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

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