This episode is often mentioned as the best Star Trek episode of all time, and it is about to get a lot of mentions like that from me. It basically has it all: hard science fiction, personal drama and sacrifice, and stakes as high as the destruction (or rather removal from history) of the Federation itself. This was one of my favorite episodes as a kid, and it fully stands up to the test of time. Contrasting with last nights episode, this one doesn't waste any time. Every scene drives the plot forward and the pay off at the end makes it all come together perfectly. Harlan Ellison really wrote a winner with The City on the Edge of Forever (even the name is great!).
The episode opens with the Enterprise investigating waves of time distortion coming from the surface of a planet. The ship is rocked violently and Sulu's control panel explodes violently knocking him unconscious. McCoy arrives to help and gives him a dose of a scifi drug that Kirk doesn't seem to approve of, but it works perfectly and Sulu is miraculously better. Just then another wave of time distortion hits and McCoy falls on his hypo taking an overdose of the drug. He is driven mad and flees to the planets surface. Kirk beams down with Spock and a landing party to look for him.
They find the ruins of an ancient city with a portal that is emitting the waves of time distortion. It speaks to them and describes itself as the guardian of forever. It starts showing them earth's history when McCoy suddenly jumps through. Uhura suddenly realizes they can't talk to the Enterprise. The Guardians calmly tells them that is because their history is now gone and there is no Enterprise. Luckily Spock was recording the timestream and figures they can go through and try to stop McCoy from changing things. Kirk tells the away team to go through and try again if they fail before jumping through with Spock.
They find themselves on earth in the 1920's and don't exactly fit in. Kirk realizes this and attempts to steal clothes, but they are immediately caught by a policeman. Spock gives them the old neck pinch and the two of them flee into a basement. They are again caught immediately, but this time by Edith Keeler, the beautiful head of the mission they have stumbled into. She offers to give them work and finds them a place to stay. Spock starts work on a primitive computer to help him read the information on his tricorder to see if they can determine what McCoy changed. Meanwhile Kirk is falling in love with Edith. Spock gets things working and determines that either Edith will be important to history, or she will die that very year, but before he can find out which his computer overloads and burns.
Meanwhile McCoy arrives and after interrogating a bum who then kills himself accidentally with McCoy's phaser. McCoy finds himself in the mission and only misses seeing Spock by a few seconds before Edith rushes him to a back room to recover. McCoy doesn't realize he passed through the time portal and assumes he is hallucinating. Spock gets his computer working again and learns that if Edith Keeler doesn't die that year she will start a peace movement that delays the US getting into WWII and allows Germany to get the bomb first and win the war. Kirk is devastated by this news and he is now dating Edith. That very night he takes her to the movies, but after crossing the street in front of the mission Edith casually mentions that McCoy is at the mission. Kirk is extremely excited and darts back across the street just as McCoy emerges. They embrace and Edith walks back across the street towards them. McCoy seems a truck barreling towards her but Kirk has to stop him from saving her. Suddenly they are back on the planet and the Enterprise is back. The guardian offers to send them on many more adventures, but Kirk replies with, "lets get the hell out of here."
Critical discussion: This episode is better than most of the movies and feels downright cinematic in it's scope. It manages to tell a story of time travel without feeling at all campy. Even the goofy looking guardian of forever doesn't do anything to mar the quality of the episode. All the acting is fantastic. Not sure there is much more to say other than:
10 out of 10
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Friday, March 6, 2015
TOS: The Alternative Factor
Tonight's episode tries to be hard science fiction, but stumbles a bit when it comes to effects and pacing. The episode starts with the Enterprise performing a routine scan of an empty planet when suddenly a shaking image of a nebula pops on screen and the whole ship is shaken. Spock's scans indicate that the entire universe has winked out of existence for a moment. It has something to do with magnetism and this is as much explanation as we ever really get. Starfleet command contacts the Enterprise, apparently the rest of the universe also noticed blinking in and out of existence.
Spock detects a live human on the planet below and they beam down to investigate. They find a raving madman and some sort of odd ship. They beam him back to the Enterprise and get him patched up. His name is Lazarus and he insists he is in a battle with an evil humanoid creature. Whenever he has one of his battles the universe jumps into and out of existence in a most jarring way. Despite no explanation Lazarus insists they help him destroy the creature. There is a lot of messing around and way too much of the shaking nebula and an inverted color effect with a spinning camera. While in the inverted mode two humans are shown at each others throats.
The audience (in this case me) figures out pretty quick there are two Lazari. Both the good and the bad on seem to need the ships di-lithium crystals which now are some sort of flat plate. The bad Laz steals the crystals and beams down to the planet. Kirk pursue and before Laz can stop him Kirk touches the alien vessel and is sent through the inverted color space and meets the good Laz with an identical ship on a soundstage. He confirms there are two of him and he is anti-matter. This episode suffers from the delusion that matter and anti-matter should only be kept apart if they are in fact the same person. Laz agrees to sacrifice himself to struggling with his alternative self forever in limbo if Kirk will only force the bad Laz into the, "corridor," as they are now apparently calling it. Everything works out and the Enterprise is on its way.
Ruling: This is probably the most dull episode so far. It is filled with technobabble and way way too many shots of the two Laz's struggling in limbo. They tried to make things tense by having the fate of the universe on the line, but it is unclear what is going on most of the episode and when they do reveal what is happening it isn't all that exciting. Certainly not the worst of trek, but a bit sub par for what I have seen so far.
3 out of 10
Spock detects a live human on the planet below and they beam down to investigate. They find a raving madman and some sort of odd ship. They beam him back to the Enterprise and get him patched up. His name is Lazarus and he insists he is in a battle with an evil humanoid creature. Whenever he has one of his battles the universe jumps into and out of existence in a most jarring way. Despite no explanation Lazarus insists they help him destroy the creature. There is a lot of messing around and way too much of the shaking nebula and an inverted color effect with a spinning camera. While in the inverted mode two humans are shown at each others throats.
The audience (in this case me) figures out pretty quick there are two Lazari. Both the good and the bad on seem to need the ships di-lithium crystals which now are some sort of flat plate. The bad Laz steals the crystals and beams down to the planet. Kirk pursue and before Laz can stop him Kirk touches the alien vessel and is sent through the inverted color space and meets the good Laz with an identical ship on a soundstage. He confirms there are two of him and he is anti-matter. This episode suffers from the delusion that matter and anti-matter should only be kept apart if they are in fact the same person. Laz agrees to sacrifice himself to struggling with his alternative self forever in limbo if Kirk will only force the bad Laz into the, "corridor," as they are now apparently calling it. Everything works out and the Enterprise is on its way.
Ruling: This is probably the most dull episode so far. It is filled with technobabble and way way too many shots of the two Laz's struggling in limbo. They tried to make things tense by having the fate of the universe on the line, but it is unclear what is going on most of the episode and when they do reveal what is happening it isn't all that exciting. Certainly not the worst of trek, but a bit sub par for what I have seen so far.
3 out of 10
Thursday, March 5, 2015
TOS: Errand of Mercy
Another day, another new set of godlike beings. This episode is actually quite noteworthy for the introduction of the Klingons who despite the makeup changes seem pretty similar to their final portrayal. The Klingon governor has a sash very similar to the one Worf wore first season and their disruptor pistols look pretty similar to the ones that made it into TNG as well.
The episode opens with Kirk on the bridge receiving a message that the Klingons are preparing for war and that he should proceed to a strategically important planet and secure it for the Federation. Before they can set out the Enterprise is attacked by a cloaked Klingon vessel (it appears to be able to fire when cloaked!) which they quickly destroy. Just then a message comes through that war has officially been declared and they warp to Organia at warp factor seven.
When they arrive Kirk and Spock beam down to the planet and attempt to negotiate with the simple people they find. The Organians appear to have some sort of psychic power, but other than that and a love of peace they don't seem to have much going for the, The Klingons arrive and the Enterprise is forced to warp away stranding Kirk and Spock. The Organians try to disguise Kirk and Spock, but they can't resist the urge to fight back and Kirk bombs a munitions dump. They are arrested, but before they can be exicuted the head of the Organians arrives at the dungeon and gets them out. He takes them to the council chambers where the Klingon governor arrives to arrest and execute them.
The Federation fleet arrives just as hostilities are about to break out on the planet, but suddenly they drop their weapons and can't even punch each other. The crews of the ships on both sides are also stopped from fighting. The Organian leader announces they aren't going to stand for this and have put a stop to it. Nobody wants to believe it, but they reveal they are in fact not primitive, but are beings of pure energy determined to stop all fighting (where they hell were they during the dominion war?). They insist someday the Klingons and Federation will be good friends so they at least have that going for them.
Results: The main villain of TOS gets an exciting introduction in this episode. We learn they are warlike and have little regard for life. We also learn Kirk can't stand them. While the Romulans are cold and love politics the Klingons desire nothing but strength and to use that strength to take as much as they can. Not the best episode ever, but an enjoyable introduction to all things Klingon.
6 out of 10
The episode opens with Kirk on the bridge receiving a message that the Klingons are preparing for war and that he should proceed to a strategically important planet and secure it for the Federation. Before they can set out the Enterprise is attacked by a cloaked Klingon vessel (it appears to be able to fire when cloaked!) which they quickly destroy. Just then a message comes through that war has officially been declared and they warp to Organia at warp factor seven.
When they arrive Kirk and Spock beam down to the planet and attempt to negotiate with the simple people they find. The Organians appear to have some sort of psychic power, but other than that and a love of peace they don't seem to have much going for the, The Klingons arrive and the Enterprise is forced to warp away stranding Kirk and Spock. The Organians try to disguise Kirk and Spock, but they can't resist the urge to fight back and Kirk bombs a munitions dump. They are arrested, but before they can be exicuted the head of the Organians arrives at the dungeon and gets them out. He takes them to the council chambers where the Klingon governor arrives to arrest and execute them.
The Federation fleet arrives just as hostilities are about to break out on the planet, but suddenly they drop their weapons and can't even punch each other. The crews of the ships on both sides are also stopped from fighting. The Organian leader announces they aren't going to stand for this and have put a stop to it. Nobody wants to believe it, but they reveal they are in fact not primitive, but are beings of pure energy determined to stop all fighting (where they hell were they during the dominion war?). They insist someday the Klingons and Federation will be good friends so they at least have that going for them.
Results: The main villain of TOS gets an exciting introduction in this episode. We learn they are warlike and have little regard for life. We also learn Kirk can't stand them. While the Romulans are cold and love politics the Klingons desire nothing but strength and to use that strength to take as much as they can. Not the best episode ever, but an enjoyable introduction to all things Klingon.
6 out of 10
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
TOS: The Devil in the Dark
Finally we get to one of my personal favorite episodes from when I was a kid. To be honest the horta looked even cheesier than I remembered, but this is still a memorable and enjoyable episode. It marks the first use of, "Jim, I'm a doctor, not a <fill in the blank>." It also features Spock mindmelding with a goofy prop and lots of talk about getting rich which makes me think maybe Gene hadn't settled on that no money in Trek thing quite yet.
The episode begins with a matte painting of a mining colony and a crew of guards looking out for an unknown enemy. Somehow it has killed 50 of their men already and for some reason this one guard isn't too excited to be left alone with an ineffective phaser. And it turns out he is right to be worried, seconds after being left by the rest of the group his is jumped on by some sort of giant monster thing and burned to a crisp. Kirk arrives with Spock and McCoy. They talk to the head of the colony who informs them of the situation. They also meet an engineer who shot the creature with, "phaser one," and it had no effect. (They insist on calling their weapons phaser 1 and phaser 2 all episode instead of type 1 and type 2 which seemed odd.) An alarm sounds, the creature has stolen the pump that cools the colony reactor dooming them all.
Kirk and Spock investigate the tunnel and Spock decides without much evidence that the creature must be silicon based. Kirk sends out search parties with phaser two which apparently works on silicon. Spock and Kirk argue about whether they should capture of kill the strange creature and in fact reverse positions at one point. The creature tries to collapse a tunnel onto Kirk, but he is uninjured by the falling foam rocks.
Kirk finds himself alone with the creature and decides kinda arbitrarily that it isn't hostile. He calls Spock who mindmelds with it and finds out it is injured. McCoy arrives and is aghast at the idea of healing it, but gives it a go. Spock mindmelds again and discovers the location of the stolen pump. Kirk goes for the pump while Spock learns the miners destroyed thousands of the horta's eggs. The miners rush in to kill it just as Kirk returns with the pump. He explains that it is cool, the horta was just mad because they were murdering its eggs. If they will be cool and not kill it the horta will happily dig tunnels for them to use in their mining. McCoy patches it up and the Enterprise in on their way with the miners happily working with baby horta.
Judgement: The episode features a guy under a strange kinda vomit color tarp for a monster, but still manages to feel serious. Kirk is all over the place on if they should kill or save the horta, but it all works out well in the end. A few plot holes keep it from perfection, but a joy to watch never the less.
8 out of 10
The episode begins with a matte painting of a mining colony and a crew of guards looking out for an unknown enemy. Somehow it has killed 50 of their men already and for some reason this one guard isn't too excited to be left alone with an ineffective phaser. And it turns out he is right to be worried, seconds after being left by the rest of the group his is jumped on by some sort of giant monster thing and burned to a crisp. Kirk arrives with Spock and McCoy. They talk to the head of the colony who informs them of the situation. They also meet an engineer who shot the creature with, "phaser one," and it had no effect. (They insist on calling their weapons phaser 1 and phaser 2 all episode instead of type 1 and type 2 which seemed odd.) An alarm sounds, the creature has stolen the pump that cools the colony reactor dooming them all.
Kirk and Spock investigate the tunnel and Spock decides without much evidence that the creature must be silicon based. Kirk sends out search parties with phaser two which apparently works on silicon. Spock and Kirk argue about whether they should capture of kill the strange creature and in fact reverse positions at one point. The creature tries to collapse a tunnel onto Kirk, but he is uninjured by the falling foam rocks.
Kirk finds himself alone with the creature and decides kinda arbitrarily that it isn't hostile. He calls Spock who mindmelds with it and finds out it is injured. McCoy arrives and is aghast at the idea of healing it, but gives it a go. Spock mindmelds again and discovers the location of the stolen pump. Kirk goes for the pump while Spock learns the miners destroyed thousands of the horta's eggs. The miners rush in to kill it just as Kirk returns with the pump. He explains that it is cool, the horta was just mad because they were murdering its eggs. If they will be cool and not kill it the horta will happily dig tunnels for them to use in their mining. McCoy patches it up and the Enterprise in on their way with the miners happily working with baby horta.
Judgement: The episode features a guy under a strange kinda vomit color tarp for a monster, but still manages to feel serious. Kirk is all over the place on if they should kill or save the horta, but it all works out well in the end. A few plot holes keep it from perfection, but a joy to watch never the less.
8 out of 10
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
TOS: This Side of Paradise
This side of paradise is more of a straight scifi story than we have seen for a while. It is also the first of many times (other that one time in the pilot) that Spock gets to feel emotions. The Enterprise is checking in on a colony that should have been wiped out by a rare form of radiation, but when they arrive they find everyone in perfect health tending their crops. And not only that, they find a woman who fell in love with Spock six years ago.
Despite the idyllic appearance of the colony, something seems off. There are no animals, and when McCoy starts medical exams he finds they aren't just perfect, they have regrown appendixes and other incurable damage. Kirk contacts Starfleet, and they order the colony evacuated. Meanwhile Spock's female friend has convinced him to follow her into a field with some strange flowers, when he approaches one of them explodes spores all over him and suddenly he is filled with emotions. He falls in love with the woman and refuses to come back to the ship.
Kirk confronts Spock with Sulu, but before they can take him away they are also hit with the spores, only they have no effect on the captain. Returning to the colony Kirk finds the plants have been beamed about the ship and all his crew have abandoned their stations and are beaming down to join the colony. Kirk beams back up and finds himself alone on the ship. Just as he is giving up hope he is hit by spores and this time it works. But just as he is packing he has an emotional outburst with overwhelms the effects of the spores and he realizes strong emotions neutralize their effect.
Now all he has to do is get Spock mad and not be killed by his superhuman strength. Kirk beams Spock aboard and manages to avoid injury. They come up with a plan to drive everyone on the planet crazy with a sound through the communicators (yeah, doesn't seem likely). Of course it works and the colonists realize they have been wasting their lives being happy like chumps.
Episode Review: Not the most exciting story, but at least it holds together well. Seeing Spock in love is certainly interesting. Also McCoy apparently gets extra southern when he is on the spores. The spores are probably best remembered by the cheesy props, but this one manages to be interesting enough to avoid turning into pure camp.
6 out of 10
Despite the idyllic appearance of the colony, something seems off. There are no animals, and when McCoy starts medical exams he finds they aren't just perfect, they have regrown appendixes and other incurable damage. Kirk contacts Starfleet, and they order the colony evacuated. Meanwhile Spock's female friend has convinced him to follow her into a field with some strange flowers, when he approaches one of them explodes spores all over him and suddenly he is filled with emotions. He falls in love with the woman and refuses to come back to the ship.
Kirk confronts Spock with Sulu, but before they can take him away they are also hit with the spores, only they have no effect on the captain. Returning to the colony Kirk finds the plants have been beamed about the ship and all his crew have abandoned their stations and are beaming down to join the colony. Kirk beams back up and finds himself alone on the ship. Just as he is giving up hope he is hit by spores and this time it works. But just as he is packing he has an emotional outburst with overwhelms the effects of the spores and he realizes strong emotions neutralize their effect.
Now all he has to do is get Spock mad and not be killed by his superhuman strength. Kirk beams Spock aboard and manages to avoid injury. They come up with a plan to drive everyone on the planet crazy with a sound through the communicators (yeah, doesn't seem likely). Of course it works and the colonists realize they have been wasting their lives being happy like chumps.
Episode Review: Not the most exciting story, but at least it holds together well. Seeing Spock in love is certainly interesting. Also McCoy apparently gets extra southern when he is on the spores. The spores are probably best remembered by the cheesy props, but this one manages to be interesting enough to avoid turning into pure camp.
6 out of 10
Monday, March 2, 2015
TOS: A Taste of Armageddon
I seem to have missed more episodes of TOS than I knew, this one was totally new to me. A Taste of Armageddon is a tense scifi twist on a political drama. It features a classic asshole higher up in the Federation with, "the power of command," but at least this one turns out to be useful in the end. It is also pretty clearly a take on the mutually assured destruction doctrine of the cold war.
The episode opens with the Enterprise approaching a star system with orders to establish diplomatic relations, even if it means WAR!!! Not sure about Federation priorities, but when the Enterprise is warned not to approach the ambassador overrides Kirk and orders them to approach anyway. Kirk gets to pull the old, "we can't let you beam down until we are sure it is safe, you are too important," gambit right back at the ambassador. Upon beaming down Kirk and the away team are greeted and taken to the council chamber. The planet appears peaceful, but the are assured the Enterprise is in grave danger! Suddenly the planet is under attack. Only it really isn't. The war is being fought in computers, but the casualties are real, civilians report to disintegration chambers by the thousands after every attack. Not only that, but the Enterprise is declared a casualty.
Kirk and company are locked up, and the leader tries to fake Kirks voice to get the crew to beam down for disintegration, but Scotty isn't buying and raises defense shields just in time for an attack. Before Scotty can shoot back the ambassador steps in again and orders him to not shoot, and opens a channel. The ambassador is easily tricked into beaming down, but Scotty refuses to lower the shields. Down on the planet Spock pulls some ESP crap and tricks the guard outside their room into opening the door. Kirk head off on his own and Spock leads the rest of the crew to help.
Kirk is captured and taken to the counsil chambers where the leader of the planet tries to convince him to surrender his crew. He is terrified that if the treaty with the other planet is violated actual war will break out, but Kirk isn't having it. Kirk tricks them into calling the Enterprise and gets Scotty to start a plan the raze the surface of the planet. Meanwhile the ambassador has beamed down and is taken directly to the disintegration chamber, but Spock saves the day. Spock arrives in the council chambers just after Kirk has overwhelmed the guards and taken over. They destroy the war computers and violate the treaty. The leader is horrified, but Kirk convinces him that now is the time to negotiate with the hostile planet and suddenly the ambassador has something to do.
Weiver: This episode manages to have an interesting scifi twist on a classic story about the horrors of war. Kirk is at his best, improvising and taking risks, and in the end saving the day and the beautiful woman.
8 out of 10
The episode opens with the Enterprise approaching a star system with orders to establish diplomatic relations, even if it means WAR!!! Not sure about Federation priorities, but when the Enterprise is warned not to approach the ambassador overrides Kirk and orders them to approach anyway. Kirk gets to pull the old, "we can't let you beam down until we are sure it is safe, you are too important," gambit right back at the ambassador. Upon beaming down Kirk and the away team are greeted and taken to the council chamber. The planet appears peaceful, but the are assured the Enterprise is in grave danger! Suddenly the planet is under attack. Only it really isn't. The war is being fought in computers, but the casualties are real, civilians report to disintegration chambers by the thousands after every attack. Not only that, but the Enterprise is declared a casualty.
Kirk and company are locked up, and the leader tries to fake Kirks voice to get the crew to beam down for disintegration, but Scotty isn't buying and raises defense shields just in time for an attack. Before Scotty can shoot back the ambassador steps in again and orders him to not shoot, and opens a channel. The ambassador is easily tricked into beaming down, but Scotty refuses to lower the shields. Down on the planet Spock pulls some ESP crap and tricks the guard outside their room into opening the door. Kirk head off on his own and Spock leads the rest of the crew to help.
Kirk is captured and taken to the counsil chambers where the leader of the planet tries to convince him to surrender his crew. He is terrified that if the treaty with the other planet is violated actual war will break out, but Kirk isn't having it. Kirk tricks them into calling the Enterprise and gets Scotty to start a plan the raze the surface of the planet. Meanwhile the ambassador has beamed down and is taken directly to the disintegration chamber, but Spock saves the day. Spock arrives in the council chambers just after Kirk has overwhelmed the guards and taken over. They destroy the war computers and violate the treaty. The leader is horrified, but Kirk convinces him that now is the time to negotiate with the hostile planet and suddenly the ambassador has something to do.
Weiver: This episode manages to have an interesting scifi twist on a classic story about the horrors of war. Kirk is at his best, improvising and taking risks, and in the end saving the day and the beautiful woman.
8 out of 10
Sunday, March 1, 2015
TOS: Space Seed
This is the TOS episode I have seen the most recently, but even knowing how it goes down it is still a great viewing experience. Khan is by far the most interesting and best portrayed of any of the various villains and gods they have faced so far. Even without the powers of a deity Khan manages to be the most serious threat the Enterprise so far. No offense to Mr. Cumberbatch, but his Khan lacked the utter confidence of the original.
The episode begins with the Enterprise encountering an ancient earth vessel unknown to their historical databases. They detect that it is operational and has life signs so they beam above (I believe this is the first time McCoy is shown objecting to being transported) and find it is an sleeper ship from the 1990's. Turning on the lights awakens one of the sleepers who despite at least 200 years in stasis makes an amazing recovery. Upon awakening he holds a knife to McCoy's throat, but that is soon forgotten for some reason. Right after this happens Kirk agrees to give him access to the ships technical manuals which seems odd after the last scene, but whatever. Also the ships historian, Lt. McGivers falls head over heals in love with Khan from the moment she sees him.
Khan proceeds to seduce McGivers and forces her to help him take control of the Enterprise. They beam over to the SS. Botany Bay (Khan's ship) and revive the remaining sleeper. They then beam back and take control of the Enterprise from engineering. Khan tries to get some of the command staff to help him run the ship by putting Kirk in a decompression chamber, but McGivers does the right thing at the last possible moment and save the captain. Kirk and Spock flood the ship with anesthesia gas and only Khan escapes to engineering. Kirk has another fist fight to save the ship from destruction and manages to stop the light from flashing just in time!
The episode concludes with Kirk holding a hearing to decide their fate. Apparently if you turn on a recorder and ring a bell a ships captain has the authority do pretty much whatever he wants. In this case he opts to maroon Khan and his band of supermen along with McGivers on a habitable, but otherwise hostile planet. Khan doesn't object, but it also doesn't seem like he has any choice in the matter. We all know how this turns out, but it really does feel like the writers were setting this up for a second part, presumably in television episode format.
R3v13w: Even without Wrath of Khan this would have been a memorable episode. Great acting by Ricardo Montalban takes an interesting tale of history and adventure and makes it into a classic. This episode not only sets up a great story down the line, it expands the universe into the past and tells a lot about how humanity made it into the stars.
10 out of 10
The episode begins with the Enterprise encountering an ancient earth vessel unknown to their historical databases. They detect that it is operational and has life signs so they beam above (I believe this is the first time McCoy is shown objecting to being transported) and find it is an sleeper ship from the 1990's. Turning on the lights awakens one of the sleepers who despite at least 200 years in stasis makes an amazing recovery. Upon awakening he holds a knife to McCoy's throat, but that is soon forgotten for some reason. Right after this happens Kirk agrees to give him access to the ships technical manuals which seems odd after the last scene, but whatever. Also the ships historian, Lt. McGivers falls head over heals in love with Khan from the moment she sees him.
Khan proceeds to seduce McGivers and forces her to help him take control of the Enterprise. They beam over to the SS. Botany Bay (Khan's ship) and revive the remaining sleeper. They then beam back and take control of the Enterprise from engineering. Khan tries to get some of the command staff to help him run the ship by putting Kirk in a decompression chamber, but McGivers does the right thing at the last possible moment and save the captain. Kirk and Spock flood the ship with anesthesia gas and only Khan escapes to engineering. Kirk has another fist fight to save the ship from destruction and manages to stop the light from flashing just in time!
The episode concludes with Kirk holding a hearing to decide their fate. Apparently if you turn on a recorder and ring a bell a ships captain has the authority do pretty much whatever he wants. In this case he opts to maroon Khan and his band of supermen along with McGivers on a habitable, but otherwise hostile planet. Khan doesn't object, but it also doesn't seem like he has any choice in the matter. We all know how this turns out, but it really does feel like the writers were setting this up for a second part, presumably in television episode format.
R3v13w: Even without Wrath of Khan this would have been a memorable episode. Great acting by Ricardo Montalban takes an interesting tale of history and adventure and makes it into a classic. This episode not only sets up a great story down the line, it expands the universe into the past and tells a lot about how humanity made it into the stars.
10 out of 10
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