Category: Ensign’s Log, Stardate…

Star Trek – The Original Series

Star Trek – The Original Series

Original air date: March 15, 1968

SYNOPSIS

Captain’s Log: Stardate 4040.7

The Enterprise crew investigates the disappearance of a ship’s crew on a planet that is a modern version of the Roman Empire.

CANON CONTEXT

In the episode, Captain Kirk and his companions are forced to fight in gladiatorial games on a planet resembling the Roman Empire, but possessing mid-20th century Earth technology.

Its name is a reference to the phrase “bread and circuses” taken from the Satire X written by the poet Juvenal. In modern usage, the phrase implies a populace distracted from greater issues by the base pleasures of food and entertainment.

RECAP

The Prime Directive. It’s leaned on in the most interesting ways. This one is no different, I’m afraid. The basic tenet of such a directive is, that should anyone from the federation make contact with those who are outside of it, they should make no mention of its existence nor interfere with their way of life in any way, shape, or form.

Of course, there would be no show if there wasn’t some form of interference. A few episodes back we saw such an interference that led to the declaration of independence and other such historical inferences.

In this episode, however, the interference leads us down a slightly more biblical (and political) path.

We must, however, start with the distress call. This call leads them to a location that is all but destroyed. They follow the debris to a planet that is, as always “not unlike Earth” except they may not be as technologically advanced. So, the question becomes, what century are they mimicking?

Kirk, Spock, and the good doctor, McCoy, take a trip to the planet’s surface to learn more. Upon arrival they are apprehended by slaves who are revolting against the ruling class that is a mix of Roman and television. If the gladiator games were televised. Oh what a lovely world this would be…

Kirk, and the others, dress the part so they don’t stand out quite as much as Spock’s ears and finally locate the person they’ve been after. A commander of a mercenary ship that is sort of like a hired contractor to the federation. So, it makes sense that while he should follow the prime directive of the federation, he seems to take certain liberties with how exactly it should be followed.

And, lest we forget, this episode would not be complete without a femme fatale for Kirk. She is not necessarily in need of immediate rescuing, but her orders, simple as they may seem, are to please Kirk. What better way than by food, drink, and the obligatory make-out session…

With the brief interlude out of the way, we commence with the fighting. They sure do love their battles. If I never see another battle it will be too soon.

Spock and McCoy fight while Kirk watches. Of course, Spock is victorious. As if there would ever be any doubt of that!

Meanwhile, on the Enterprise, my favorite character, Scotty, is in charge. He was given a signal by Kirk not to interfere but he did also convey that they are in danger. So, Scotty gets down to figuring out his own loophole of how to help without interfering, with Uhura watching in awe and admiration. That duo should’ve had more screen time!

To make my already long recap of this episode even longer, with a distraction coming from the Enterprise, Kirk and the others manage to get beamed back on board, leaving behind the man they came to rescue. Unfortunately, he was a casualty of this whole mess. I can’t say I’ll miss him, even if he did end up helping his fellow starfleet men to escape.

Uhura explains that the “sun” the people down on the planet are worshipping isn’t what Kirk and the others believe it to be. In fact, they are worshiping the “son” of God. They are just a few centuries behind us, crawling ever so slowly towards a future that rids them of Romans and their games.

And for a brief moment, Kirk wonders how amazing it would be to relive that turn of time all over again.

Bread (Son of God) and Circuses (Gladiators and Romans). Clever. Very clever.

DID THEY REALLY SAY THAT?

[last lines]

Spock: [referring to Flavius] I wish we could’ve examined that belief of his more closely. It seems illogical for a sun worshiper to develop a philosophy of total brotherhood. Sun worship is usually a primitive superstition religion.

Uhura: I’m afraid you have it all wrong, Mister Spock, all of you. I’ve been monitoring some of their old-style radio waves, the empire spokesman trying to ridicule their religion. But he couldn’t. Don’t you understand? It’s not the sun up in the sky. It’s the Son of God.

Capt. Kirk: Caesar – and Christ. They had them both. And the word is spreading… only now.

Dr. McCoy: A philosophy of total love and total brotherhood.

Spock: It will replace their imperial Rome; but it will happen in their twentieth century.

Capt. Kirk: Wouldn’t it be something to watch, to be a part of? To see it happen all over again? Mister Chekov, take us out of orbit. Ahead warp factor one.

Chekov: Aye, sir.

Original air date: March 8, 1968

SYNOPSIS

Kirk and a sub-skeleton crew are ordered to test out an advanced artificially intelligent control system – the M-5 Multitronic system, which could potentially render them all redundant.

CANON CONTEXT

In 2011, this episode was noted by Forbes as one of the top ten episodes of the franchise that explores the implications of advanced technology, in particular the danger of A.I. In 2016, SyFy ranked guest star William Marshall’s performance as Dr. Daystrom as the 14th best guest star on the original series.

The original draft was given to Ray Bradbury by mathematician and Star Trek fan Laurence Wolfe to give to Gene Roddenberry.

RECAP

This was a really good one. And I’m not sure if that’s because so much time has passed in between the early days where I was watching one episode per day. Or because this episode was clearly absent the stereotypical femme fatale. But there was something almost eerie about this one. Basically, a super computer “M5” has been built to basically take over an entire starship so that a captain and even a crew would no longer be needed to carry out dangerous missions. Think of how many countless lives would be saved?

Let me back up to the beginning. The Enterprise is called to a starbase where they are instructed to allow M5 and its creator on board in order to do some on the job training.

Wesley assures them that this is the future and Captain Kirk has the high honor of testing this machine out. It will undergo some fake battles out in the wild and all Kirk will have is a crew of just over a dozen on board. If something should go wrong it would make it near impossible for such a small number of crew to handle the Enterprise, but what could possibly go wrong if a machine is given control?

M-5s creator, Dr. Richard Daystrom, is prepared to bet his life that his creation is the best and can easily make decisions as well as protect itself against all dangers faster than any human can. And it does so, almost too well.

The unthinkable happens when it starts to kill people that get in its way. Starting with a poor crewman who was the victim of its laser beam. RIP crewman!

The way Kirk is able to “reason” with M-5 is by helping it to realize if it has a directive that to kill is punishable by death then it must die. This gives Kirk and the crew just enough time to regain control of the ship and destroy M-5 for good.

What struck me about this one is how closely it can relate to what is happening today with AI. How often we see the advancement of technology controlling our day-to-day devices. To what end?

And what about M-1 through M-4 that Bones aptly asked about. There were “complications” with those models that is not really explained and just glossed over. Either way, it’s a comfort to know that even as advanced as the future might be, they still come with their own challenges.

I leave you with a smiling crew at the end of a long day. As often as we get the usual femme fatale or dead crewman, we also get these moments at the end where Kirk, Spock, and Bones engage in casual conversation.

DID THEY REALLY SAY THAT?

Wesley: [after M-5’s first successful battle drill] Our compliments to the M-5 unit. And regards to Captain Dunsel. Wesley out.

Dr. McCoy: “Dunsel”? Who the blazes is Captain Dunsel? What does it mean, Jim?

[Kirk slowly leaves the bridge without another word or looking anyone in the eye]

Dr. McCoy: Spock. What does it mean?

Mr. Spock: ‘Dunsel’, Doctor, is a term used by midshipmen at Starfleet Academy. It refers to a part which serves no useful purpose.

Original air date: March 1, 1968

SYNOPSIS

Responding to a distress signal, Kirk finds Captain Tracey of the U.S.S. Exeter violating the prime directive and interfering with a war between the Yangs and the Kohms to find the secret of their longevity.

CANON CONTEXT

The title is taken from a line spoken by Juliet in William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet: “that which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet”, a line quoted by Captain Kirk during the episode.

RECAP

NOTE: I watched this episode and wrote this review back in August. But at the time I was in the middle of moving and if you’ve ever sold one house to purchase another, then you know just how long and daunting and extremely stressful that can be. Suffice it to say, I am BACK to watch Star Trek regularly and finally move on to the next series before the New Year.

Never bet against Star Trek. That is what I keep telling myself after watching this episode. Sure, it’s the same as every other episode I’ve seen thus far in the last two seasons. Except, I don’t know, this one hit…different? It was a combination of absolutely ridiculous and genius. The Star Trek formula?

I want to jump to the last 15min of this episode because, the first 35min, in my opinion, are just fluff and filler. Thinking back on it, as I have been for a couple days, I can honestly say I wish there was more of “the truth” of what this episode was intended to represent and be than what was presented to us to “string us along” because it really is quite confusing.

Let me see if I can quickly summarize the first 35min so I can move on to the more interesting bits:

The Enterprise is meant to rendezvous with another starship. Said starship is there but no sign of life on board. Crew on board starship have been turned to salt? Kirk, Bones, and Spock beam down to planet nearby to find out what has happened. They find captain of starship alive but very much crazy. He believes he’s found a version of the fountain of youth on the planet which only works as long as he remains on the planet with the people. In hindsight he should’ve realized why that is but we’ll get to that later. He’s made himself the leader of one of the groups there who are at war with the Yangs.

Now, this is where it starts to get “different” as I mentioned earlier. Yes, there is a femme fatale. But not how we expect her to be in a usual Star Trek episode up to this point. She is far from helpless even if she is being held behind bars by her enemy.

As you can see, she’s got all the protection she needs for a man who seems, by all accounts, to be quite a neanderthal. Turns out he is far from it. But let’s fast forward to the very end. Where it all begins to “make sense” if you call some garbled language that clearly sounds familiar to any “American” watching and listening.

Turns out that our history and our way of existing as one nation and all that will survive even thousands of years from now. Even if “man” were to regress back to caveman ways, they will still understand and learn and incorporate the same ideals. Even down to the pledge of allegiance…

DID THEY REALLY SAY THAT?

Cloud William: Ay plegli ianectu flaggen, tupep like for stahn…

Captain James T. Kirk: And to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation, under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.

Original air date: February 23, 1968

SYNOPSIS

Galactic alien scouts capture the Enterprise for a return voyage and a prelude to invasion. Kirk’s one advantage – they’re not used to their adopted human form.

CANON CONTEXT

The title is taken from a line spoken by Juliet in William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet: “that which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet”, a line quoted by Captain Kirk during the episode.

RECAP

This is gonna be a short one cause I could find very little about it worth really delving into. As is the usual storyline, they encounter lifeforms that are very “god like” in their nature yet they look human. These humans, one man and one woman, have been waiting for a ship just like that of the Enterprise (just their luck) to come and take them to a planet where they may take over. Yada. Yada. Yada.

If I sound a bit bored in my retelling of this it has to be because I’ve seen it dozens of times already in the previous season. I can see now how my idea of starting from the beginning and working my way through them one-by-one may have been a mistake? But I am a woman of my word so I will power through the rest of season two and season three which is mercilessly less episodes!

Okay, back to this episode. The way Kirk and Spock and Bones devise a plan to get themselves out of this mess is to make these godlike creatures realize that when they inhabited human forms they made themselves more human in reality. Therefore, they have those “weak” tendencies and so their idea of overthrowing the entire human race no longer is a viable plan. As you can tell by the look of the woman she is the perfect femme fatale for Kirk to latch his lips onto.

Captain Kirk manages to make the man very jealous of the affections that the woman is showing to Kirk. They get into a “man fight” and the end result is that the federation will help these two find a planet that is less refined that they can “rule” or at least make them better humans. In turn, the man and woman can live happily ever after together and stop this ridiculous idea of trying to overthrow the entire human race.

Seems like a logical plan. At least, Spock thinks so.

And so, our fearless band of merry men…er, I mean, the Enterprise can now continue on their mission to seek out the same and get out of their dilemmas in much the same fashion.

Apologies. I thought that if I spent a considerable amount of time doing other things I would come back with fresh eyes and appreciation. We shall see if the next episode brings about a better disposition for me.

DID THEY REALLY SAY THAT?

Kelinda: These are lovely. Captain Kirk, what is it you call them?

Captain James T. Kirk: Flowers. I don’t know the variety.

Kelinda: Our memory tapes tell us of such things on Kelvan – crystals that form with such rapidity, they seem to grow. They look like this fragile thing, somewhat. We call them sahsheer.

Captain James T. Kirk: [mumbles] A rose by any other name.

Kelinda: Captain?

Captain James T. Kirk: A quote from a great human poet, Shakespeare. “That which we call a rose by any other name… would smell as sweet.”

Original air date: February 16, 1968

SYNOPSIS

Looking for a missing Federation cultural observer, Kirk and Spock find themselves on a planet whose culture has been completely patterned after Nazi Germany.

CANON CONTEXT

This episode was banned on German television from 1968 until 1995 due to the depiction of Nazi uniforms and presence of several different Nazi insignia.

RECAP

Okay, new rule I’m mentioning here though it has nothing to do with my review: I won’t watch an episode of Star Trek unless I intend to write the review on the same day! I say this because, unfortunately, I watched this episode weeks ago but did not have the time to write the review due to unforeseen life stuff I had to tend to. Does that mean I rewatched it? Oh, definitely not! It is burned in my memory, believe me!

To do a quick recap cause this episode has all the usual suspects of things required at this point to make it an original series; smoldering Kirk, shirtless Kirk, femme fatale, disguised Spock, political topic. This one checks ALL the boxes and then some.

Let’s start at the top with the mission: The Enterprise must check up on some scientist they left on a planet purely for observation purposes. You’d think they learned their lesson after the last several times they used this storyline before. But alas, it wasn’t the case.

What do you suppose they found when they got there? No, not an old gangster book, complete with all the rules to being a gangster. Instead, they found Nazis. Swastikas as far as the eye can see.

Something is rotten in the state of…wherever this is…and it’s up to Kirk and Spock to fix it. But first, they must “blend in.” Cue Kirk looking dapper and dashing as ever in his Nazi uniform.

I’m sure all the ladies were swooning to see him wearing the Nazi insignia and saluting the leader. Sure, he wasn’t saluting Hitler but that’s just semantics here, right? Right?!

So they have their uniforms. Now they must find this scientist guy who seems to be the leader everyone keeps saluting but no one can actually go near. Strange goings on indeed. They must use a cover to get as close to the action as possible. Did someone call for a femme fatale?

I’m sure with her good looks we can all breath a sigh of relief to know she’s actually a mole within the Nazi organization. Phew! I’d hate to think Kirk has gone ahead and fallen in love with a Nazi! Can you imagine?!

But wait, we missed something in the usual script for a classic Star Trek. If Spock is in disguise surely be must be uncovered for the pointy-eared Vulcan that he is, right?

And this must also require him to be shirtless as well. If you ask me, I think he was upset that Kirk was getting to show off his pecks and he wasn’t. I saw no logical reasoning for not having a shirt on. Sure, I know the punishment was lashings but I think they would have been no more or less severe with a shirt on! Sheesh

I include this photo not because I enjoy seeing a sweaty Kirk with no shirt on, but because of his face. As you can see, he’s clearly given one of his sarcastic answers to a higher ranking official of which he does not acknowledge their authority. And as always, that authority is not amused in the slightest. But as luck would have it, he’s not executed just yet.

Instead, it’s lights, camera, action?

The idea is to get into the building where their scientist friend is rumored to be staying and they are going to do so by pretending to be the femme fatale’s very own camera crew…

I gotta say I wasn’t expecting it but when they are trying to drive home a point they really make sure to hit all the major points. In this case? Paparazzi and propaganda?

I’d like to say this was a happy ending. The Nazis were defeated (obviously) and order was restored. Well…yes and no…as with all of history we learn from our mistakes but at the expense of other mistakes being made.

In this case, the scientist fellow they were there to rescue and check up on? Well, he doesn’t make it. Turns out he was kept in a comatose state for so long he could not be revived. Damn!

Also, undoing something like Nazi brainwashing on an entire planet isn’t exactly going to be easy. You don’t just wake up one morning and decide, okay, we’ll stop killing now.

It’s all rather strange how this planet is left. To be honest, it’s not the first and I’m sure it won’t be the last that one could argue is left in just as bad a shape as it was when they found it. Sure, they got rid of a rather oppressive regime but what exactly did they replace it with? That’s not important, so stop asking!

Let us boldly go to the next episode!

DID THEY REALLY SAY THAT?

Capt. Kirk: Gill. Gill, why did you abandon your mission? Why did you interfere with this culture?

John Gill: Planet… fragmented… divided. Took lesson from… Earth history.

Capt. Kirk: But why Nazi Germany? You studied history. You knew what the Nazis were.

John Gill: Most efficient state… Earth ever knew.

Spock: Quite true, Captain. That tiny country, beaten, bankrupt, defeated; rose in a few years to stand only one step away from global domination.

Capt. Kirk: But it was brutal, perverted; had to be destroyed at a terrible cost. Why that example?

Spock: Perhaps Gill felt that such a state, run benignly, could accomplish its efficiency without sadism.

As I rewatch the series I’ve wanted to incorporate lore and documentaries and interviews I find along the way. But I don’t want to absorb content and information beyond what I’m watching.

Recently, I came across The Center Seat while looking for something to watch on Amazon Prime. I know I should be watching the next episode of Star Trek whenever I’m in a search like this. But there’s a reason why tv shows, I believe, should be spaced out one a week. Dropping an entire season is still something I can’t wrap my head around. Whether or not I was brought up that way and the concept is just ingrained in me, I feel I need to give myself space in between my consumption of Star Trek. Silly me for thinking I could watch one a day and be okay!

The Center Seat was done not too long ago, back in 2021 so I don’t feel like I’m too late to that party. It’s narrated by Gates McFadden, Dr. Beverly Crusher, on-again-off-again love interest for Captain Jean Luc Picard, and mother to Will Crusher (Will Weaton) from TNG.

I will stay I love the “set-up” of the way it’s done so far. And the backstory drama of getting the show off the ground is great. So much so I wanted to bring it here to you so if you don’t have Amazon Prime or access to watch this 11-episode series you’ll at least get a brief overview of what it’s all about.

Series Description: The Center Seat: 55 Years Of Star Trek is a multi-episode documentary series that takes viewers on the definitive in-depth journey behind the scenes of one of the greatest landmark franchises of all time: Star Trek. Chronicles rare and fascinating details of how “Star Trek” began, where it’s been, and how it’s going where no television series has gone before.

S1 E1 – Lucy Loves Trek (November 5, 2021)

It all began when Gene Roddenberry convinced Desilu to foot the bill for not one, but two Star Trek pilots. Thanks to Desilu’s boss – America’s darling Lucille Ball – the world met Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.

This was something I knew coming into watching the series all over again. I did some rudimentary research and was not at all surprised to find that Lucille Ball is responsible for why we have Star Trek today. She basically put Desilu and her reputation (as well as her wallet) on the line to put Star Trek on the map because she knew it would be a rerun goldmine. If you don’t know the fascinating story of Lucille Ball, I recommend watching any of her interviews from the past or the many documentaries created about her. They mostly get it right. I really enjoyed the TCM Podcast hosted by Ben Mankiewicz on her life. It doesn’t touch on her connection to Star Trek though so let’s get into it now.

Her husband, Desi, knew that reruns were going to make them millionaires. It was a concept not quite understood by television studio executives and so when Desi insisted on getting exclusive rerun rights, he got it. I won’t go into the sordid details of the separation between Lucy and Desi, but when they divorced he no longer wanted the production studio they built together and Lucy owned Desilu entirely. When I Love Lucy began to run in syndication everywhere Lucy wanted move. Along came Paramount who cut a deal to own Desilu and give Lucille Ball the opportunity to now seek out a new show that would be the same, if not longer lasting, than I Love Lucy. In came Gene Roddenberry with his idea of putting a western in space! That is how he pitched it and that sold her on the idea right away. One thing he always said he didn’t want Star Trek to be or become was another Lost in Space. Have you seen it? Man, that was terrible television!

Okay, so now with the backing of Paramount money (half of the cost, anyway) they proceeded to work on a pilot. I don’t need to tell you that The Cage just didn’t go over well with the executives and they canned it. Not willing to be dissuaded, Lucy went ahead and commissioned a SECOND pilot for Star Trek! It’s the second one, highly unusual and honestly I can’t think of another time it was done and worked to this day, that propelled Star Trek forward. Yes, there were hiccups along the way, the biggest one being Gene as we’ll discover in future episodes.

But let us all give thanks to Lucille Ball and her genius in seeing something in Star Trek and it’s lasting influence on society over decades and generations that no one else saw. I always loved Lucy but when I found this out it only made me admire her more. She is my hero!

S1 E2 – Saturday Morning Pinks (November 12, 2021)

Didn’t realize there was a cartoon version of Star Trek in the early 1970s? Not only was it great, but with original series creator Gene Roddenberry, writer D.C. Fontana, and the series’ original stars on board, it is the fourth season of the original show.

Fast forward past how difficult getting the three seasons of Star Trek done, it resulted on NBC deciding to cancel the show after that run. But it wasn’t until it was gone and started to go into reruns that they realized it was outperforming brand new shows on television by a mile! The network executives just couldn’t understand it. The first ever cult following of a show that they have all but decided to give up on. Do they call the cast back? And if so, could they even afford them at this point? Also, the first ever Star Trek conventions were started up by the fans and they were massive (at least, by 1970s standards). The love for Star Trek just could not be ignored.

So, NBC got together with Gene to concoct a way to bring back Star Trek but not have each episode cost as much as filming a movie! The idea of animation came to be. However, turns out the fans were not having it. Huge petitions were started and producers lives were threatened if they went ahead with the animated version of Star Trek. Fans felt it would take away from it being science fiction and make it hokey. I find this laughable as it was science fiction! But I digress.

The fans did not win out and the showrunner and head-writer (basically Gene’s right hand man…err…woman) went ahead with seeing this ship got off the ground as intended. DC Fontana (Dorothy Catherine Fontana) tried as best she could to steer the ship in a way that kept true to the lore and cannon of Star Trek. Only problem was, because it was animated the network decided to put it on Saturday mornings. Not realizing the content of the episodes would be far too adult for children to be watching!

I look forward to watching Star Trek The Animated Series as I confess I have never seen it. This episode gave me some background to how it came to be and some of the mishaps that took place along the way. Such as the legend that the colors came about because the head editor in charge was colorblind! His being colorblind is true but he was not responsible for making the decisions about what colors the aliens they encountered were to be. That fell to someone else who apparently had a love of pink and its many shades.

S1 E3 – Trekking through the ‘70s – Phase II and The Motion Picture

Paramount wanted to launch a fourth network with the new Star Trek series Phase II as its flagship. When the network proved unworkable, Phase II appeared doomed – until Star Wars and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind proved box office hits. Phase II became the 1979 blockbuster Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Now that the animated series was out for a full 22 episodes the Network decided it was time to end that run and perhaps bring back Star Trek for real. But they were not about to pay Kirk and Spock prices for those actors. Phase II was born but unfortunately it went nowhere.

People say it was because of the popularity of a little known movie called Star Wars that made the network decide they needed to pivot from Phase II as a television show and turn it into a movie. But it was actually another movie, Close Encounter of the Third Kind and how well it did that made the networks stop and realize Star Trek was better suited to be a major motion picture.

I love how they called the first movie Star Trek The Motion Picture because they wanted the fans to know it was going to be a movie and not a television series. How clever these studio execs are!

They brought in a professional to write the movie, someone who knew how. Because, while Gene was the master creator of Star Trek he had no skill in writing for the big screen. His scripts were constantly turned away and turned down. He became really difficult to work with. Not just for the director, Robert Wise, who is quoted as saying he hated working on this film, but the writer, Harold Livingston opening hated the man as well. The movie was filmed under extreme duress as the studio promised movie theaters and fans the film would be ready in 18 months time! They said this even though they knew they had no script, an incomplete cast, and no concept of how to make the special effects needed for it to be a success. Not to mention the budget! When the dust settled it cost upwards of $40m dollars to make and the film was famously “still wet” when it was brought to the movie theater to play for the first time.

There is so much to absorb from this episode I feel overwhelmed just thinking about what to mention and worried about what I may forget and leave out. I will say The Motion Picture, while everyone around it, even Leanard Nimoy, felt it made absolutely no sense, the audiences LOVED IT! It grossed three times what it cost to make and that, as they say in the business, is good enough to do it again!