Star Trek Retrospective: Episode 47 the Immunity Syndrome
This is another one that is at the same time great and stupid. I liked it a lot because it showed the bonds of friendship between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy as well as showed Mr. Spock at his logical best. However, the solution they came up with is dumb. Spock mentions antibodies and that makes Kirk think of antimatter? Why not antitrust? Or antiserum? One thing that always bugs me about TOS episodes is how often they rely on random coincidences on words from a language spoken on one part of one tiny planet in the universe (Yangs=Yankees, Son=Sun, etc).
Also Spocks data makes Kirk think of creating an antimatter bomb and dropping in on the nucleus of the giant space amoeba? Excuse me but how is that different from carpet bombing the nucleus with photon torpedoes? If I had the ability to create an antimatter bomb that would be the third thing I tried after phasers and photon torpedoes failed, not the last thing after sending my best friend to his death. If you are going to get sucked into a giant space amoeba anyway why not rush in while you still have power and drop every weapon you have that’s stronger than a fart inside the creature? 
Hell I’d be beaming red shirts out armed with phasers set on overload if nothing else (sorry, but you signed up for Starfleet and put on a red shirt. You knew what you were getting into. Red shirt image courtesy of the Star Trek t shirt category).
Also, if the space amoeba was capable of destroying the universe once it divided what happened to the thousands of other amoebas that it must have spawned from? Shouldn’t this one be the first of a huge wave of giant space amoebas?
However, take all that out of the equation and you have a pretty good episode. Not great but very decent in my opinion.
Dave
Star Trek Retrospective: Episode 48 A Private Little War
Some Star Trek episodes are more subtle than others. This is not one of those. This episode was so clearly an allegory about Vietnam that they might as well called the villagers the Viet Cong and the Klingons the Chinese (although in truth the Viet Cong was getting a lot more help from the Russians than the Chinese).
This episode was also an example of the thin veil of racism that Star Trek labored under in spite of Gene Roddenberry’s best intentions. It really, really wasn’t his intension but when writing and casting this episode it just made sense to the producers that the villagers be Asian and the friendly Hill People be white. In this day and age such a thing would probably not go by unremarked but back in 1968 it seemed so obvious that no one even questioned it.
All that aside this is a great episode for one simple reason: mugato. Yes, the furry poisoned fanged spike backed white super gorilla. Awesome. It also showed more accurately what alien exploration is probably going to be like. You see, for every intelligent creature you might encounter out there there are probably millions of dangerous animals who would think nothing of tearing your face off. If aliens had landed on Earth a few hundred years ago tried running around North America odds are they would get chomped on by a grizzly or bitten by a rattlesnake long before running into a Native American tribe. If you want to see what I’m talking about check out the book Expendable by James Alan Gardener. In it the guys who hit dirt assume every creature in sight wants to kill them and for the most part they are correct.
Dave
Episode image courtesy of the Star Trek T Shirt category, BTW.
Star Trek Retrospective: Episode 50 Patterns of Force
This is an episode that seemed really cool back in the 70’s but if someone tried to make it today they would be keel hauled. Damn political correctness anyway. John Gill’s choice to use Nazi Germany as a model for saving the Ekos economy could probably be classified under the “Seemed like a good idea at the time” heading (incidentally that is exactly what I want on my tombstone. No joke) but even as a political move it is a step towards disaster. Any time you ostracize or alienate an outside culture it is almost inevitable that humans (or human-like aliens) will take it to the odious extreme.
However I do appreciate the fact that this and A Piece of the Action are two episodes that did not try to convince us that an alien culture could so exactly parallel Earth that they get the exact same uniforms and names. At least John Gill would have had some inkling what an SS uniform was supposed to look like, although if I were him I might have used some of the principals behind the rejuvenation of Germany without using, say, swastikas, SS, or the name Nazi. Might look better at your inevitable trial.
The best part of this episode is the head Nazi talking about how racially inferior Spock is and how his skull indicates low intellect. If only he knew. Of course Kirk had already told Spock how he looks like a great Nazi. Not sure how I would take that if I were Leonard Nimoy. This new image of the main three I just uploaded to the Star Trek T Shirt category.
Interestingly enough this was the only episode banned in Germany until 1995. Some people have no sense of humor whatsoever. It has been my experience when speaking to Germans that they all like to pretend the years 1936-1945 never happened so that makes sense. This episode also drove home the importance of the Prime Directive. In the recent movies the Prime Directive has more or less turned into the Prime If It’s At All Convenient but if I start off on that this blog will go another 10,000 words.
Dave
Star Trek Retrospective: Episode 51 By Any Other Name
For me this will always be the cuboctahedtral styrofoam block episode. Also the episode that proves that not all red shirts who die are male. I remember being actually shocked when Yeoman Thompson was the red shirt killed by Rojan. I thought nothing ever bad happened to hot girls in mini skirt Starfleet uniforms. Of course now that I think about it Yeoman Tina Lawton got turned into an iguana in Charlie X and Lt. Tracy got eviscerated in Wolf in the Fold, but for some reason when I saw this girl get killed I was truly surprised. Maybe because it was on an away mission?
This was also the episode that taught me the value of backless tops for women. If Kelinda is how the women look in the Kelven Empire sign me up. Of course when Spock was describing what he perceived as their real form it was pretty much a female Cthulu. Not sure how much a backless top would enhance that.
Here’s a weird question. The Kelvens make modifications to the warp drive to improve it dramatically. Didn’t Scott see anything that might have lead to an improvement? Sure they took all their gear with them but someone should have noticed something. Don’t they have security cameras of some kind on the Enterprise?
Sorry I was just looking at some images from the episode and lost about 30 minutes looking at pictures of Kelinda. I think I need to add her to my list of favorite Trek girls. Damn she was hot. Actress Barbara Bouchet comes from what is now the Czech Republic. I think I need to take a vacation there.
I just realized that this episode and The Omega Glory were back to back not only in release order but production and they both involved humans reduced to their base elements sans water. I guess if you are a writer on Star Trek and you come across an interesting idea you beat that dead horse until another script blelches forth. There is definite script trending in this show and no one thought of maybe saving the same idea for later on down the road. Oh well.
By the way a friend of mine writes a nerd mommy blog called Domestic Geek Girl and reviewed this onesie from our Star Trek T Shirt collection. I wanted to give her a shout so check out the review she wrote (also her baby is super cute in this thing. Definitely a future Janeway). If you are a mom and a nerd you will probably get a lot from her words.
Dave
Star Trek Retrospective: Episode 54 Bread and Circuses
This was a favorite of mine as a kid. I studied a lot of Greek and Roman mythology back then (long story) and the idea of a planet where Rome never fell struck me as super cool. I particularily liked the Roman soldiers in ancient armor with submachineguns.
All that being said this episode was pretty dumb. The idea of planets developing exactly parallel histories or societies as Earth but with some slight difference had already been ground into the dust in The Omega Glory, Patterns of Force, and a Piece of the Action. If you add in all the time travel episodes, Miri, and the Squire of Gothos you would think that Star Trek faced some kind of budget issue and were writing stories that would allow them to use props, costumes, and sets that were lying around the studio grounds.
I think it also telling that all the “alternative Earth” episodes were all close together. I would bet they did A Piece of the Action and figured out this was a cool and easy way to crank out a few episodes. All kind of ridiculous (even if the universe is infinite and all possible worlds exist in it the odds of finding a parallel world even in our own galaxy are astronomically high), but not as ridiculous as finding out that every alien planet in the universe speaks American accented English.
This was the only one I can think of that had a real religious message and if you are not Christian you might have an issue with it. I love the fact that Spock thinks that “sun worshipers” are kind of silly but once Uhura explains that they are not worshiping the sun but rather the Son of God he thinks it makes logical sense. I kind of doubt a race dedicated to logic in all things would give any more credence to one religious belief over another, but whatever. I think that basing a whole “plot twist” on the similarity between two English words on a planet that has no business even speaking English is bass ackwards. Also, for the record the Roman Empire did not fall because of Christianity. It fell for a number of reasons, not the least of which include lead in the water supply and Germanic barbarians.
Still, a fun episode as long as you don’t look too carefully at Kirk taking advantage Drusilla, his one night sex slave. This whole episode was pretty much based on human trafficking, but given the fact that Kirk has the charisma to hook up with any female vertebrates (and most invertebrates, if they are clean) in his eyesight this is just being lazy (and creepy).
Dave
P.S. I just noticed that the image I pulled from the site lists this episode as number 43, which again was it’s production number but not its release number. That’s twice. I’m going to have to have a few words with my Star Trek t shirt people.
Star Trek Restrospective: Episode 57 the Enterprise Incident
I talked a lot about this episode when it made number 4 on my list of the 10 worst and then later went on to write an entire blog post as to why I thought it was so dumb. All those reasons still stand. I’ve noticed that most of the really bad episodes from season 3 all seem to involve making Kirk out to be even more awesome than previously portrayed. If I were a betting man I would bet that in S3 Shatner had gained a lot of power editorially and more or less forced them to write him this way. Either that or they made the determination that it was easier to cater to his ego than argue with him.
That is not to say there isn’t some amusement to be had from this episode, and I’m not just talking about Kirks Romulan makeup. At the start of season 3 NBC dramatically cut the budget and the producers had to scramble to make their props. When looking at the Romulan cloaking device a particularly observant Star Trek fan might notice that it seems a little familiar; specifically it is the top half of Nomad from the Changeling glued to one of the glowing soul globes from Return to Tomorrow (Sargon, I think). It is these keen insights that make my blog so worth reading.
By the way, if you yourself are a keen observer you might notice that this image from the Star Trek T Shirt collection lists this episode as 59, not 57. I believe this to be an error on the part of the guys who do my shirts. It was the 59th episode produced but in terms of intended and actual release order it was 57. I could already hear the trolls sharpening their keyboards on that one. You won’t catch me so easily.
Anyway, kind of a dopey episode. Read the link I put above if you want specifics. Of course in looking ahead my next two episodes are Spock’s Brain and Assignment: Earth so it will be a while before I get to something decent. Oh, well.
Dave
Star Trek Retrospective: Episode 61 Spectre of the Gun
Now we are looking good. This episode is easily my favorite of Season 3 and made number 3 on my top 10 list. When I flash back to my childhood and the images that stick with me the shot of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty at the OK Corral standing in front of the wood fence while Wyatt Earp and his gang shoot through them into the fence is near the top of the list.
I also think this is an episode which shows how well the Star Trek crew did their best with no budget. They basically borrowed a bunch of props from the western being filmed in the next studio and built their set with like $200 worth of 2x4s. By writing the unreal nature of the reality the crew was dealing with these budget limitations enhanced rather than detracted from image. The familiarity of the old West set combined with the unfinished buildings showing the orange alien sky was pretty awesome.
I also think that this episode had some of the best camera work of the series. Watch the scene leading up to the gunfight and you will see use of camera angle and perspective that is really impressive. Of course a lot of it is old hat now but this was 40 years ago. They really did some very cool things with the camera and limited special effects.
Finally, this is another Star Trek episode that predicted the future of human technology. Specifically they predicted the creation of virtual reality, or at least video game avatars. If only the show hadn’t been cancelled who knows where we would be technologically? Of course by the end of Season 3 we were seeing Abe Lincoln in space so odds are Seasons 4 and 5 would have had stories that make most Star Trek /slash porn seem reasonable.
Image courtesy of the Star Trek T Shirt category.
Dave
Star Trek Retrospective: Episode 63 For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
This episode has always been one of great confusion for me. I never actually saw it as a kid. The network that showed my Start Trek reruns opted out of doing this one (and a few more I guess). The thing is I used to buy up sci fi paperbacks at the thrift store for $.10 each and anything with the word Star Trek on it went home with me. I once picked up a book of episodes and read them back to back. When I got to this this one I had my first very horrible moment of doubt as to my validity as a Trekker (that moment would be repeated ad nauseum at my first five Star Trek conventions). How could I have not seen this episode? Is it possible I had forgotten it?
This is one of those episodes that looks a lot better written down than actually performed. I quite enjoyed the story and found the concept fascinating. Generation ships is probably exactly how we are going to colonize the universe so it is highly relevant. Seen on the screen in the order that the show was presented had a much lower enjoyment factor. Pacing was really kind of off, Kirk hammed it up even more than usual, and the costumes looked like the props guy raided his mothers sleepwear collection. Also the concept of a primitive society being under the thrall of a super computer had been so beaten into the ground that as a trope it was only outdone by the Red Shirt dying a horrible death. (Ensign Ricky image courtesy of the Star Trek T-Shirt collection)
That being said a bad day of watching Star Trek beats a good day of most anything else. To be honest more mediocre than bad, and the whole brain hook up thing was another Star Trek technological prophesy about to come to fruition (cough cough Google Glass cough cough).
Dave
Free Birds Movie Review
A turkey indeed.
There seems to be a divide between makers of kids movies. On the one side are those who appear to love children and want to make quality entertainment for them while understanding that a lot of parents are going to have to suffer through them as well and thoughtfully throw in some concepts and jokes for the adults. These wonderful people seem to end up working for Pixar or Disney and help produce films such as the Incredibles, Toy Story, Wreck It Ralph, Finding Nemo, and Ratatouille.
On the other side of the divide is a group of people who see kids (and their parents) as untended cash cows and the idea of a cash teat not hooked up to the entertainment machine as a sin. They provide films that are not necessarily bad, but are just there like a brick in a wall. It is not really notable and odds are the wall would survive without it, but no one is going to have a real objection to it’s existence. These films include Planes, Turbo, the Lorax, and Escape from Planet Earth. (damn, I review a lot of mediocre animated films).
So Free Birds. More in the second camp than the first. Not really horrible bad, but pretty much the definition of formulaic. 
I really wanted to love this film, if only because I am a huge George Takei fan (the man who taught me how to pronounce tsunami correctly. Image courtesy of the Star Trek T Shirt category BTW). I am also a Woody Harrelson and Amy Poehler fan and like to see them succeed. However, while this film was not bad in the I-wish-I-were-drunk-off-my-ass sense, it just doesn’t truly entertain.
There is one massive trap in this film that I will warn you about. Like choosing a large pile of snow to urinate on only to find out that it was really a sleeping polar bear, taking your kids to see a film about cute animated turkeys fighting to get turkeys off the menu a few weeks before Thanksgiving will literally bite you on the ass when it comes time to carve your holiday bird. I have always found animated food creatures either fighting against or campaigning for being eaten off putting (Sorry, Charlie), and unless you really want to delve into the depths of the poultry industry and the difference between movie turkeys and food turkeys with your kids you should probably steer clear.
The story. Reggie (Owen Wilson-Cars, Midnight in Paris, Wedding Crashers) is a turkey who figures out he and his friends are due for the chopping block. He is grievously ostracized by the other turkeys due to being smarter than the rest of them (no flashbacks here) and spends his time trying to convince them of their fate. The President arrives at his farm and he manages to get the yearly turkey parole.
He is transported to Camp David to be the Presidents daughters pet and lives life of luxury. Eventually he is shanghaied by Jake (Woody Harrelson-Natural Born Killers, No Country for Old Men, Zombieland), a turkey revolutionary. They sneak into a military compound and steal a time machine named S.T.E.V.E. (George Takei-Star Trek, Heroes, the Green Berets). They plan to go back in time and convince the pilgrims to not eat turkeys on the first day.
They get back there and meet up with a herd (flock? What do you call a group of wild turkeys? All I know for sure is the reason crows are the coolest birds ever is a group of them is called a murder) of turkeys who have been distracting the human hunters away from their underground Rats of NIMH-like compound. Reggie meets Jenny (Amy Poehler-Blades of Glory, Parks and Rec, Mean Girls) and her brother Ranger (Jimmy Hayward, who also directed this film). The humans are more or less starving but Governor Bradford (Dan Fogler-Fanboys, Balls of Fury, Kung Fu Panda) is saving all their food as a bribe for the Native Americans at the Thanksgiving meal. He puts finding food on the head huntsman and all around bad guy Miles Standish (Colm Meaney-Con Air, DS9, Law Abiding Citizen) who for some reason thinks turkeys are the only food in the universe and seems to hate them with the same passion that I hate the new Star Trek movies.
Honestly it just rolls out with bland regularity. The humans hunt turkeys. Reggie tries to chicken (haw!) out but falls in love with Jenny. Things seem to grow grim for the turkeys but for the intervention of Steve and a huge delivery of pizza. The end.
Sorry but honestly I was getting bored recounting the story. I don’t do stars or black holes for kids movies. It seemed like the few kids in the audience were entertained, so by that standard we can call this film a technical success. As an adult I was pretty bored, which means as an actual rounded kids film (Monsters U for example) it’s kind of a meh. However, unless you are an advocate for animal rights and already feed your kids nothing but tofu and bean sprouts this film will definitely make things awkward come the holidays. I don’t really see this film as a recurring holiday film (it’s no Kiss Saves Christmas) but if you are looking to kill a few minutes and already have your tofurkey planned out go for it.
Thanks for reading. Not my most in depth review but middle of the road films like this one tend to be pretty boring to write about. Follow me on Twitter @Nerdkungfu. If you have comments on this film or my review please leave them here, and if you have off topic questions or suggestions feel free to email me at [email protected]. Thanks and have a great night.
Dave
Star Trek Retrospective: Episode 77 The Savage Curtain
Yes I’m back on this. I can’t start a project and let it fail after only completing 2/79 parts. It would be much more my style to have it fail after completing 76/79 parts. Also I personally own so many Star Trek t shirts that every morning as I get dressed I feel guilty for letting this series fall by the wayside and I have enough guilt for actual bad things in my life.
So the Savage Curtain. If there were one item to epitomize what was wrong with Season 3 it would have to be Abe Lincoln in space (yes, the suicide planet, hippies in space, and telekinetic Greeks all have their place but this one is at the top. For the record Spocks Brain was at the end of Season 2). Honestly, how does having Kirk and Spock dream up good guys and bad guys and get into a fist fight with them tell the turd monsters (sorry, the Excalbians)? What if Kirk had slipped on a rock and broke his skull open, leaving the Excalbians understanding of good and evil to a minor twist of fate?
(Honestly I don’t think good and evil are that hard to understand. I have an understanding and am happy to have chosen ev…I mean good!)
For that matter, who appointed Kirk and Spock as the universal representatives of good? Wasn’t it established in The Enemy Within that Kirk is comprised of both good and evil parts? I’d say a laundry list of intergalactic booty calls and half breed alien bastard children might have a thing of two to say about him from a moral perspective. Didn’t he let a super hot innocent girl walk in front of a truck in order to save his future? What about the other future full of people that he just destroyed? And Spock would let 1,000,000 people die if it meant saving 1,000,001 people. Not a lot of morality in that equation.
Finally, the real problem with this episode is they were really running out of ideas and opted to just remake Arena without the Gorn. I’m not saying I hate this episode. Only that the signs that the series was running out of steam were pretty strong. I sometimes wish for a fourth season but really when you think about it this shows the trend. Who knows what bad ideas would have arisen in season 4? A racist cartoon rabbit that talks with a lisp? Kirk being replaced by a captain with no hair? A complete reboot where the entire universe gets more stupid and Star Wars-y with no nod towards Gene Roddenberry’s vision? No, in those halcyon days such things were decades in the future.
Dave
