockpick, a lizardman who is strong/brave, and a bird man who is a birdman. The catlike organizer of the even explains that the bird people were powerful warriors 200 years ago until a religious prophet convinced them to be peaceful which they have been ever since. The soul of the prophet has been stolen and if the bird people learn of it they will freak out and start breeding warriors like crazy. To stop it this team (without the cat person, they apparently don't like where this is headed) must go to an unstable planet of volcanoes and earthquakes where they apparently know the soul is being stored.
They arrive on the planet with only a wheeled vehicle to get around. The birdman scouts from the sky as the rest of them crawl along slowly. A volcano erupts and they first try to block the lava flow and then have to race to safety. Spock falls of the cart and gets all annoyed at Kirk for saving him even though we all knew he would. They finally reach the temple where the stolen soul is located. The insect manages to pick the locks as the rest of them fight off flying mechanical sentries. The birdman appears to have been lost in the fight. As they make there way inside they see the soul floating high in the room. After trying to sneak up a ledge to it they discover it is being protected by a forcefield. Kirk figures out the only way this could be is if the birdman stole the soul in the first place (I am not sure his logic is sound, but he is right). The birdman emerges and they turn off gravity somehow. They grab the soul and birdman and all beam to safety. The cat person explains they can't tell anybody what happened and that they will erase the mind of the bird man. When Kirk and Spock beam back to the Enterprise Sulu is confused since they had only been gone a few minutes.
Review: This is a fun episode that also features a B story I didn't fit in above about the hunter lady aggressively pursuing Kirk romantically. Also they only use the word Jihad once and it is in reference to what the birdmen will do to the galaxy if they don't get their soul back.
8 out of 10
The episode begins with the Enterprise rendezvousing with a group of ships from various races across the galaxy. They have been called together to help deal with a threat to all civilizations, but they can't be told what the threat is! Kirk and Spock beam to the surface and are greeted by a group of aliens. There is a woman who is the greatest hunter/tracker in the galaxy, an insect who is an amazing thief/lockpick, a lizardman who is strong/brave, and a bird man who is a birdman. The catlike organizer of the even explains that the bird people were powerful warriors 200 years ago until a religious prophet convinced them to be peaceful which they have been ever since. The soul of the prophet has been stolen and if the bird people learn of it they will freak out and start breeding warriors like crazy. To stop it this team (without the cat person, they apparently don't like where this is headed) must go to an unstable planet of volcanoes and earthquakes where they apparently know the soul is being stored.
They arrive on the planet with only a wheeled vehicle to get around. The birdman scouts from the sky as the rest of them crawl along slowly. A volcano erupts and they first try to block the lava flow and then have to race to safety. Spock falls of the cart and gets all annoyed at Kirk for saving him even though we all knew he would. They finally reach the temple where the stolen soul is located. The insect manages to pick the locks as the rest of them fight off flying mechanical sentries. The birdman appears to have been lost in the fight. As they make there way inside they see the soul floating high in the room. After trying to sneak up a ledge to it they discover it is being protected by a forcefield. Kirk figures out the only way this could be is if the birdman stole the soul in the first place (I am not sure his logic is sound, but he is right). The birdman emerges and they turn off gravity somehow. They grab the soul and birdman and all beam to safety. The cat person explains they can't tell anybody what happened and that they will erase the mind of the bird man. When Kirk and Spock beam back to the Enterprise Sulu is confused since they had only been gone a few minutes.
Review: This is a fun episode that also features a B story I didn't fit in above about the hunter lady aggressively pursuing Kirk romantically. Also they only use the word Jihad once and it is in reference to what the birdmen will do to the galaxy if they don't get their soul back.
8 out of 10
Monday, May 11, 2015
TAS: Eye of the Beholder
Even though it has a similar plot to The Cage, this episode covers enough different ground to be interesting and is in fact quite exciting. I love that TAS embraces being animated and has way more interesting aliens than any other Trek series. The hyper-intelligent slug monsters who run the zoo in this episode are not what anyone thinks of when they think of intelligent aliens, and that's just fine. There is certainly some Shatner over acting in this episode, but to be fair he is voicing having his mind ripped apart by slugs so I guess that is ok this time.
The episode opens with the Enterprise investigating a missing science team on an unexplored planet. They find the teams logs and learn that the second half of the team beamed to the surface of the planet a month ago to try and help the first part of the team, but evidently was unable to get back to their ship. Logically the best way to check this out is to send captain Kirk along with Spock and McCoy to investigate. What they find is a planet with wildly different ecosystems every kilometer or so populated with animals that seem to come from all over the galaxy. They follow the signal from the other teams communicators but are captured by giant slug creatures that take away their weapons and communicators.
They are then taken to a zoo enclosure built to mimic the environment on earth. There they find the three survivors of the first ship also living in the zoo. One of them is sick and McCoy can't help her without his medical kit that the aliens are keeping on the far side of the a forcefield. Spock learns the aliens are telepathic and all of them concentrate on thinking about the medical kit until the aliens give it to them allowing McCoy to treat the sick navigator. Kirk then decides to try getting a communicator and manages to get one of the aliens to give it to him, but when he calls the ship to get beamed up the alien grabs the communicator from him and is beamed up instead.
It is then that they learn that the alien who just got beamed up was the child of two aliens who captured them and the parents are pissed. They start trying to tear Kirk's mind apart to get the information. On the Enterprise Scotty has to try and work with the young alien. Fortunately he has better luck than Kirk and allows it to probe both his mind and the ships computer. The alien decides they aren't smart yet, but are on their way and beams itself down along with Scotty. The child convinces it's parents the humans are going to be smart someday and they agree to release them.
Review: I really enjoyed this episode. It has lots of adventure but also a solid scifi concept. Lots of stuff happens but unlike yesterdays episode this one doesn't feel rushed.
8 out of 10
The episode opens with the Enterprise investigating a missing science team on an unexplored planet. They find the teams logs and learn that the second half of the team beamed to the surface of the planet a month ago to try and help the first part of the team, but evidently was unable to get back to their ship. Logically the best way to check this out is to send captain Kirk along with Spock and McCoy to investigate. What they find is a planet with wildly different ecosystems every kilometer or so populated with animals that seem to come from all over the galaxy. They follow the signal from the other teams communicators but are captured by giant slug creatures that take away their weapons and communicators.
They are then taken to a zoo enclosure built to mimic the environment on earth. There they find the three survivors of the first ship also living in the zoo. One of them is sick and McCoy can't help her without his medical kit that the aliens are keeping on the far side of the a forcefield. Spock learns the aliens are telepathic and all of them concentrate on thinking about the medical kit until the aliens give it to them allowing McCoy to treat the sick navigator. Kirk then decides to try getting a communicator and manages to get one of the aliens to give it to him, but when he calls the ship to get beamed up the alien grabs the communicator from him and is beamed up instead.
It is then that they learn that the alien who just got beamed up was the child of two aliens who captured them and the parents are pissed. They start trying to tear Kirk's mind apart to get the information. On the Enterprise Scotty has to try and work with the young alien. Fortunately he has better luck than Kirk and allows it to probe both his mind and the ships computer. The alien decides they aren't smart yet, but are on their way and beams itself down along with Scotty. The child convinces it's parents the humans are going to be smart someday and they agree to release them.
Review: I really enjoyed this episode. It has lots of adventure but also a solid scifi concept. Lots of stuff happens but unlike yesterdays episode this one doesn't feel rushed.
8 out of 10
Sunday, May 10, 2015
TAS: The Slaver Weapon
I didn't know Star Trek contained any crossover episodes with outer continuities and when I finally saw the crossover episode I think I can see why. It is actually a pretty good Trek episode, but Spock has to keep expounding on stuff to make it make any sense. It also feels really weird to have a totally new species of aliens that apparently are well known but are never heard from before or since. Also I am pretty sure some of the technology attributed to the Slavers has had over original inventors.
The episode begins and ends in the very strangely shaped shuttlecraft Copernicus which has been tasked with transporting super important cargo instead of the larger and better armed Enterprise. The cargo is a billion year old stasis box with unknown contents left behind by a galactic empire that was wiped out a billion years ago. The box starts glowing as they pass a star system which indicates to Spock that there is another stasis box on the planet. When they land to investigate they are quickly ambushed by Kzinti "pirates" who lured them there with an empty stasis box.
The Kzinti reveal that they are trying to find a weapon powerful enough to let them fight back against they Federation which forced them to give up most weapons a century ago. In addition to a fresh steak and what appears to be a picture of one of the slavers is a small green gun looking thing with a slider on the side. The Kzinti take Spock, Sulu and Uhura outside to test the weapon on them, but other than being a cool telescope, a rocket and an energy drainer it doesn't seem to do anything. The energy drainer disables to police web being used on the Enterprise crew and they escape with the weapon other than Uhura who is captured and held hostage.
Spock and Sulu experiment with the weapon and discover a hidden setting that turns it into a powerful nuclear laser beam or something and that gets the Kzinti's attention. Spock trades the weapon for Uhura but the Kzinti are too dumb to figure out out and end up blowing up both themselves and the weapon.
Review: There is all sorts of stuff in this episode that I am guessing is background important to Larry Niven's Known Space universe from which this story is adapted. But for the purposes of the story the fact that the Kzinti have depressed telepaths and dumb women is pretty much totally irrelevant. I liked the story of a stasis box with an unknown weapon, but the rest of the episode is way less interesting.
4 out of 10
The episode begins and ends in the very strangely shaped shuttlecraft Copernicus which has been tasked with transporting super important cargo instead of the larger and better armed Enterprise. The cargo is a billion year old stasis box with unknown contents left behind by a galactic empire that was wiped out a billion years ago. The box starts glowing as they pass a star system which indicates to Spock that there is another stasis box on the planet. When they land to investigate they are quickly ambushed by Kzinti "pirates" who lured them there with an empty stasis box.
The Kzinti reveal that they are trying to find a weapon powerful enough to let them fight back against they Federation which forced them to give up most weapons a century ago. In addition to a fresh steak and what appears to be a picture of one of the slavers is a small green gun looking thing with a slider on the side. The Kzinti take Spock, Sulu and Uhura outside to test the weapon on them, but other than being a cool telescope, a rocket and an energy drainer it doesn't seem to do anything. The energy drainer disables to police web being used on the Enterprise crew and they escape with the weapon other than Uhura who is captured and held hostage.
Spock and Sulu experiment with the weapon and discover a hidden setting that turns it into a powerful nuclear laser beam or something and that gets the Kzinti's attention. Spock trades the weapon for Uhura but the Kzinti are too dumb to figure out out and end up blowing up both themselves and the weapon.
Review: There is all sorts of stuff in this episode that I am guessing is background important to Larry Niven's Known Space universe from which this story is adapted. But for the purposes of the story the fact that the Kzinti have depressed telepaths and dumb women is pretty much totally irrelevant. I liked the story of a stasis box with an unknown weapon, but the rest of the episode is way less interesting.
4 out of 10
Saturday, May 9, 2015
TAS: The Ambergris Element
Welcome to the planet of the fish people! Fortunately the Enterprise has an aquashuttle that is both a shuttlecraft and a submersible. And even more fortunately after it is destroyed and they claim to not have another one they do have a surface boat shuttlecraft (not sure how they fly an open topped shuttlecraft down from orbit, but whatever). This is the first TAS episode that honestly felt pretty rushed. They tried to have the same number of subplots they would have worked into a full hour episode but it meant that instead of having time to convince the aliens they just either already hate or already trust Kirk and company.
The episode begins with the Enterprise sending a shuttle down to planet Argo, a planet devastated by earthquakes to the point that almost all the continental surface has fallen beneath the ocean. While exploring in the aquashuttle the are attacked by an unknown sea monster. It destroys the aquashuttle and apparently also leaves time for some of the sentient aliens to inject Kirk and Spock with some sort of mutagen without being seen. This causes both of them to stop being able to breath air and to grow webbing between their fingers. AquaKirk and AquaSpock insist on beaming back to Argo to try and find the people who did this to them. Luckily it only takes a few minutes to find the green fish people, but they fish people are terrified and flee. Kirk and Spock are captured and dragged before the leaders of the fish people. Despite clearly being water breathers they are attacked as being spies of the air breathers. The younger fish people want to help, but the elders insist it is forbidden. Since this episode keeps moving as fast as a speeding tuna the young fish people immediately break their laws and help Spock and Kirk find a cure to being turned into fish people. At the same time the Enterprise learns the underwater city is about to be destroyed by a seaquake. Kirk and Spock have to wrestle a the sea monster from the beginning of the episode to get enough venom to turn back into normal people. It works and the Enterprise even saves the fish people by redirecting the seaquake with the ships phasers.
Review: This is actually a pretty fun episode, but it would have worked better with a little more time. There are a few times where it doesn't seem like they have time to think about things or actually learn anything but the episode has already moved forward. Seeing Kirk grow scales and a fish tail is also clearly amusing.
6 out of 10
The episode begins with the Enterprise sending a shuttle down to planet Argo, a planet devastated by earthquakes to the point that almost all the continental surface has fallen beneath the ocean. While exploring in the aquashuttle the are attacked by an unknown sea monster. It destroys the aquashuttle and apparently also leaves time for some of the sentient aliens to inject Kirk and Spock with some sort of mutagen without being seen. This causes both of them to stop being able to breath air and to grow webbing between their fingers. AquaKirk and AquaSpock insist on beaming back to Argo to try and find the people who did this to them. Luckily it only takes a few minutes to find the green fish people, but they fish people are terrified and flee. Kirk and Spock are captured and dragged before the leaders of the fish people. Despite clearly being water breathers they are attacked as being spies of the air breathers. The younger fish people want to help, but the elders insist it is forbidden. Since this episode keeps moving as fast as a speeding tuna the young fish people immediately break their laws and help Spock and Kirk find a cure to being turned into fish people. At the same time the Enterprise learns the underwater city is about to be destroyed by a seaquake. Kirk and Spock have to wrestle a the sea monster from the beginning of the episode to get enough venom to turn back into normal people. It works and the Enterprise even saves the fish people by redirecting the seaquake with the ships phasers.
Review: This is actually a pretty fun episode, but it would have worked better with a little more time. There are a few times where it doesn't seem like they have time to think about things or actually learn anything but the episode has already moved forward. Seeing Kirk grow scales and a fish tail is also clearly amusing.
6 out of 10
Friday, May 8, 2015
TAS: The Terratin Incident
This is another fun episode that would have been impossible to produce live action. The "science" of that is happening is so silly I am going to pretty much leave it be. Also while they say that their mass isn't changed by the shrinking, but then show them having to jump up and down to push buttons. It seems like if I were to stand on a button it would be more likely to break than depress, but whatever. Also, at the end when Kirk is saving the people of Terratin I swear he told Sulu to aim the phasers at their city rather than the trasporter, but I may have misheard.
While investigating the remnants of a supernova the Enterprise receives a subspace radio signal from what is believed to be an unoccupied planet. They investigate what appears to be an M-class planet in the process of destroying its surface due to excessive volcanism. They are suddenly hit with strange beams coming from the surface of the planet that seem to have no effect until they notice everything seems to be getting bigger. All the inorganic matter on the ship seems to be growing, but McCoy learns that isn't correct, all the organic matter is shrinking!
Before they shrink so small that they can no longer operate the transporter controls Kirk beams to the surface of the planet with the transporter set to bring him back automatically after 10 minutes. On the surface he finds the transporter has restored him to normal size and that the planet is tearing itself apart. Just before being beamed back he finds a tiny city. Back on the ship Kirk learns the bridge crew have been transported down to the surface by the inhabitants of the city. Kirk is pissed and contacts them threatening to destroy the city with the ships weapons. The inhabitants of the city respond that they are the descendants of humans who tried to colonize this world but were shrunk by its radiation. Their planet is now destroying itself and they ask for help. After beaming everyone on the ship down and back to restore their size Kirk beams the city aboard the ship and takes it to a nicer planet.
Review: This is a fun episode. I enjoyed watching the bridge crew having to build ladders to get to their controls even if it did contradict some of what they said in the episode. Also they did the obvious thing to help the people of beaming their entire civilization aboard the ship for transport instead of refusing due to the prime directive or some crap like that.
7 out of 10
While investigating the remnants of a supernova the Enterprise receives a subspace radio signal from what is believed to be an unoccupied planet. They investigate what appears to be an M-class planet in the process of destroying its surface due to excessive volcanism. They are suddenly hit with strange beams coming from the surface of the planet that seem to have no effect until they notice everything seems to be getting bigger. All the inorganic matter on the ship seems to be growing, but McCoy learns that isn't correct, all the organic matter is shrinking!
Before they shrink so small that they can no longer operate the transporter controls Kirk beams to the surface of the planet with the transporter set to bring him back automatically after 10 minutes. On the surface he finds the transporter has restored him to normal size and that the planet is tearing itself apart. Just before being beamed back he finds a tiny city. Back on the ship Kirk learns the bridge crew have been transported down to the surface by the inhabitants of the city. Kirk is pissed and contacts them threatening to destroy the city with the ships weapons. The inhabitants of the city respond that they are the descendants of humans who tried to colonize this world but were shrunk by its radiation. Their planet is now destroying itself and they ask for help. After beaming everyone on the ship down and back to restore their size Kirk beams the city aboard the ship and takes it to a nicer planet.
Review: This is a fun episode. I enjoyed watching the bridge crew having to build ladders to get to their controls even if it did contradict some of what they said in the episode. Also they did the obvious thing to help the people of beaming their entire civilization aboard the ship for transport instead of refusing due to the prime directive or some crap like that.
7 out of 10
Thursday, May 7, 2015
TAS: Mudd's Passion
Ah Harry Mudd, is there any situation he won't try to con his way out of? This time his game is selling a love potion he doesn't believe works, only it does, kinda. This is actually a fairly successful attempt at a comedic episode that despite being about forcing people to fall in love manages to stay mostly not creepy. I was worried Harry Mudd's return to TAS would be pretty bad, but it worked much better than I expected.
The Enterprise is hunting for the notorious swindler Harry Mudd. This time he is on the creatively named mining plate Motherlode. His attempts to sell a love potion seem to be going well until Spock reveals the beautiful woman he is working with on stage is in fact a hypnotic reptile capable of altering its appearance. The miners turn on Mudd and Spock has to save him from the mob by blasting a huge chasm into the ground between the miners and Mudd. They take Mudd back to the ship to so he can face charges back in the Federation. Mudd notices nurse Chapel's infatuation with Mr. Spock and manages to convince her to try the love potion on him. It doesn't appear to have working and Chapel confronts Mudd. They get into a fight in the shuttlebay and break a bunch of the crystals into the ventilation ducts before Mudd subdues Chapel and flees in a shuttlecraft with her.
Back on the bridge Spock is suddenly in love with Chapel and outraged when he learns Mudd has kidnapped her and fled to the rocky planet below. Kirk goes with him down to the planet as the crew gradually succumb to the effects of the love potion including Scottie falling in love with the feline M'Ress. On the planet Mudd manages to awaken giant rock monsters who chase him along with Chapel, Spock and Kirk. Kirk decides to try the love potion on the rock monsters and I think it is supposed to have worked maybe, but being a cartoon they don't actually show if it does. Back on the ship the potion has made everyone who was in love suddenly hate each other and they drag Mudd off to trial.
Review: A quick and entertaining episode. Spock falling head over heals in love is always fun to watch. Somehow with all the love in the air the captain didn't fall for anybody. I guess he already has the ship.
7 out of 10
The Enterprise is hunting for the notorious swindler Harry Mudd. This time he is on the creatively named mining plate Motherlode. His attempts to sell a love potion seem to be going well until Spock reveals the beautiful woman he is working with on stage is in fact a hypnotic reptile capable of altering its appearance. The miners turn on Mudd and Spock has to save him from the mob by blasting a huge chasm into the ground between the miners and Mudd. They take Mudd back to the ship to so he can face charges back in the Federation. Mudd notices nurse Chapel's infatuation with Mr. Spock and manages to convince her to try the love potion on him. It doesn't appear to have working and Chapel confronts Mudd. They get into a fight in the shuttlebay and break a bunch of the crystals into the ventilation ducts before Mudd subdues Chapel and flees in a shuttlecraft with her.
Back on the bridge Spock is suddenly in love with Chapel and outraged when he learns Mudd has kidnapped her and fled to the rocky planet below. Kirk goes with him down to the planet as the crew gradually succumb to the effects of the love potion including Scottie falling in love with the feline M'Ress. On the planet Mudd manages to awaken giant rock monsters who chase him along with Chapel, Spock and Kirk. Kirk decides to try the love potion on the rock monsters and I think it is supposed to have worked maybe, but being a cartoon they don't actually show if it does. Back on the ship the potion has made everyone who was in love suddenly hate each other and they drag Mudd off to trial.
Review: A quick and entertaining episode. Spock falling head over heals in love is always fun to watch. Somehow with all the love in the air the captain didn't fall for anybody. I guess he already has the ship.
7 out of 10
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
TAS: Once Upon a Planet
The prototypical holodeck gone awry episode takes place in TAS! Also I know that the last episode the visited this planet was called, "Shore Leave," and that they were in fact there for shore leave, but do they have to refer to it as the shore leave planet? That seems like a clear breaking of the 4th wall to me. Other than that this is very much an episode that would have fit in very nicely in TOS, although if it were a TOS episode I think Kirk would be contractually obligated to destroy the master computer with a paradox.
The crew are exhausted and Kirk brings them to, "the shore leave planet," for some relaxation. They start beaming down and everything seems as it was. Even the characters from Alice in Wonderland show up, and act cute. But then the queen of hearts shows up and tries to have McCoy executed and they all flee back to the ship except for Uhura who is taken prisoner. On the ship Kirk arranges to try and rescue Uhura who is being interrogated by the master computer of the planet. The computer asks about her, "master," and insults her when she doesn't understand. Eventually she figures out that it thinks the crew of the Enterprise serve the ship as slaves.
Kirk and Spock decide they need to find the keeper of the planet and beam down to the surface. They manage to make their way into the caves where the computer is and trick it into taking them deep into its core. There they learn that without the keeper of the planet (who died several years ago) the computer has gone mad and decided it needs to spread itself through the galaxy. It is even having one of itself built on the Enterprise. Kirk manages to convince the computer that they aren't slaves and that they work together with computers to do the things they do. This calms it down and it agrees to go back to being an entertainment system.
Review: The rapid conclusion of this episode doesn't make all that much sense, but it still manages to be a fun tale of adventure. More powerful computers gone bad, but at least it doesn't have any godlike beings.
6 out of 10
The crew are exhausted and Kirk brings them to, "the shore leave planet," for some relaxation. They start beaming down and everything seems as it was. Even the characters from Alice in Wonderland show up, and act cute. But then the queen of hearts shows up and tries to have McCoy executed and they all flee back to the ship except for Uhura who is taken prisoner. On the ship Kirk arranges to try and rescue Uhura who is being interrogated by the master computer of the planet. The computer asks about her, "master," and insults her when she doesn't understand. Eventually she figures out that it thinks the crew of the Enterprise serve the ship as slaves.
Kirk and Spock decide they need to find the keeper of the planet and beam down to the surface. They manage to make their way into the caves where the computer is and trick it into taking them deep into its core. There they learn that without the keeper of the planet (who died several years ago) the computer has gone mad and decided it needs to spread itself through the galaxy. It is even having one of itself built on the Enterprise. Kirk manages to convince the computer that they aren't slaves and that they work together with computers to do the things they do. This calms it down and it agrees to go back to being an entertainment system.
Review: The rapid conclusion of this episode doesn't make all that much sense, but it still manages to be a fun tale of adventure. More powerful computers gone bad, but at least it doesn't have any godlike beings.
6 out of 10
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
TAS: The Magicks of Megus-Tu
I am going to get it out of the way right here and talk about the disaster that is the, "science," at the beginning of this episode. The idea that the center of the galaxy was the center of the universe and therefore of creation wouldn't have made any sense even in the 70's. The idea that the creation of the universe might be an ongoing phenomenon would have been more reasonable back then as we didn't understand the big bang. But that going to the center of the galaxy would send you to a different universe where magic is real, wow. But if we ignore all that other stuff and accept magic this isn't a bad TAS episode.
The Enterprise is exploring the center of the galaxy/universe when suddenly all the laws of physics stop working! Worst of all this means life support is failing as well. Just as they are about to lose home a horned red goat man appears and fixes it all. He then explains that he knows about humans from a long time ago and is very excited to be with some again. He also explains that here magic is real! He shows them around the planet a little bit and then sends them back to the ship warning them they have to hide, but from who?
Spock decides to start playing around with the new magic they all apparently have and is able to move giant chess pieces around with his mind. Lucius (the goat man) reappears and tells them to stop or they will be caught, but it is too late. The entire crew is removed from the ship and show up in stocks for a reverse Salem witch trial. It turns out the people on this planet were the witches and didn't really like getting burned at the stake. So now Q style they are going to put the crew of the Enterprise on trial for the sins of their ancestors. Spock gets to defend and after messing around just pulls out the memory banks of the ship (more punch cards than I remember) and tells the magicians to take a look. They do and decide the humans are all right, but Lucius, he is going to be sent to some sort of hell like limbo for eternity. Kirk gets mad and there is a wizard battle between him and the head of the witches, but it works out to have just been a test and they leave and no longer have powers.
Review: This is the most cartoony of the episodes in TAS so far. Not just because it is a bit silly, but also because it would have clearly been impossible to film live action without some fairly major changes to the climax. Not the best, but far from the worst.
6 out of 10
The Enterprise is exploring the center of the galaxy/universe when suddenly all the laws of physics stop working! Worst of all this means life support is failing as well. Just as they are about to lose home a horned red goat man appears and fixes it all. He then explains that he knows about humans from a long time ago and is very excited to be with some again. He also explains that here magic is real! He shows them around the planet a little bit and then sends them back to the ship warning them they have to hide, but from who?
Spock decides to start playing around with the new magic they all apparently have and is able to move giant chess pieces around with his mind. Lucius (the goat man) reappears and tells them to stop or they will be caught, but it is too late. The entire crew is removed from the ship and show up in stocks for a reverse Salem witch trial. It turns out the people on this planet were the witches and didn't really like getting burned at the stake. So now Q style they are going to put the crew of the Enterprise on trial for the sins of their ancestors. Spock gets to defend and after messing around just pulls out the memory banks of the ship (more punch cards than I remember) and tells the magicians to take a look. They do and decide the humans are all right, but Lucius, he is going to be sent to some sort of hell like limbo for eternity. Kirk gets mad and there is a wizard battle between him and the head of the witches, but it works out to have just been a test and they leave and no longer have powers.
Review: This is the most cartoony of the episodes in TAS so far. Not just because it is a bit silly, but also because it would have clearly been impossible to film live action without some fairly major changes to the climax. Not the best, but far from the worst.
6 out of 10
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