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diesoonandsuffer · 2 years

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i just rewatched ‘taste of armageddon’ from tos and god what an episode. objectively its not “the best” but i think i was right to put it at the top of my rankings

basic plot summary if you forgot: kirk and the enterprise are ordered to approach a planet and establish diplomacy with them even though the planet warns them to stay away. when they land they learn that the planet has been fighting a war for 500 years but purely done through computers. the enterprise is declared a casualty so kirk and the landing party are taken hostage until the enterprise crew agree to come down and submit themselves to a disintegration machine, which the civilians of that planet do if they are declared casualties. kirk and the landing party end up destroying the computers and force the planets to either negotiate peace or fight a real war.

there are so many things i enjoy about this episode. i think for me, if you ask me to name you a quintessential TOS episode, this is it. theres some sort of strange premise that seems like a silly concept on the surface but leads itself to further philosophical thought. spock gets to do some weird vulcan telepathy. kirk busts out his sick karate moves. scotty blatantly denies the orders of a federation ambassador. kirk is a wiseass who comes up with some sort of solution somehow. the primary directive is almost certainly disobeyed but no one cares. its missing some things i would have liked, for example sulu is replaced by some guy and bones and uhura don’t get to do much, but for the most part this is everything i expect in a TOS episode wrapped in one.

feel free to stop reading here but i’m just gonna mention specific things that i like

1) spock saying there’s a certain logical approach to the computer war, and when the council leader says “i’m glad you approve” spock is like “i do NOT approve”

2) a female character who is not a love interest. this is an incredibly low bar but every time they played that violin music i would get scared

3) kirk saying “you will have a longer casualty list than you know what to do with if you don’t let us out of here” like he really said fuck the laws of this land i WILL slaughter you

4) the council leader using a voice disguiser to pretend to be kirk and scotty immediately being like “that’s not kirk” ashdjksahd

5) kirk watching spock do his vulcan telepathy. he’s a little too turned on by it

6) to follow that kirk’s little smile as he watches spock trick the guard to knock him out and take his gun. he’s like heehee hey girl look what spock’s gonna do i love this trick

7) spock getting the gun in the stupidest way possible. like hello

8) the ambassador being wrong. i love when federation officials look like dumbasses. yes i love search for spock why do you ask?

9) kirk’s little “come here” finger motion to the council member before throwing him headfirst into his own guards. incredible work king and he almost won the fight too with his karate chop action

10) spock telling the yeoman to “sit on her if you have to” to get the other woman not to kill herself

11) “what are you doing, mr. spock?” “practicing a peculiar variety of diplomacy, sir” *blows up disintegration machine*

12) the council leader saying kirk is a barbarian the scene before, and then the next when he’s like what kind of monster are you kirk goes “i’m a barbarian :)”

13) also that whole scene of the council leader being like war! destruction! death and violence! millions of lives slaughtered to save your 500 people! how could you let this happen! and kirk is like that is literally not my problem

14) kirk somehow taking down a room full of guards and getting TWO guns and saying “now we’re talkin :)” he’s like hell yeah TWO GUNS

15) spock walking in like oh. i guess you’re fine. ok then

16) the fucking line delivery of kirk saying “knowing we’re not going to kill......today” i need to clip that because i quote that shit all the fucking time. he’s like yeah i have an innate bloodlust and every day i have to fight my own instinct to bite and rip and shred but i won’t do it......today! god it’s so funny

17) last but not least in case you bitches forgot THIS EPISODE is where the incredible luck and miracles line comes from. it absolutely comes out of nowhere and they play it for laughs? for some reason? but this is where it comes from! LUCK AND MIRACLES BABEY!!!! YEAH!!!!!

#genuinely i dont know if anyone else likes this episode as much as i do #which i sort of get i feel like its a very standard average tos episode but thats sort of the appeal to me #like its quintessential star trek #like are episodes like a piece of the action or the trouble with tribbles funnier and probably more enjoyable? yeah #episodes like city on the edge of forever are more well written #episodes like amok time are gayer #episodes like shore leave are more insane #but if we're talking like a good enjoyable solid tos episode this is a good one #i would even call this like a good intro ep if you want someone to get into star trek #anyway. i watched this because i felt too tired to pay attention to tng like i think it deserves and now im wired.#lol #sam's thots #tos rewatch #tos

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sshbpodcast · 8 months

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Character Spotlight: James Kirk

By Ames

We’re starting a new blog collection here on A Star the Steer Her By in which we’re shining the spotlight on each main character, series by series. It’s mostly so I don’t have to think of new topics every week, but it will also be a fun time to consider our favorite moments from all our Starfleet friends, and also some moments in which they don’t come out so shining.

Of course, we’re kicking it off with the man himself, Captain James Tiberius Kirk! He’s the model captain in a lot of ways, helped by the fact that he’s the first one we really get to meet and see as a fully realized character. He swashbuckles. He kisses SO many women. He juliennes fries. He does it all! Join us below and in this week's podcast discussion (Shat Chat starts at 1:08:30) as we boldly go with the biggest name in Trek.

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best Moments

Leave any bigotry in your quarters In the season 1 episode “Balance of Terror,” Kirk shows us the kind of forward-thinking, inclusive captain he is, telling Stiles, “Leave any bigotry in your quarters. There's no room for it on the bridge.” It’s good to see our heroes making anti-racist statements like this, whether that be back in the 60s or today.

The advanced trait of mercy By refusing to kill the Gorn in “Arena,” Kirk impressed both the Metron and the viewers by showing that compassion and belief in the right to coexist can trump hate and war. These lizard-faced bullies may be our enemy, but Kirk reveals that deep down under that rubber suit and disco-ball eyes, we’re all just people.

No Kill I Similarly, not long after that episode, we see Kirk again protect a species being treated as the villain, this time the Horta in “Devil in the Dark.” And it’s a good thing too, because the Horta made it onto lists of both our favorite characters from TOS and our favorite races from TOS!

A dazzling display of logic We could have listed each time Kirk talks a computer to death, but our favorite was when he outsmarts Nomad in “The Changeling.” It was an impressive showing of quick thinking and cunning to make the robot admit he was in error and thus require sterilization. Unlike Kirk in this moment, this unit was not perfect.

My dear Captain Koloth The way Kirk wraps up the mystery at the end of “The Trouble with Tribbles” is spellbinding, like a good Agatha Christie story. He sees through disguises, he finds the culprit, he saves the grain! But all that is slight in comparison to how he gets one over on the smarmy Koloth, and it just feels so good to rub it in his goateed face.

A royal fizzbin An honorable mention on our list but worth including comes in one of the best comedy episodes of the franchise: “A Piece of the Action.” While many of the moments were clever and amusing indeed, it was Kirk’s spontaneous invention of fizzbin as a way to distract the gang members that we’d wager on any day.

Competition on the bridge This one is a more subtle moment, but worth a little bit of accolade. Kirk is fully ready to browbeat Decker for contradicting him on the bridge during the incident with the space potato in The Motion Picture, but when Kirk understands that Decker had more information on the subject than him, it makes for a humanizing and humbling scene.

Hours will seem like days Sure, this one might be a little bit more of a Spock moment, but we’ll count it for Kirk anyway. The Wrath of Khan is just full of tactical moves, strategy, and outwitting your opponent. And kudos to Kirk because his opponent is a superhuman genius. And whether it be 3D thinking, hacking into computer defenses, or using coded messages, he got it done!

His was the most… Human One of Kirk’s most praise-worthy moments (or maybe just one of Shatner’s) is the whole ending of The Wrath of Khan. His scene with the dying Spock is stunning. McCoy and Scotty having to hold him back from the contaminated chamber is some nice work. But the cherry on top of this tragic sundae is that lip quiver during a perfectly delivered eulogy.

I have had enough of you! On the flip side of that, there’s just something about Shatner’s delivery in dispatching Kruge in The Search for Spock that transcends campiness and ends up great. Is it the punctuating kicks? Is it the Shatnerian pauses? Is it Christopher Lloyd spinning off like a CGI paper doll into some flames? It’s all of it.

Row, row, row your boat Say what you will about Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, but it’s actually got some good moments scattered throughout a lot of weirdness. And one of those highlights is the whole camping scene. I’d put it almost entirely on the charm of McCoy or the delightful strangeness of the marshmellon dispenser, but Kirk’s little speech about death and being alone is up there too.

Excuse me. What does God need with a starship? Okay, I just couldn’t help myself with this one. Again, there’s a whole lot of The Final Frontier that doesn’t work, and having some kind of god entity running amok is weird no matter how you slice it, but Kirk deciding not to put up with his nonsense is just classic Kirk. If only he’d tried to talk it to death...

—

Worst Moments

I’m Captain Kirk!!!! Some people could dismiss Evil Kirk’s behavior in the deeply problematic “The Enemy Within” because it’s just his villainous half conducting it. But we are not those people. Listen, if any half of your personality is a rapist, that is just not okay, and the fact that Kirk and crew just barely support Yeoman Rand during this ordeal before sending her away is disgraceful.

Untended space seedlings While it does lead to one of the best Star Trek movies (to some, the best overall), Kirk’s decision to strand Khan and his followers (and a Starfeet officer as well!) on some planet in “Space Seed” strikes us as just plain unfounded when you actually think about it. Is this how Starfleet sentences people? And then to never go back and check on him just adds neglect to insult.

A rice-picking accident There’s a ton in The Original Series that doesn’t age well, and it’s kind of a shame that an episode as good as “The City on the Edge of Forever” has such a cringe-worthy moment. But when Kirk proclaims to the police officer that his friend here is obviously Chinese and the ears are like that because of a rice-picking accident, it’s tough to set our jaws straight again.

Clouded judgment Throughout the season 2 episode “Obsession,” we see Kirk at probably his least professional. He puts the whole crew in danger because of some old grudge (and who can even say this is the same cloud as the one he encountered before? It’s a CLOUD!). For a captain as competent and cool-headed as he’s been portrayed to be, this is not a good day for Jim.

Brothels are the best medicine Kirk just plain wears his incompetence on his sleeve when he keeps leaving Scotty alone with women in “Wolf in the Fold.” Just, over and over again! Perhaps this episode’s main problem is that the writer decided that having one bad experience with women will turn you into a sexist asshole, but frankly, Kirk should have known better anyway.

Serpents for the Garden of Eden This infamous action made it deep into the “Don’t do this!” corner of our Prime Direction chart a while back, and for good reason! Kirk deciding to supply the Hill People with guns in “A Private Little War” is unconscionable. I know we break the Prime Directive all the time, but it’s usually for a better reason than “the Klingons started it”!

Keep it in your toga, Kirk While we usually just roll our eyes and go with it when Kirk smooches all the women (so many women!) throughout The Original Series, it is just uncomfortable to watch his scene with Drusilla in “Bread and Circuses.” She has no ability to consent because she is Claudius’s slave. And when he lends her to Kirk for the night and Kirk goes to town, I vomit in my mouth. Bad, Kirk! Bad!

Any excuse to play dress up While “The Enterprise Incident” ended up on a couple of our Tops lists from TOS, you do have to admit that Kirk’s plan to get himself captured by Romulans, convince them he was acting alone by being a jerk to his crew for days (if not weeks?), fake his own death via the Vulcan death grip, and then return dressed only slightly in Romulan makeup is absolutely convoluted.

One big happy fleet While we described above some of the mastermind planning that Kirk exhibits in The Wrath of Khan, it was just a fool’s move to refuse to raise shields against the looming Reliant. Saavik outright quotes General Order 12 and how you are required to raise shields when communication cannot be made, but Kirk has the wool thoroughly over his eyes at that point.

I need my pain “I don’t want my pain taken away; I need my pain,” says Kirk in The Final Frontier. While the sentiment is there and the message sounds a little like what Kirk had once said in “This Side of Paradise,” there’s just something about this scene that Chris wanted to make sure landed on our list. It’s somewhere between the Shatner acting and the Shatner writing that it falls flat.

They’re animals Ya know how we were just commending the captain for speaking up when Stiles was being a racist twat? Well, when suddenly Kirk is calling all Klingons “animals” in The Undiscovered Country and stating that we should “let them die” (even Koloth?!), it’s kind of a bad look, and frankly a little bit rushed as a character element. This is not the Kirk we know and love.

A bridge too far In Generations, Kirk gets dealt a death scene so milquetoast and unsatisfying that it sours our final impressions of the character. Not only does the movie end up barely using him, as does the fist fight with Malcolm McDowall look like two old men puttering around, but to get crushed by a bridge just seems like an insult to a character we loved for so many years. Oh my.

— Surely, that’s all skipping over a lot of other great or lamentable Kirk moments from across the series. What did we miss? What were your favorite moments from the command gold of yore? We’ll have more character scutiny next week, as Spock is up on the chopping block, so definitely keep your eyes on this space, follow along as we start a full watchalong of Enterprise over on SoundCloud or wherever you podcast, transport over to Facebook and Twitter, and watch out for that Finney-eject button! It’s so perilously close to the coffee button!

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jimtranskirk · 1 year

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rewatched errand of mercy tonight, one of my all time favorite “kirk walks around bitching while spock nods and offers commiserating eyebrows” episodes

#also included in that list is trouble with tribbles and a piece of the action

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mrcowboytoyou · 10 months

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Star Trek: The Fotonovel

So TOS fotonovels are a thing that exists. If you've never heard of them- they're comics composed of stills of the show episodes. A couple of the first six movies were also made into fotonovels BUT they're both a little different than the ones based on TOS episodes and I will get to them in due time.

Right off the bat there are a couple of things that need to be said. For one, why do these exist? Well I imagine they made for a good way to consume your fave episode without having to wait for it to come on TV again. With that in mind, these fotonovels work perfectly. They're very true to the episodes with some exceptions. These differences come from the fact that these aren't comics drawn based on an episode, they just take stills directly from the show and the show was not intended to be read/viewed in this way.

Some things cannot avoid being abridged or compressed in favor of this new format but for the most part this is never really distracting and nor does it take away from the reading experience. After all, it's supposed to be a very detailed reminder of the episode you already know, so you can just relive it with the pictures.

Additionally, sometimes the fotonovels have extra lines and these are mostly found in the way of thought bubbles the characters have. Overall they're very charming but don't have a lot of utility now a days. I own some because I have problems.... They make up almost a fourth of my ST TOS book collection.

If you are interested in them my general thoughts are that the ones made from the episodes are really well done for what they are. They're also basically just some of the most popular episodes from the show using only episodes from the first two seasons. They're delivered in their own order adhering to neither the release of the show nor its intended release.

TITLES (ones i own)

The City on the Edge of Forever

Where No Man Has Gone Before

The Trouble With Tribbles

A Taste of Armageddon

Metamorphosis

All Our Yesterdays

The Galileo Seven

A piece of the Action

The Devil in the Dark

Day of the Dove

The Deadly Years

Amok Time

Star Trek: The Motion Picture Photostory

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Photostory

Now, you'll notice I said that the ones made for the episodes are good, and so far I have been sure to separate the ones done for the movies. This is because there's a bit of a quality drop.

For starters, they kept them the same length as the fotonovels of the episodes. Right away that presents a pretty big quandary because the movies are over twice as long. So if you're looking for something that adds to the experience of seeing the movies, these last two fotonovels will not do that- rather they will take away. A lot of scenes just don't make it into them and neither of them are adding from the novelizations either.

And then we have their page quality. All but one of these have shiny, coloured pages. Wrath of Khan is unfortunately in black and white and not even composed like a comic but is rather movie stills with accompanying dialogue. That's sort of like a massive let down given how big of a deal that movie is.

I intend to really get into the nitty gritty with each of these- especially the movie adaptions.

And, if you're worried about the loss of homoerotic subtext- you're all good... plus its just a tad funnier this way.

#“He's not only the best but the most amazing First Officer in the fleet.”#star trek #star trek tos #star trek tos fotostory #star trek fotostory #amok time #star trek the original series #the devil in the dark #city on the edge of forever #spirk #spock #kirk #star trek the motion picture

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meilas · 2 months

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Socks’ Star Trek must-watch list

Socks’ list of must-watch Trek episodes

OG Trek

Welcome to the NCC-1701 starship, known as the Enterprise. The captain and crew follow rules when the plot says so, the captain is often on away missions with his top-ranked crew members leaving some unqualified guy in charge, and the captain gets to snog a lot of ladies. Like, a lot. Seriously. This series features lots of questionable fashion choices, including men’s heeled boots and miniskirts.

Space Seed - our introduction to Khan Noonien Singh, played by Ricardo Montalban. Khan is the villain of the second Trek movie Wrath of Khan which is why this episode is on the list.

Taste of Armageddon - Do you remember the game Battleship? Two planets wage a war against each other. There is staggering loss of life, but no destruction. The Lottery in Space.

Mirror, Mirror - obligatory parallel universe episode! This parallel universe shows up later in Deep Space Nine which is why it is on this list.

Trouble With Tribbles - Clue in Space. Just a fun episode. Also shows up in Deep Space Nine!

A Piece of the Action - another fun episode. And the reason I don’t know if the proper expression is concrete galoshes or cement overshoes.

Let That Be Your Last Battlefield - two individuals who are the very last members of their races who were at war are still trying to kill each other. This episode was about racism and it is not subtle about it at all.

Next Generation

Welcome to the NCC-1701D, also known as the Enterprise! Not the Enterprise from the original series, but a younger, more advanced starship that is the successor to the Enterprise name. And since the Enterprise and trouble go so well together, the crew of this Enterprise find lots of adventures to keep them busy as they explore strange new worlds and seek out new civilisations.

Encounter at Farpoint - The very first episode. Not great, but it also serves as an introduction to Q, who will show up several times throughout the series. So that I don’t fill up this whole post, just go ahead and watch every Q episode (which will 99% of the time have Q in the title.)

Measure of a Man - Data is put on trial to determine if he is property or his own person, and Riker is forced to testify against him for plot reasons. This episode explores individuality and friendship.

Q Who - I said I wouldn’t fill this up and I won’t, but this episode is special because it introduces the Borg. There’s also a great moment between Picard and Q toward the end.

The Survivors - An elderly couple are the last survivors on a planet. Hard to explain why I like this episode without giving away the whole plot.

Sarek - This episode can be pretty sad as it deals with dementia and what it can do to people.

Menage a Troi - Any episode with Deanna’s mother, Lwaxana, is always a funny one. (Except the one that is sad, more on that later.) This episode is excellent because we get to hear Sir Patrick Stewart recite Shakespeare in the most over-the-top delivery possible.

Best of Both Worlds, parts one and two - THE CLIFFHANGER TO END ALL CLIFFHANGERS HOLY SHIT THIS EPISODE HAS ALL THE DRAMA

Family - A follow-up to Best of Both Worlds. Deals with family that is gone, family that can be A Bit Much, and family that is estranged.

Suddenly Human - This episode is similar to the Deep Space Nine episode Cardassians: a boy who has been adopted by others is discovered and found to have living family who want him back. Which family is the child supposed to stay with?

Darmok - An episode all about language and how ideas are communicated. Yes it has some flaws, but overall it is interesting from a linguistic point of view. By the end of the episode, you will understand how darmok=memes and inside jokes.

The First Duty - A good Wesley episode. This explores truth, loyalty, and doing what is right.

I, Borg - The Enterprise rescues a Borg teenager, who begins to develop individuality. He is named Hugh. Hugh is adorable.

The Inner Light - THIS IS THE BEST EPISODE EVER. IF THERE IS LITERALLY NOTHING ON THIS LIST THAT SOUNDS INTERESTING PLEASE AT LEAST WATCH THIS.

Rascals - Picard and a few other randos (no seriously why is this bunch of people even on a shuttle together?) experience a transporter malfunction and are beamed aboard the Enterprise, except they materialise as pre-teen children! This episode is just pure fun. Contains: bby!Picard throwing a tantrum, and bby!Guinan jumping on the bed.

*Frame of Mind - This is a pretty heavy episode that deals with hallucinations. Riker is supposed to be performing in a play, but suddenly he’s in an alien mental institution and accused of murder. Riker repeatedly flashes between being on the Enterprise and being in the institution and he increasingly cannot tell which is real.

*Technically, this episode does not contain gaslighting even though it will seem like it. Please make sure you are in a good place if you decide to watch this episode.

**Dark Page - Lwaxana Troi is back! But something is up with her.

**I can’t explain why this is a serious episode without giving it away, so here it is: this episode deals with child death.

Deep Space Nine

By far my absolute favourite series, and the only one I have seen every episode of. Deep Space Nine is about a Cardassian space station that is now occupied by joint Federation and Bajoran forces. Deep Space Nine just so happens to be situated right by a stable wormhole that goes to another quadrant of space that would take years and years and years to travel to by starship alone. Naturally, everyone wants to be in control of the wormhole. The closest planet, Bajor, was until recently occupied by Cardassians. (Think of Cardassians as Space Russians.) The Bajorans are deeply spiritual people (literally every fucking Bajoran subscribes to the same religion) and they believe that their gods reside in the wormhole. (THEY ARE WORMHOLE ALIENS FFS AND THEY DON’T CARE ONE BIT ABOUT BAJOR OR CARDASSIA OR THE FEDERATION.) Because this series is set on a space station that does not go anywhere, we get to see that actions have consequences. If Next Generation was the fuck around series, this one is the find out series.

Emissary - A two-parter and our introduction to Deep Space Nine and the majority of the major characters in this show.

Past Prologue - This episode is important because we meet Garak, a tailor and the only Cardassian still living on the station. What could he possibly be doing here?

Duet - A Cardassian arrives at the station, as they often do, but this one seems to be hiding something. This explores topics of colonialism, genocide, terrorism, and how complicated people really are. This was one of the episodes that made me watch the entirety of DS9. (The other was Take Me Out to the Holosuite.)

Cardassians - Another Garak episode. This one has a similar plot to the Next Generation episode Suddenly Human. Garak and Bashir discover a Cardassian boy is the adopted son of a Bajoran man. But since Bajorans and Cardassians kind of hate each other because Cardassions tried to colonize Bajor, there is a concern that the Cardassian boy is being abused by his adopted father. To make matters worse, Gul Dukat gets involved. (Gul Dukat is played by a native Wisconsinite!)

Shadowplay - Kind of similar to the Next Generation episode Survivors.

The Wire - Garak episode! This episode deals with the topic of addiction and friendship.

Second Skin - Kira might actually be an undercover Cardassian agent?!?

Crossover - Welcome back to the mirror universe, which we haven't seen since the OG series. Here we find out what happened after Kirk left that universe. Told you this was the 'find out' series.

Fascination - A fun Lwaxana episode

Past Tense, parts one and two - Time travel episode! This episode takes place August 30-September 1, 2024. The Bell Riots occurred in San Francisco, and were a turning point in earth history. These are pretty heavy episodes, and they deal with things that still resonate today: poverty, racism, classism, homelessness.

The Visitor - Similar vibes to The Inner Light. Sisko jumps through time at increasing intervals. Meanwhile, Jake lives his life with his father literally popping into existance for a short time only. Jake is older every time. Sisko is not.

Trials and Tribble-ations - The 'find out' episode to OG Trek's Trouble With Tribbles. This is just a really cool episode that blends footage from OG Trek with DS9.

Things Past - An interesting episode where some of the crew wake up in the bodies of people living on the station during the Cardassian occupation.

Ties of Blood and Water - Kira's Cardassian "father" (the guy from Second Skin) arrives on the station.

In the Cards - Jake and Nog do increasingly weird tasks in their quest to obtain a baseball card for Jake's father. Oh and that bitch Kai Winn is there too.

Statistical Probabilities - This episode introduces the Jack Pack! They're a bunch of genetically altered humans, just like Bashir! Oh, and they are extremely neurodivergent and would probably be tons of fun to hang out with.

Far Beyond the Stars - The crew, but what if they were science fiction writers in the 50s? Deals with the topic of racism.

In the Pale Moonlight - How far is Sisko willing to go to get the Romulans to join the war against the Dominion?

Take Me Out to the Holosuite - One of DS9's obligatory holosuite episodes. A Vulcan that Sisko knows shows up and in a very un-Vulcan-like manner boasts to Sisko that he and his crew are superior beings who have been trying Sisko's favorite sport and just absolutely crushing it. Sisko challenges him to a baseball game. The only problem is that most of his crew are not human and have never played baseball before.

Chrysalis - Have you ever read Flowers for Algernon? The Jack Pack returns.

#socks list #star trek #the next generation #deep space nine #star trek tng #star trek the next generation #star trek tos #star trek ds9 #star trek deep space nine #star trek deep space 9

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thegeminisage · 8 months

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ok, now that i've watched all of tos (none of the movies yet...) i am going to do the top ten worst and best episodes, according to Me. they are as follows:

WORST EPISODES

10. the savage curtain - idk who thought putting abe lincoln in a cage match with the vulcan version of ghandi against like, ghengis khan and space hitler would be a good idea. but it wasn't. i did like seeing the vulcan father of logic though like "im gonna go sacrifice myself for peace" ok king

9. i, mudd - all of the mudd episodes are bad. he's not charming at all whatsoever. however, this one is better than the other one because uhura gets to pretend to sell out kirk and they're SOOO cute about it. her little giggle when he PICKS HER UP BY HER SHOULDERS and tells her how proud he is. PLEEEEASE

8. charlie x - the entire premise of this episode is that the bad guy is just autistic. and then they make him live on a planet without people because he can't adjust to normal life ???

7. shore leave - obvious racism of this episode aside, the faux-irish jig that played while kirk was being menaced by his extremely unfunny old bully nearly drove me over the edge. we DO love a good mccoy death fakeout tho

6. a piece of the action - if i had any interest in gangster films before this it's all gone now. that being said. i loved when kirk drove the little car. he was so bad at it. he was so happy.

5. mudd's women - like he's literally just selling women?? and the plot twist is that secretly they're ugly?????

4. who mourns for adonias - this is just "what if ALIENS build the pyramids bro" except for the 1960s. nail in the coffin for this one was kirk proudly declaring they didn't needs gods - because they already had the One God, thank you very much!

3. the paradise syndrome - WHY WOULD YOU HAVE NATIVE AMERICANS MISTAKE KIRK FOR GOD. WHY. like i know why but Why. i think the very worst part of this episode was that it had an amnesia plot that would have FUCKED if you had simply removed the people. if there hadn't been people in this it would've been in my top 10 episodes. i think this broke me.

2. the omega glory - this is the same as the last episode except there's no amnesia, and also the "native americans" are white cosplayers who worship the american flag and mistake kirk for god because he can recite the pledge of allegiance yes really. if i had a nickel for every time this happened i'd only have two nickels etc etc at least kirk didn't knock anybody up in this one ig

1. patterns of force - why would you make your two jewish leads wear swastikas and then literally be whipped by nazis. i know he's such a bad person but not even william shatner deserves that. number one worst episode everyone says it's omega glory but it's this one

BEST EPISODES

10. plato's stepchildren - this episode is hard to rank because like it's both good and bad. the torture scenes were genuinely upsetting, especially the ones at the end w/ spock & nurse chapel, because they weren't just violence being inflicted on tied up guys, but they were SUPPOSED to be upsetting, like it was literally the point. and also this episode bears the distinction of THEEE kirk & uhura kiss. literally historic.

9. the trouble with tribbles - i feel like everyone's heard of this but it really is as good as everyone says. sometimes 1960s humor doesn't translate to 2020s humor but it was genuinely hysterical start to finish. also, the distinct trilling sound was so imprinted in my brain i recognized it in the 2009 movie where i had never registered it before.

8. the naked time - aside from the KING SHIT george takei pulled with the fencing this episode also contains the "i am in control of my emotions [sobbing]" moment and kirk & spock LITERALLY having a slapfight. this episode has everything. an absolute masterpiece

7. the empath - i feel like this paired with "the world is hollow and i have touched the sky" really made me a Bones Understander. i feel a little bad about that bc everyone says the characterizations in s3, or actually that the season as a whole, is kinda shaky? but i watched without knowing that and i feel like i Get It now. also, this was the only score i went and relistened to on spotify

6. tholian web - the spock & mccoy episode ever. there's so many things to say about this from the death fakeout to kirk's little space suit but what TRULY got me was the instant and totally nonverbal agreement to lie straight to kirk's face to both preserve personal dignity and troll the shit out of him (while chekov and sulu are like also silently laughing as they listen in no less). what this episode made me realize was that it's a good thing they argue all the time and make kirk play referee because if they were on the same side kirk wouldn't stand a chance. like he'd be finished.

5. the city on the edge of forever - ok, so, this episode made me feel like i was having a mental break. the time travel. spock's little hat. when he watches kirk kiss edith and then goes back into their room to pretend he didn't see anything. mccoy and kirk basically hugging at the end when edith bites it.

4. requiem for methuselah - the first time i watched this i was kinda like :/ because how does kirk fall in love with a woman in FOUR HOURS? that aside the ending scene blew my tits clean off. i paced around my house for like 30 minutes going "what the FUCK was that" because i couldn't simply lie down and sleep after seeing it. rewatching the episode with uh. new context made me like it a little better. but even if it had been garbage the last scene shook me so thoroughly it would still need to be on this list. i'm getting wound up just thinking about it. number one most shocking tos moment.

3. the dagger of the mind - look, i understand that this episode was technically just run-of-the-mill stuff as far as everybody else is concerned but they put james t kirk in a little brainwashing machine. and the machine was shaped like a chair. and it gives people amnesia sometimes. i don't know how i'm expected to behave normally

2. this side of paradise - this is the episode where a flower jizzes on spock and gives him feelings. and look: it's really funny, and there's a lot to love about it. but the ending where kirk hurls verbal abuse at spock for a solid 92 seconds WITHOUT STOPPING followed by: spock beating the shit out of him until he gets his logic back. i have rewatched this perhaps 1,000 times at minimum. what the fuck were they doing

1. conscience of the king - this episode got me into this mess. i don't think i can elaborate further without significant self-incrimination. let's just say what happened was i thought "oh i'll just watch this one tos episode for context for the fanfiction" and one month later i'm writing fic about [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT

ok, that's my list. i thought about doing honorable mentions for episodes that had scenes i liked even though the overall episode didn't make it into my top 10. but then i realized that would mean recapping basically the entire series and this post is already too long. i do have to give the pon farr episode a shoutout though because even though so much of it was offputting there was literally a titty window in kirk's shirt. like, it's the pon farr episode. ok NOW i'm done

#personal #star trek blogging #i feel like if i hadn't wanted people to dox that fic i could've been blogging about this all along #in some ways it was more fun to keep a lid on it but i will miss having a record of my live first impressions that i can relive later......#hence a list. and also a spreadsheet but i just made it for me and cathy it would be incomprehensible to the general public #if anyone wants an ACTUAL skip/watch list for tos hit me up #i'll clean up the one i have to match the spn one lol #tos lb #liz's star trek stuff #liz's meta #kinda.

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druid-in-hiding · 9 months

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Musically, A Comment

Star Trek just did a musical episode and it was exquisite. Wouldn't have commented about it except I saw some internet folks grumping about it.

Context: it came directly after a Very Serious (and well done) Episode about war vets and PTSD, which itself came after a silly crossover with the Star Trek: Lower Decks episode (also, very well done).

It created an amusing technobabble as to why the musical happened which actually reflects a technology from TNG and onwards.

It followed the rule of good musicals openly (as in, characters absolutely commented on it) which is: when you get too emotional to speak, sing; when you get too emotional to sing, dance.

The character's reactions ran the range from "This is so much fun!" to "oh my god, somebody please stop this".

They honored the lore the show had already created (relationships between characters and how to deal with angry Klingons) to dropping in lore from TOS and the Star Trek movies that made -perfect sense- and advanced the plot.

They openly autotuned one voice and I honestly think that was to make that voice slightly alien because that's the -heart- of the character.

The songs they created were absolute earworms.

But best of all, this, like in the episode "Lost in Translation", honored Nichelle Nichol's Uhura. I truly wish she was alive to see it because it was a thorough and delightful nod to the power of her character and Celia Rose Gooding, who plays the current Uhura, is an absolute treasure.

So I'm going to let the haters hate, because apparently they've forgotten episodes like "Piece of the Action" and "Trouble with Tribbles" and just say that 2 seasons in, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is an amazing show that isn't afraid to just swing for the fences.

#original #star trek #strange new worlds #celia rose gooding #musical #great tv

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jonfucius · 8 months

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Great Star Trek Rewatch - The Original Series S2

Originally posted on Twitter 26 October 2020 - 2 December 2020

Star Trek: The Original Series Season 2 is up next in my Great Star Trek Rewatch. As with ENT, DSC, STX, and TOS Season 1, mini-reviews will document my progress.

Amok Time: After 29 episodes and some contradictory continuity, we finally get the first concrete details on Mr. Spock and the Vulcan species. A classic fight scene rounds out a strong start to Season 2. 8/10

Who Mourns for Adonais?: A decent early Season 2 entry. The giant green space hand is iconic, but the meat of the story rises above. Thanks to this episode, it became tradition that chief engineers on the starships Enterprise can't catch a break in the romance department. 7/10

The Changeling: A dry run of sorts for the superior Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The second time Kirk talks a computer to death, and it's a slow burn to the climax. 6/10

Mirror, Mirror: One of the most enduring concepts across Trek's 50+ year history is the Mirror Universe. This is still one of the best Mirror Universe tales, simply for its originality and focus. 9/10

The Apple: A Prime Directive debate and some red shirt massacres forms the crux of this otherwise forgettable episode. Definitely not one I'd revist on a whim. Not terrible, just mediocre. 5/10

The Doomsday Machine: This one and "Balance of Terror" jockey back and forth for #1 on my list of the best TOS episodes. William Windom's performance is superb, the titular device is scary (I hid behind the sofa when I watched this one as a kid), and the score is iconic. 10/10

Catspaw: Star Trek and Halloween don't go very well together. Even though this has an ostensibly scientific explanation, it still reeks of magic and sorcery. It is goofy, that's why it gets 4/10.

I, Mudd: This one starts slow but turns into a classic comedy by the end. Carmel is back as Mudd, though the portrayal of his wife is problematic at best. 7/10

Metamorphosis: This poignant love story with a solid sci-fi hook just clicks for me. It’s not the best but it just works. 9/10

Journey to Babel: Season 2 is definitely Spock-focused, and those episodes have not disappointed. This is a classic for good reason: action, pathos, humor, world-building. 10/10

Friday’s Child: Tonal problems keep this one from joining the ranks of the true classics. It’s serviceable but dreadfully slow in the middle. The Capellans are a fascinating race, it’s too bad we don’t see them again. 6/10

The Deadly Years: Impressive 60s aging makeup aside, this one doesn’t do much for me. The old age jokes are stereotypes, though the use of elderly actors in the first act is ingenious. And a rare bit of serialization with a callback to “The Corbomjte Maneuver” is welcome. 6/10

Obsession: Kirk gets some backstory and dimension in a tight, tense script. This is a well-paced acting showcase for Shatner. 9/10

Wolf in the Fold: This would have made for an excellent Halloween episode. A gaseous/energy being is easier to believe than the “Catspaw” transmuter, oddly enough. The line about women being easier to scare, and the Kara dance, are typical ugly 60s sexism, unfortunately. 7/10

The Trouble with Tribbles: A fuzzy thing happens on the way to Sherman’s Planet. A classic that thoroughly earns the title, it’s endlessly rewatchable and filled to the brim with classic gags, one-liners, and scenes for the entire cast. 10/10

The Gamesters of Triskelion: Angelique Pettyjohn’s look is iconic, but not much else about this episode is. A huge letdown after the preceding episode. 5/10

A Piece of the Action: An excellent palate cleanser after the preceding dud. Really wish we could follow up on the Iotians some day. I forgot how funny this episode is. 9/10

The Immunity Syndrome: Season 2 giveth, and Season 2 taketh away. The concept of a spaceborne lifeform is compelling, but this is otherwise a dog of a show. 4/10

A Private Little War: when the show tackles the Vietnam allegory, it sings. When it focuses on Nona, it falters under the weight of 60s’ sexism and bigotry. 7/10

Return to Tomorrow: A different take on the non-corporeal beings trope that hangs around TOS like an albatross, this one is more nuanced and subtle than most. Come for Nimoy’s delightful villain performance, stay for the poignant denouement. 8/10

Patterns of Force: An examination of how easy it is for a society to fall in love with fascism misses the mark by claiming power and not racism was the animus of Nazism, much like Confederate apologists claim the Civil War was about rights and not slavery. 0/10

By Any Other Name: The Kelvans’ powers are frightening, but it’s an episode I just can’t get excited about, except for Scotty drinking one under the table. 6/10

The Omega Glory: Gene, your über-patriotism is showing. Another late Season 2 letdown. 3/10

The Ultimate Computer: TOS has a serious distrust of powerful computers/AI that fades somewhat in the later series. Daystrom is a tragic figure, and the horror of the murder of the Excalibur’s crew is effectively conveyed. 8/10

Bread and Circuses: The social commentary is on point, but two parallel Earth stories in three weeks is somewhat tiresome. Still, an entertaining yarn. 7/10

Assignment: Earth: I’m ambivalent on this back door pilot. I like the Gary Seven character, and I normally enjoy time travel stories, but it just doesn’t do a whole lot for me. It’s not excellent, it’s not bad, it just is. 6/10

And with that, Season 2 of TOS comes to an end in my Great Star Trek Rewatch. Final score: 6.77/10. Highest score(s): "The Doomsday Machine," "Journey to Babel," "The Trouble with Tribbles." Lowest score(s): "Patterns of Force"

#star trek #star trek tos #great star trek rewatch

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anewstartrekfan · 1 year

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Reflecting on s2 of Star Trek TOS

It was nice but I didn’t have that same feeling of fun the second half of s1 gave me outside of a handful of episodes. And they were so spread out that whatever momentum of fun got going was quickly brought to a halt.

Anyway, my favorite episodes include

Trouble with Tribbles

Journey to Babel

Amok time

A Piece of the Action

By Any Other Name

Honorable mentions to episodes that weren’t my favs but I liked them,

Mirror, Mirror

The Doomsday Machine

Obsession

I, Mudd

Return to Tomorrow

And last but not least, worst episode of the season goes to the deadly years. Yes I say it’s worse than the omega glory. At least the omega glory is entertainingly insane, especially those last 15 or so minutes, and everyone is in character.

#And I still say the prime directive is a dumb plot device.#star trek watch through #star trek #star trek tos #james t kirk #spock #bones mccoy #leonard mccoy

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swimmingwolf59 · 1 year

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Last year I started rewatching tos in production order, and after watching ~2 episodes a week I finally finished!! For some ungodly reason I also decided to try and rank all tos episodes based on my personal enjoyment (and not whether or not I think it’s an objectively good episode), and though I changed this list around about a hundred times, I think I’m more or less happy with it now....

So if anyone is at all interested in that, well, here you go LOL

1. Journey to Babel

2. The Immunity Syndrome

3. Mirror, Mirror

4. The Deadly Years

5. The Ultimate Computer

6. Obsession

7. The Man Trap

8. Operation - Annihilate!

9. Friday's Child

10. The Trouble with Tribbles

11. For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky

12. The Tholian Web

13. A Piece of the Action

14. Tomorrow is Yesterday

15. The Galileo Seven

16. Amok Time

17. The Devil in the Dark

18. The Corbomite Maneuver

19. The Naked Time

20. The Way to Eden

21. Is There in Truth No Beauty?

22. The Cloud Minders

23. Turnabout Intruder

24. The Enterprise Incident

25. Wolf in the Fold

26. The City on the Edge of Forever

27. Arena

28. The Conscience of the King

29. Balance of Terror

30. The Doomsday Machine

31. That Which Survives

32. A Taste of Armageddon

33. The Enemy Within

34. By Any Other Name

35. Bread and Circuses

36. Spock's Brain

37. Dagger of the Mind

38. I, Mudd

39. The Lights of Zetar

40. Miri

41. Space Seed

42. The Empath

43. Spectre of the Gun

44. The Mark of Gideon

45. Errand of Mercy

46. Court Martial

47. The Changeling

48. The Menagerie Part I

49. The Apple

50. All Our Yesterdays

51. The Savage Curtain

52. Requiem for Methuselah

53. Shore Leave

54. What Are Little Girls Made Of?

55. A Private Little War

56. Return to Tomorrow

57. The Squire of Gothos

58. Catspaw

59. Charlie X

60. The Alternative Factor

61. Wink of an Eye

62. The Return of the Archons

63. And the Children Shall Lead

64. Where No Man Has Gone Before

65. Assignment: Earth

66. Metamorphosis

67. Who Mourns for Adonais?

68. Plato's Stepchildren

69. This Side of Paradise

70. The Menagerie Part II

71. Elaan of Troyius

72. The Gamesters of Triskelion

73. The Paradise Syndrome

74. Mudd's Women

75. Whom Gods Destroy

76. Day of the Dove

77. Patterns of Force

78. Let That Be Your Last Battlefield

79. The Omega Glory

#star trek tos #episode ranking #i'm really surprised both operation annihilate and the tribble episode made it into my top ten lol #thanks leni for helping me figure out which episode i was missing LOL

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calliethetrekkie · 6 months

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Triumvirate Prompts: Day 20

#20. Favorite Kirk Moment?

As I did last time, I'll do five that I thought up. Somehow picking for Kirk was a lot harder than I thought. But here they are

1. Gangster Kirk

They let Shatner have waaay too much fun in A Piece of the Action. That's not a complaint, either. It's a planet that decided to follow a book on gangsters as a way of government, you may as well go all in. The minute that Kirk gets the upper hand, he goes full-on mob boss, and I love every second of it. You can tell that he is getting so into it and having the time of his life, and it lets what could have been a weird episode be an absolute joy. He may be too good at it haha. Also, we learn that Kirk is a terrible driver, which is also an amazing moment... maybe not for Spock though XD

2. Everything in The Trouble With Tribbles

Kirk hates everything and it is amazing. Usually save for certain occasions, Kirk is able to keep composed and professional. He doesn't even attempt to try here. The Tribbles overtaking everything and annoying bureaucracy people have Kirk utterly salty, and him getting dog-piled by all the tribbles (that keep falling onto his head) is the cherry on top of it all. The look of pure venom he gives Bones when he tells him to find out why the Tribbles are dying, and he's about to make a quip as usual is just perfection. He only likes the furballs when he finds out that they hate Klingons XD It is just amazing to see how Kirk hates everything in this episode. Sorry Kirk, but you're at your most fun when you've lost your cool~

3. The Monologue in Return to Tomorrow

KIRK: They used to say if man could fly, he'd have wings. But he did fly. He discovered he had to. Do you wish that the first Apollo mission hadn't reached the moon, or that we hadn't gone on to Mars and then to the nearest star? That's like saying you wish that you still operated with scalpels and sewed your patients up with catgut like your great-great-great-great-grandfather used to. I'm in command. I could order this. But I'm not because, Doctor McCoy is right in pointing out the enormous danger potential in any contact with life and intelligence as fantastically advanced as this. But I must point out that the possibilities, the potential for knowledge and advancement is equally great. Risk. Risk is our business. That's what the starship is all about. That's why we're aboard her. You may dissent without prejudice.

This is simultaneously one of Kirk's best moments... and one of his stupidest. Only because of everything going wrong after this, but still. So we have Kirk gathering the landing party and Scotty to vote on him, Spock, and Girl of the Week letting God-like beings use their bodies until they get android bodies made. This is dangerous because... well, do I need to explain why?! However Kirk makes his argument, and my own thoughts aside, it does show that Kirk isn't stupid. He is fully aware that this is a risky, very dangerous maneuver and that people like Scotty and McCoy have every right to be concerned. It's why he will only allow a unanimous vote, to make sure that everyone is okay with this and have all concerns addressed. As much as we like to joke about Kirk being reckless, this shows that he isn't... well, most of the time.

I think it also reflects what Star Trek is truly about. It's about the evolution of mankind. To explore the unknown and encounter these other cultures and worlds. To learn and grow, and thus allow civilization to grow. If this goes well with Sargon, they could learn a great deal from these beings. Kirk has always been passionate about his mission. It's what he signed up for. The speech he gives in order to address McCoy's worries just reflects that so much. Sure it's a risk, and if anyone has seen the episodes we know how it all goes horribly wrong. But there's always a risk to discovery and exploration. You have to take it in order to grow and evolve. As he says, risk is their business. It's an excellent moment that shows us who Kirk is and why he's willing to do certain crazy things. I don't see it get talked about much, but if you want a scene that describes who James T Kirk is, this is the one.

4. "What if I'm wrong?"

If there is one thing that Kirk feels that he can't allow, it's vulnerability. As the captain, he cannot afford to show weakness. He must remain a strong, in-control figure at all times. Otherwise, if he slips, he risks losing his crew's faith and their trust in his command. This gets brought up in several episodes. He'll express it to McCoy. He'll sometimes allow Spock to see it. He may slip for a second in front of others, but that's it. But like anyone else, he has fears, doubts, and a lot of pressure placed on himself by himself and those around him. He's responsible for the lives and safety of over 400 individuals... and it's never easy.

This moment in Balance of Terror is so, SO good. The Enterprise is in a very perilous situation. Kirk has had to remain in Captain Mode at all times, not allowing for any hesitation or doubt. He can't allow it, not against an enemy that he knows barely anything about. It's kill or be killed. But when he is finally given a moment, the mask remains on when Rand comes to see if he needs anything. It only falls when McCoy, the one person he is allowed to be vulnerable around, enters the room. When Rand goes, Kirk is finally able to vent:

KIRK: I wish I were on a long sea voyage somewhere. Not too much deck tennis, no frantic dancing, and no responsibility. Why me? I look around that Bridge, and I see the men waiting for me to make the next move. And Bones, what if I'm wrong?

I love this because it allows us to see this side of Kirk. While we as the audience get to see Kirk's vulnerability more than almost anyone in-show does, he still barely allows himself to show it. It's the one time in the episode that he's able to let it out. He's not expecting an answer, but McCoy gives him one, and that's enough for Kirk to have the assurance that he needs to continue forward. It's both a great moment showing off Kirk and Bones' relationship, and a moment in an otherwise intense episode where we can breathe and let Kirk have this one moment before returning to the fray.

5. Sacrificing the Enterprise

Being a Starship Captain means everything to Kirk. It is who he is. It is what he always wanted to be. It is what he lived and breathed for all of his adult life. Nothing symbolizes that more than The Enterprise. That ship, as various episodes had demonstrated, meant everything to Kirk. It was the ship that he got as a Captain. One that he spent many years on. Even when he became an admiral, he fought tooth and nail to get to command it again because he missed it so much. He missed being a captain so much. His career means everything to him...

And in one fatal move, he gives it up.

The Search For Spock really makes life Hell for Kirk. He's grieving his best friend, his other best friend is going insane, he finds out that Spock isn't quite dead, breaks out McCoy, and steals the Enterprise. He knew that by doing this, he was sacrificing his career. The career that defined his very being. But to make it worst, he then watches his own son that he only just now got to know and now he risks losing everyone else. So he makes the choice to abandon ship and take the Klingons out by self-destructing it.

I cannot stress how major this is. Sure it's just a ship, but again this ship symbolizes everything that Kirk worked for. That ship was his life. All the hard-work and sacrifices that he made to captain that ship. He already threw his career away, losing the ship was just the icing on the cake. But it's also important to remember why: to save Spock, McCoy, and his crew. He just watched his son die. He just lost Spock once. He's likely going to not only lose him again, but also lose Bones if he hadn't acted as he did. He's dragged his senior staff into it, allowing them to throw their careers aside just to help him.

He couldn't stand aside and lose anyone else. He had to do this. Because sure, his career meant everything. But Spock? Bones? His crew? They mean so much more. They're the closest thing to a family that he has. They've been with him through everything since he got the Enterprise. Here, he chooses them over himself. It hurts, but after so many episodes that made it clear how much being a Captain meant to Kirk? After all of his accomplishments? All the sacrifices? He threw it all away for the ones that he loves, and that is powerful.

#tos #star trek tos #james t kirk #terms of service-tober

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iffltd · 1 year

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S T A R T R E K the original series

2nd Season (September 1967 -- March 1968)

Great Guest Stars and the Memorable Characters they Portrayed

T’Pau (Celia Lovsky) and T’Pring (Arlene Martel) from “Amok Time” Apollo (Michael Forest) from “Who Mourns for Adonais” Nomad (voice by Vic Perrin) from “The Changeling” Commodore Matt Decker (William Windom) from “The Doomsday Machine” Sarek of Vulcan (Mark Lenard) and Amanda Grayson (Jane Wyatt) from “Journey to Babel” Eleen (Julie Newmar) from “Friday’s Child” Nils Baris (William Schallert) and Arne Darvin (Charlie Brill), Captain Koloth (William Campbell) and Korax (Michael Pataki) from “The Trouble with Tribbles” Bella Oxmyx (Anthony Caruso) and Jojo Krako (Vic Tayback) from “A Piece of the Action” Nona, a Kahn-ut-tu of the Hill People (Nancy Kovack) from “A Private Little War” Kelinda (Barbara Bouchet) from “By Any Other Name” Captain Ronald Tracey (Morgan Woodward) from “The Omega Glory” Dr. Richard Daystrom (William Marshall) from “The Ultimate Computer” Procounsel Claudius Marcus (Logan Ramsey) slave girl Drusilla (Lois Jewell) from “Bread and Circuses” Roberta Lincoln (Teri Garr) and Gary Seven (Robert Lansing) from “Assignment: Earth”

#STAR TREK #Star Trek TOS #Star Trek TOS season 2 #Star Trek TOS season 2 great guest stars/characters

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leviobsession · 9 months

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favourite Star Trek episodes from season 2

Amok time

Mirror, mirror

I,mudd

The deadly years

Trouble with tribbles

A Piece of Action

Patterns of force

Part 1

#star trek #star trek spock

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marley-manson · 1 year

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Marley, what is your favorite TOS episode?

Thanks for asking! lol yk I think it's gotta be A Piece of the Action. I am a sucker for the fun gimmicky episodes, and that's my fave of those.

But also shout out to The Naked Time, Devil in the Dark, Amok Time, Mirror Mirror, Journey to Babel, The Trouble with Tribbles, and The Empath.

How about you?

#text post #marley on star trek #though to be fair i haven't watched the whole show in like a decade and i've only rewatched the occasional ep since

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diesoonandsuffer · 2 years

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my thoughts on the voyage home AND the final frontier

again i’m just going to paste both of my letterboxd reviews here because why would i retype the same thoughts.

the voyage home

i'm giving this a 3.5/5 because it still falls a bit below search for spock for me personally. i think after having seen more of these i might bump the first two movies down a bit in rating.

now i'm a fan of anytime star trek goes goofy and wacky. the trouble with tribbles and a piece of the action are some of my favorite original series episodes, and even just the silly moments in an otherwise normal episode will usually stand out to me. so i don't want it to sound like i didn't appreciate the goofiness of this movie; i did! i love putting the enterprise crew in situations. i love chekov running through an army naval base. i love spock vulcan neck-pinching a punk guy on a bus. i love bones and scotty pretending they work for this random engineering company. those things were great. however, the whiplash tonal shift of this movie is noticeable. i did a double feature of this and final frontier, which i will review separately, but seeing now 5/6 of the original series movies it is striking how different this is. i guess in a way its the tribbles of the star trek movies. and i guess it makes sense to have at least one -- it keeps it true to form in a way -- but something about the long term storytelling between the movies makes the random tone switch of this one just feel a bit off. again, i loved the goofiness, but it was just a lot to process.

there's other minor things about the movie i don't like; some of kirk's characterization felt a little off, for one. spock also did at times which i know is part of him recovering from being fucking brought back to life but it was almost like i was watching original pilot spock again. "irritation? ah, yes, one of your earth emotions!" like that level of spock. his arc in this being that he just goes back to the evolved spock we came to know over 3 seasons of television and 2 movies was...a choice, but whatever. it led to some funny moments between him and kirk but again, it had this almost uncanny valley feeling to it where it just felt a little bit wrong. also saavik being removed is disappointing but not surprising. apparently there was one script draft where she was pregnant with spock's child and if that stayed in i would have started biting glass.

overall this movie is definitely an enjoyable watch; the premise is goofy enough that it's easy watching, the ending is optimistic in the traditional star trek way, and the characters are put in fun little situations. it just feels a little off to me with some minor problems but i wouldn't call this a bad film by any stretch.

the final frontier

i did a double feature of this and the voyage home and wow holy shit. what a tonal shift.

before i start i'm not gonna straight up blame shatner for what this movie is. other reviews on here have explored him and that in more depth and i'm not even gonna try. i think it's not so black and white as "nimoy did this and it was good, shatner did this and it was bad" and i think its reductive to reduce it as such.

i can see why shatner would want to write this story. spock was fucking brought back to life. he has an eternal soul. once you write something like that into your script, the concept of God or the source of all life doesn't seem that out of the picture. and it's not like star trek hasn't dealt with gods or god-like entities before. who mourns for adonais explores the greek god apollo and other episodes have advanced sentient life forms who, in a way, act like god figures. so i can see why shatner would want to take that idea and expand it into a scale beyond what a tv show, or the original series at the time, could handle. do i think it was executed well? not particularly. i both saw the reveal coming and was surprised by it all at once.

some parts of this movie i enjoyed. another review mentioned that the shore leave scenes are such a delight that you wish shatner had permission to make a shore leave only movie, and i agree with that. i'm sort of biased since i'm a fan of that kind of story already, but the point stands. what this movie and the previous two have in common is that it got back what the first two movies were missing; the fact that the enterprise is a found family. in search for spock they were such a found family that they abandoned their careers to save spock. voyage home has them on a goofy adventure together that lets their characters and dynamics shine. this movie centers that dynamic more on the main trio of kirk, spock, and bones. i'm glad bones actually got to be part of this time as he has been unfortunately sidelined many other times. i really enjoyed all of their scenes together even after shore leave ends.

two more things i have to complain about and then i think im done. they both involve lore inconsistency. other people might see these as minor but they bother me, and i'm not usually a stickler for these things but they're both, like, obvious facts that are overridden. the first i'm not sure of the validity of because the origin is from the animated series. i don't know if this is considered canon BUT the best episode from that series (and arguably a better episode than many of the original series ones) is the one that explores spock's backstory where he has to go back in time to save himself from dying in a vulcan coming of age ritual. this explores his relationship to the other kids that tease him, his love for animals and his pet, him and sarek's strained relationship, and so on. he explicitly does not have a half-brother here and to add a half-brother here would make the episode not make sense. i think in general having a half-brother makes his whole backstory not make sense. what, sarek managed to bear TWO children that were batshit insane by vulcan standards? if sybok was the other kid i would think spock is an angel by comparison. but whatever.

the second lore thing is at the end; spock mentions he lost sybok, a brother. kirk goes "i lost a brother once." now maybe i'm just a fool but i legitimately thought they were referencing Sam. you know. his brother. the brother that they killed off in the original series. like his for real brother, that he had, who died. but no he was just talking about spock. (the man who he was definitely about to kiss in front of the klingons but i won't get into that here.) and then they say that they do have families, meaning each other. ignoring bones' daughter they mention in the animated series, spock has at this point mostly reconciled with sarek (even if his flashback tries to make us forget that?) and as far as i can tell has always cared for his mother. kirk and bones both had relatives even if they died. i don't know. it just seemed clunky.

TLDR; weird movie. elements of it are good, some parts are just bad. definitely not the Worst thing i've ever seen.

#tags for these movies will be...#tvh #and #tff #i wish roberta lincoln had shown up in tvh. i knew she wouldnt but still.#maybe i'll say more later. brain is fried.#tos #sam's thots #gen

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