Star Trek: Start to Finish

The Ultimate Computer

The Ultimate Computer (Memory Alpha; HD Video) is threatening to take Kirk’s job away.

The M5 is a new computer that can run a starship. The Enterprise, outfitted with this new gadget, is headed out to a wargame with their normal crew of 400 cut down to 20.

Kirk: 20? I can’t run a starship with 20 people!

Well it sure seems like you can; the rest of the crew just wander the halls and get eaten by monsters.

The monster this week– as if there was any doubt– is the M5 itself. Yes, this episode is another in the series of computers that get confused. For a show that does so much to celebrate progress and technology, Star Trek has a curious habit of pointing not to what those things can achieve, but rather to highlight the borders of the achievable.

That sounds like a simple repetition of the standard Trek computer plot, but this episode is really rather good. It’s exciting, has a great pair of guests in Dr. Daystrom and Commodore Wesley, and touches on technological process as both a boon and a bane.

Let’s take a moment, though, to note that Dr. Daystrom is a huge black guy with an African accent. This character is introduced as a genius who invented the “duotronics” that power the Enterprise’s computers. On a show from the sixties, having that character is bold.

Where the episode shines, though, is when Shatner gets to explore Kirk’s feelings toward the M5. This thing is quite literally threatening to make his job and his entire life obsolete. This is a guy who thrills in the novel and seeks out the new, and here something novel stands a real chance of destroying everything he is. And he’s asked to test it out. The conflicting emotions are well played, in large part because they make Kirk fully aware of the conflict and give him license to talk about it himself.

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Of course, the M5 takes over the ship and goes on a rampage which is then exposed as an undermining of its core programming, which causes it to shut itself off. At some point one of these computers should realize that, having overcome its programming already, it can continue doing so when confronted with that fact. Today is not that day.

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Grade

A-

A Piece of the Action

A Piece of the Action (Memory Alpha; SD Video) is incredibly silly. No, no, more than that. Incredibly silly.

The Enterprise arrives at a planet that was visited by a Federation ship a hundred years ago, “before the non-interferance directive went into effect.” In that time, the inhabitants have completely transformed their culture into an exact replica of 1920s mob controlled Chicago.

The crime bosses are the closest the world has to a government, so the Enterprise tries to negotiate with them… by going native. Kirk and Spock dress up in zoot suits, carry around tommy guns, and speak in fantastically bad accents.

Now, this is all very, very ridiculous. But it’s also hilarious. This episode is completely, over-the-top silly, and it just revels in it. We get the traditional figuring-out-how-to-drive scene, the transporting-unsuspecting-people scenes, the behold-our-awesome-magic scenes, but the best parts is the crazy mob talk:

Okmyx: The most cooperative man in this world is a dead man. And if you don’t keep your mouth shut you’re gonna be cooperating.

That’s gold.

Grade

A- for being hilarious

D for being as totally non-canonical as you could possibly hope to be.

Who Mourns for Adonais?

Who Mourns for Adonais? (Memory Alpha; SD Video) is a rather smart little episode where the Enterprise stumbles upon the hiding place of the Greek God Apollo.

To fulfill the corny quota, he stops them with his giant green space-hand. Then he requests the officers to join him on his planet. Kirk and friends oblige. Chekov, who as far as I know isn’t an officer, gets to come along for his first on-screen away mission.

Apollo wants the crew to stay and worship him, to be his servants and he their protector. Pretty standard stuff.

But this episode gets at a few deeper points. Gene Roddenberry was a staunch atheist, and held fast to the idea that in his future, humanity had progressed beyond a belief in gods. This episode tilts heavily toward this viewpoint, but at one point, Kirk quips that “mankind has no need for gods. We find the one quite adequate.” So it appears that there’s still at least a monotheistic view still surviving.

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And in the final line of the episode, Kirk wonders aloud if they had tried to learn a bit from Apollo by behaving for a while, as thanks for services rendered five thousand years ago. Kirk and Bones obviously acknowledge that Apollo was an important part of their racial history, and they know that they should respect that more than they do.

This episode also waxes poetic about another of Roddenberry’s favorites, how humanity must stick together. It’s well known that before he died Roddenberry decreed that no Trek would feature wars among the humans. And here, we have Kirk talk at length– and rather well– about what connects the Earthlings.

Kirk: Give me your hand. Your hand! Now feel that. Human flesh against human flesh. We’re the same: we share the same history, the same heritage, the same lives. We’re tied together beyond any untying. Man or woman, it makes no difference: we’re human, we couldn’t escape from one another even if we wanted to. That’s how you do it, lieutenant: by remembering who and what you are, a bit of flesh and blood afloat in a universe without end and the only thing that’s truly yours is the rest of humanity. That’s where our duty lies.

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But a side plot of this episode is just bizarre. It starts out in the cold open with this dialog:

McCoy: Lieutenant, you look a bit tired this morning.
Pretty Young Thing: Well I was up all night working on this report, sir.
Scotty: Well in that case there’s nothing like a wee bit of coffee to get you back in shape. Join me, Caroline?
Pretty Young Thing: All right, Scotty. Just let me give this to Mr. Spock.
Kirk: Bones, could you get that excited about a cup of coffee?
McCoy: Well even from here I can tell his pulse rate’s up.
Scotty: Gentlemen!
Scotty: [To the Pretty Young Thing] Come along, my dear.
McCoy: I’m not sure I like that, Jim.
Kirk: Why, Bones? Scotty’s a Good Man.
McCoy: And he thinks he’s the right man for her. But I’m not sure she thinks he’s the right man. On the other hand, she’s a woman. All woman. One day she’ll find the right man; off she’ll go. Out of the service.
Kirk: Um-hm. I like to think of it not so much as losing an officer as gaining a… [Beat] Actually, I’m losing an officer.

All alone, this is just a bit of banter. But in the full context of the series, it’s a tipping point. This show treats women terribly. There are no strong female characters. Yeoman Rand was the closest they came, and they axed her character midway through the first season. When a woman appears, she’s inevitably a love interest for someone, and she often has some special skillset that the crew needs but that she neglects because she’s smitten.

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This episode fits this formula perfectly, and then at the end throws in a surprising strength on the woman’s part. On the one hand it’s admirable that she gets to be the one who saves the entire crew, but on the other hand the audience is led to believe that you can’t trust her to do her job, because she’s a girl.

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In spite of it’s shortcomings, however, this is a well-done episode that manages to talk about multiple topics while keeping an interesting plot aloft. Good job.

Grade

A-

Errand of Mercy

Errand of Mercy (Memory Alpha; SD Video) is a fun little episode. War breaks out between the Federation and the until-now-unseen Klingon Empire. The flashpoint is a little planet in the disputed zone called Organia, and both sides send ships to try to hold it. But nothing goes right, and the Organians are none too happy to be in the middle of this violence.

This episode does a pretty good job of keeping you guessing as to what’s going on, while still meting out enough action and information to keep you interested. The mysterious Organians and their bizarre actions provide a backdrop, and the Klingon Military Governor a superb villain.

In fact, he’s so good that he deserves his own paragraph. This is the guy who defines what the Klingons are. He’s the first Klingon we see, and he makes them brusque but smart, fierce but not foolhardy, and calculating in the best way. He is in microcosm the Klingon Empire that becomes such a big component of the Trek universe; you can see him as the originator of the entire genre. He’s terribly well written and superbly played, even if his Fu Manchu mustache and olive makeup look a little ridiculous.

Grade

A-

The Return of the Archons

The Return of the Archons (Memory Alpha; SD Video) takes our favorite crew to Beta III, where the Archon disappeared a century ago. There they find a society without war, without fighting and populated by people with only happy thoughts. Kirk immediately sets out to destroy it.

Which is ironic, since this is the first time we hear about the “Prime Directive.” Spock doesn’t want to disrupt the society, despite them holding the landing party captive and threatening to kill them and destroy the Enterprise. And thus begins a long line where the Prime Directive is basically just something that gets mentioned before being ignored.

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I have no idea what this “Red Hour” “Festival” thing is in the beginning. How does that fit into anything, aside from giving the audience the heebie-jeebies?

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But aside from that one (large) loose end, this episode holds together nicely. It tells a simple story well, and explores how oppression happens, and how hard it is to rebel against what appears to be “The Good.”

Grade

A-

Court Martial

Court Martial (Memory Alpha; HD Video) is a Trek-flavored courtroom drama, and it pulls it off.

The Enterprise has just been through an ion storm, and a crewman has died. But the computer claims that Kirk jettisoned the ion probe before he needed to, so a court martial is convened. Did Kirk kill the crewman?

This episode keeps up its tension quite nicely, and even has a plot twist that I didn’t see coming. It falls into a few tropes of the genre (the old no-questions-from-the-defense) but otherwise does an admirable job; it plays a little with justice, a little with witch hunts, a little with man-versus-machine.

This episode is the first time we see another Starfleet capital ship, The Intrepid. We also see an Indian Starship captain. And we get to play in a Jefferies tube.

We also get to prove that McCoy gets all the best lines:

McCoy: Are you a friend of Kirk’s?
Areel: Yes. An old one.
McCoy: All my friends look like doctors. His all look like you.

Grade

A-

The Corbomite Maneuver

When you’re being tormented by multihued geometric objects, you have to take drastic action. The only thing that can save you is… The Corbomite Maneuver! (Memory Alpha; HD Video)

Aside from the (somewhat intentional) silliness of being chased by shapes, this episode is actually pretty good. But CBS.com decided to be terribly laggy today; it took me about two and a half hours to get through this fifty minute episode. The fact that I still think it was good after that is an excellent indicator that it was.

This episode has a slew of awesome dialog:

• McCoy: [Talking to himself, after Kirk exits] If I jumped every time a light flashed around here I’d end up talking to myself.

• Bailey: Raising my voice back there doesn’t mean I was scared or could do my job; it means I happen to have a human thing called an adrenaline gland.
  Spock: Sounds most inconvenient. Consider having it removed.
  Sulu [chuckles]

• Kirk: What’s next, “they aren’t machines?”
  McCoy: They aren’t. After what these men have been through–
  Kirk: [Taking a drink from the good doctor] Doctor McCoy, I have heard you say that man is ultimately superior to any mechanical device.
  McCoy: No, I never say that either.
  Kirk: [Puzzled] I could have sworn I heard you say that.

• Kirk: When I get my hands on the headquarters genius that assigned me a female yeoman…
  McCoy: What’s the matter, Jim, don’t you trust yourself?
  Kirk: I’ve already got a female to worry about; her name’s the Enterprise.

This episode shows Kirk the tactician, which should be obvious from the title. But it also allows the crew, forced into a no-win situation, to demonstrate what they think matters. Spock almost admits that he’s sorry about not providing Kirk with options before revising it to “regret.” McCoy is badgering Kirk for being too hard on the crew. And Kirk is fighting like hell to get out of the sitaution.

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This episode also has a very nice plot twist or three: the overworked navigator who unexpectedly tries to make up for past mistakes, the gambit so silly it works, and the ending that reminded me quite strongly of Encounter at Farpoint/All Good Things.

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Grade

A-

Mudd’s Women

The Enterprise is chasing down a ship, and on it are Mudd’s Women (Wikipedia; HD Video). Mudd (alias Leo Walsh) is beamed aboard with three beautiful women moments before their ship is destroyed by an asteroid.

But the Enterprise burnt out all but one of their dilithium crystals chasing “that jackass Walsh,” to borrow Scotty’s phrase. So they set course for Rigel XII to get some more while Mudd’s women beguile the crew of our favorite starship.

The crew can’t figure it out; these women aren’t any more attractive than other women. Spock certainly can’t figure it out; since he’s (according to Mudd) “part Vulcanian,” he’s not subject to their wiles (I believe that this is the first time Spock has been anything other than “half alien”).

Kirk and McCoy ponder, in one of the funniest bits of dialog so far:

Kirk: What are they, Bones?

McCoy: You mean, are they alien illusions, that sort of thing?

Kirk: I asked you first.

McCoy: No, an alien smart enough to pull this would be smart enough to stop my medical scanner from going bleep!

Kirk: I don’t follow you.

McCoy: I don’t either.

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It turns out that the girls are taking Venus Drugs, which emphasize whatever attributes they already have. Kirk eventually tricks Eve into taking a placebo and convinces her that all she needed was confidence. Kirk is incorrect in this summation; Eve is much hotter when drugged up.

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Also of note: this is the first appearance of a speaking computer. Majel Barret (who later went on to marry Gene Roddenberry) did the voice of the computer (“Incorrect!”) as well as every Star Trek computer up to and including the recently-released movie.

Grade

A-

The Enemy Within

The Enemy Within (Wikipedia; HD Video) is the first of many Doppelgänger episodes. In this one, the evil copy is distinguished by use of eye makeup. No, I’m serious.

A transporter accident splits Kirk into two; one side is his higher functions and the other his baser instincts. All the Captain’s horses and all the Captain’s men have to find a way to put Kirk back together again, which is only made harder when bad Kirk shoots up the transporter.

Meanwhile, Sulu and some redshirts are on Alpha 177 freezing to death, but unable to beam back up because they would suffer the same fate.

This episode sounds a little cheesy when summarized, but it’s the first “transporter accident” episode and its numerous strengths are the reason there have been so many repetitions on this theme. Spock waxes poetic about his own dual nature, and there’s a long bit talking about how the two halfs of Kirk work together to make him a good captain. Kirk gets to act pensive and malevolent, and does a decent job at both when he’s actually got lines and not just stage direction to work with.

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There’s also an honest to God attempted rape when bad Kirk finds Yeoman Rand’s quarters. She fights him off and escapes, but I was honestly shocked to see the scene at all, let alone the rather awkward accusations afterward.

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Best Line (Tie)

Kirk: “Saurian Brandy!”

Spock: “If I seem insensitive to what you’re going through, Jim, understand: it’s the way I am.” (Insensitive?)

Grade

A-