tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15143301417059536792024-03-06T03:32:35.904-05:00Star Trek Is AwesomeI'm watching Star Trek the original series for the first time. I'll be giving a plot synopsis and then my rating of the episode. If, like me, you haven't seen these episodes before, beware of spoilers. I am watching these via amazon instant view, which is free with prime. I don't have netflix, but my understanding is that they can all be streamed there as well.<br><br>I plan to update every <strike>Wednesday</strike> Sunday, I might post an extra one here and there if I get ahead of schedule.Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-45800615259537908222013-09-06T15:38:00.000-04:002013-09-06T15:38:00.202-04:00Extended HiatusI really have been enjoying doing this blog, but it seems that I simply don't have enough time to keep up with it for the time being. I will probably return at some point, but who knows when and in what form. I might come back and do the same thing I'm doing now, or I might try something different. One idea I've been toying with is watching the episodes with my son when he's old enough and blogging about his reactions to things. Of course that would have to be a few years off if I go that route.<br />
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Anyway, thanks for reading.Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-76255775404298825092013-08-11T15:19:00.002-04:002013-08-11T15:19:38.486-04:00The Return of the Archons: TOS Season 1 Episode 21<div style="text-align: center;">
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We start with Sulu and O'neil on a planet being chased, O'neil runs off but Sulu waits for transport. Sulu gets hit with some mind-altering attack right before he beams up and is clearly acting strange when we gets back to Enterprise. So Kirk and a handful of other guys beam down to try to figure out what is going on, when they get there everyone seems pleasant and ask if the away team is here for the festival. They say yes as it is good cover, but quickly it turns out that the festival largely consists of chaos in the street.</div>
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It seems that most everyone is being mind controlled (are you of the body?), but the away team finds a few guys who are not and seem to want to gain freedom for themselves and everyone. Some guards come to them and ask for them to come see Landrew (who is apparently in charge here), they say 'no' and the guards don't seem to know what to do. Spock takes a weapon from one of them, but it turns out to simply be a pipe, it must just be a focusing object for a powerful weapon being emitted elsewhere. Very interesting indeed.</div>
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They also talk to the Enterprise and it turns out that some sustained attack is being levied against the ship. They are having to spend all of their energy on shields, and their orbit is decaying. Their time is severely limited.</div>
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The away team finds Landrew and talks to him, ultimately they are knocked out and thrown in jail. They eventually break out of jail and Kirk wants to go to confront Landrew about what is going on. After some argument, they are led to Landrew, who was previously a holographic projection on a wall, they shoot the wall and it is revealed that Landrew is actually a computer. This society is how a computer would view perfection, but people are not free even to think for themselves. They convince the computer that what he has done is not in line with the intention of his programming and the computer self-destructs. Then everyone who was brainwashed is set free. Kirk left some people on the planet to help them rebuild their society.</div>
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When they were in prison, Spock and Kirk had an amusing conversation about how the guards responded to them</div>
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Spock: Their reaction to your defiance was remarkably similar to the reaction of a computer when fed insufficient or contradictory data</div>
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Kirk: Are you suggesting the law giver's a mere computer?</div>
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Spock: Simply that all the facts are not yet in.</div>
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I found this hilarious, as Spock is saying that not knowing how to react to insufficient data is computer like, then in his next line he does just that. Spock is acting like a computer in exactly the way he is observing the guards. Even more hilarious, right at the end of the episode Kirk tells Spock he would make a good computer, to which Spock replied "thank you".</div>
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Part of why this is so amusing is that Spock is apparently a man who aspires to become a machine, where Data in Next Gen is exactly the opposite. I guess that must have been the point when they were initially writing data, turn the premise on it's head.</div>
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This same thing happened last episode, but the Enterprise apparently requires power just to maintain orbit. I don't know why this bugs me so much, but there's no reason for that. If they put themselves in orbit properly they would stay that way without power.</div>
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I think this was the first time they mentioned the prime directive. When they were talking about destroying Landrew Spock mentioned the prime directive of non-interference. I was thinking that they had interfered in the past, but mostly they haven't had contact with primitive societies. I suppose <a href="http://startrekisawesome.blogspot.com/2013/05/miri-tos-season-1-episode-8.html">Miri</a> is the only episode where it really seems like it might have applied. They also referred to the prime directive of Landrew, that being to destroy evil.</div>
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When they were getting ready to go confront Landrew and the men from the surface were scared to do it Kirk said</div>
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Damn good line. Although it did occur to me that it isn't really true, even in this situation. For everyone who was currently a zombie of Landrew, freedom would be a gift. Nevertheless, the point still stands, freedom needs to be fought for and earned whenever there is someone trying to take it away.</div>
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Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-3854563218565616602013-08-04T10:51:00.002-04:002013-08-04T10:51:14.382-04:00Court Martial: TOS Season 1 Episode 20<div style="text-align: center;">
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The Enterprise took some damage from an ion storm and the only fatality was Ben Finney. We quickly learn that Kirk and Finney had a history, early on in his career Kirk filed a report that showed Finney in a bad light and it played a part in his slow career advancement. The allegation was that Kirk had something against Finney and the bad report was maliciously, and that perhaps Finney's recent death was intentional. If charges come against Kirk it will be a court martial, the first time it has happened to a captain of a starship. The admiral Kirk talks to tells him to just slink away and they would sweep it under the rug, but Kirk insists he's innocent and demands the court martial!</div>
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So a trial ensues, it turns out that in the ion storm they were in yellow alert. At some point when the danger was particularly high Kirk went to red alert, which told Finney that he had to act quickly, he failed to do that and Kirk had to take action which killed Finney but saved the rest of the ship. The prosecution claims that Kirk took that action before going to red alert, never giving Finney the chance to save himself. Kirk insists that this is not the way it happened, but they had damning evidence, video of Kirk pushing the "jettison pod" button with only the yellow alert light blinking</div>
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It seems that all is lost, whether intentional or accidental, this seems to be Kirk's fault. He makes some vague statement to Spock about chess as the court is adjourning. Spock goes and plays chess against the computer and wins several games in a row. This should be impossible as he programmed the computer with his own chess skill, he should be coming to a stalemate. It appears that someone has been messing with the computer. Perhaps Finney isn't even really dead, but just trying to frame Kirk.</div>
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They evacuate the ship of almost everyone and then have the computer listen to any noise through the whole ship. It can detect everyone's heartbeat, they filter out everyone that is known to be on the ship and there is one heartbeat remaining. They isolate where he is and Kirk goes to confront him. They fight, but ultimately Finney has sabotaged the ship and is ready to die along with anyone else remaining in the ship, Kirk the reveals that he beamed up Finney's daughter. With this information, Finney tells Kirk how the ship was sabotaged and the damage is able to be undone.</div>
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In the scene where the admiral was trying to get Kirk to simply slink away quietly, to just go away and avoid his court martial, the admiral was primarily interested in appearance. He didn't really seem to care about what had happened, in fact, it's quite possible he believed Kirk guilty. But he didn't want a stain on starfleet put there by a captain being put through a court martial, he wanted to sweep the whole thing under the rug. Kirk was interested in justice, he didn't care how it looked, he wanted the truth to come out. Great stuff.</div>
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There were two things in this episode that from a scientific standpoint caught my attention. The first was a silly little throw-away line from Spock while he was testifying in court. He was arguing that even though he didn't watch Kirk push those buttons, he knew that Kirk had done things in the right order because he knows the man. He said it is no different from dropping a hammer on a planet <b>with positive gravity</b>, he knows it will fall without looking. I love the idea that there could be a planet without positive gravity. Perhaps there is a planet with some exotic substance where gravity doesn't work in our normal sense. Seems a bit silly, but sometimes science fiction is about exploring silly ideas. I liked it, and again, it was just a throwaway line.</div>
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The other thing did really bug me though. Near the end they cut power to the enterprise and in a very short period of time they were going to fall out of orbit. This seems to misunderstand what orbit is. It takes power to put yourself in orbit, but once your there you should stay in orbit without the need for power. Sure, over a long period of time a "stable" orbit can decay, but this was a very short period of time, on the order of hours. A similar thing happened in the recent movie, and that bugged the crap out of me too.</div>
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Some more banter between Spock and McCoy that caught my attention. When Spock was playing chess, bones found him and was upset that he was doing that, not realizing he was helping the captain with this action.</div>
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Bones: Mr. Spock, you're the most cold blooded man I've ever known</div>
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Spock: why, thank you doctor.</div>
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Love it!</div>
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During the fight near the end between Kirk and Finney, at some point Kirk's shirt gets ripped open. I think Kirk needs to stop getting uniforms made out of tissue paper.</div>
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Side note here, my wife say me write down the time stamp here and asked what I was doing. She thought it was hilarious that I am keeping track of this. I don't know why it amuses me so much, but I just can't stop laughing when their shirts get ripped.</div>
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Overall an enjoyable episode.</div>
Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-46424567706423319012013-07-29T12:12:00.000-04:002013-07-29T12:12:01.345-04:00Tomorrow is Yesterday: TOS Season 1 Episode 19<div style="text-align: center;">
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Sorry for missing a week, and being late this week. I <a href="http://hausdorffbb.blogspot.com/2013/06/im-probably-dad-by-now.html">don't have time</a> this week to take screenshots, which is a shame because I find that part of it fun, but I watched an episode last night so I figured I'd write a quick post today.</div>
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We start in "present day" Earth, the air force sees a UFO that of course winds up being the Enterprise. It turns out that the Enterprise had gotten caught in a gravity well of some particularly powerful star and had to use full power to get away. There was a slingshot effect that wound up sending them back in time. They are a little disoriented at first, but once they get their bearings they realize the air force has scrambled a jet to intercept them. They try to catch it in a tractor beam but it destroys the plane and they have to beam the pilot aboard. (I was distracted at this point, so I may have missed some finer points, but this seems to be the gist of it)</div>
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They now have a conundrum, they can't send the pilot back because he knows too much about them and it will alter the past. Nevertheless, they seem to have no qualms about telling him all kinds of stuff, for example, Spock tells him that he will have a son and the son will be important to history. They also spend a lot of time beaming down to the military base and trying to destroy records of their ship in the sky. Ultimately they accomplish this, but wind up with a second person from the base on the ship.</div>
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Now they just need to get home, and they need to find a way to return these 2 guys to the surface without screwing up the timeline (further). They can slingshot around the sun and head back to their own time, but before they go forward in time, they will go backward a little as they approach the sun and they can beam those guys down at the moment when they were picked up. Done and done!</div>
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I didn't understand exactly why they would go backward in time a little bit before they went forward. Spock said something about them going backward when they approach the sun. I guess since the slingshot will fling them into the future as they are exiting the gravity of the sun, they were saying that approaching the sun will send them back in time. I'm pretty sure this made no sense at all.</div>
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Let's assume the back in time thing makes sense. Wouldn't the guys they beam down still have the memory of what had happened to them. It seemed that they were put right back where they were and their memory of the intermediate events was erased. That didn't really make sense either.</div>
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I love time travel stories, but this one didn't really have much going for it. They talked of not changing the past, but then they did a bunch of stuff that would change the past. Plus a lot of time seemed to just be wasted running around on the military base.</div>
Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-71303729418079475802013-07-14T12:44:00.000-04:002013-07-14T12:44:00.851-04:00Arena: TOS Season 1 Episode 18<div style="text-align: center;">
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The episode starts with a joyous scene, the crew is going to beam down to Cestus 3 and spend some time with the head of the colony there who has notorious hospitality. However, when they get to the surface they see the colony is destroyed, when Kirk calls back up to the Enterprise they are under attack from a mysterious ship so the away team is on their own for a while. </div>
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They run around on the surface of the planet for a bit and the Enterprise fights with the ship, but then the enemy ship leaves and they are able to recover their people. Kirk concludes that this must be an aggressive species and decides to destroy the pursue and destroy the ship, otherwise they will be back to destroy other colonies. Spock takes issue with this, but Kirk will hear none of it, he says</div>
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Out here we are the only police men around, and a crime has been committed</blockquote>
As they are pursuing they come somewhat near to a solar system and the enemy ship stops completely. Kirk is happy that he will now be able to catch up, but the Enterprise is also stopped. They get a signal from the solar system that they are an advanced race who doesn't like the violence going on here, they decide that the best thing to do is take the two captains of the ships, let them battle it out and the winner will go free, the loser will be destroyed.<br />
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It turns out the enemy is the Gorn, they are extremely strong physically, Kirk throws some rocks at him, and even drops a boulder on him from quite high up, but he is not killed. Kirk then takes a bunch of minerals and puts them into a bamboo shoot to make a cannon of sorts. He nearly kills the Gorn but changes his mind at the last second. Leading up to the final attack by Kirk, the Gorn tells him they killed the colony because it was encroaching on their territory. Upon reflection, Kirk realizes this is a possibility because it is an unexplored area of space.<br />
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An angel looking guy shows up, he's from the nearby solar system and is supremely impressed with Kirk for not killing the Gorn. He says they are still half savage, but perhaps in a thousand years or so they can make contact with each other again.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Red Shirt</span></div>
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I don't think this is the first "red shirt" moment, but it was the first that really jumped out at me because it seemed to be quite ridiculous. When they beamed down to the destroyed colony Kirk motioned for the red shirt to look around and he was immediately killed. </div>
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However, moments later both Kirk and Spock were running around with no cover and they were just fine. It looked like they were being attacked with mortars, but nothing like what the red shirt had to endure</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mythbusters</span></div>
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This episode was tested out on <a href="http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/gorn-cannon-high-speed.htm">mythbusters</a>, unfortunately it was busted. There was no way for the bamboo to hold any blast sufficient enough to kill the Gorn. Unfortunately, it also means that I knew what was going to happen in this episode, although I guess I can't complain too much to have a 50 year old show spoiled :)</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">7/10</span></div>
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Solid episode, some iconic stuff in there. </div>
Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-19200191970521703742013-07-08T20:59:00.001-04:002013-07-08T20:59:09.656-04:00The Squire of Gothos: TOS Season 1 Episode 17<div style="text-align: center;">
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Before I get to this episode, a caveat, I didn't watch it under ideal conditions by any means. I was interrupted multiple times and wound up watching it over a few days. I won't be surprised I will have missed some interesting things.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Plot Synopsis</span></div>
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The Enterprise stumbles past a rogue planet (not orbiting a star) that is not in their records. Spock mentions that this is an extremely unlikely occurrence and suggests that something strange must be going on. They were going to make a note of the planet so starfleet could send a science team out at a later date, but then Kirk and Sulu disappeared off of the bridge. Now Spock is in charge and the next order of business is to check out the planet and get their crewmen back.</div>
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The planet has an atmosphere that is not ideal for humans, so they beam down with some breathers. But when they get to the surface it turns out the atmosphere is perfect for them. Peculiar indeed. They come in to an old style room and see Kirk and Sulu and a guy named Trelane. Trelane is a very powerful being, but he keeps making strange mistakes. He's apparently been observing earth, but doesn't realize that since he is hundreds of light-years away from earth, his information about us is quite old. He also had a fire with no heat and food/drink with no taste.</div>
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At some point the realize that there is a mirror in the room that seems to be a source of his power, they trick him and break the mirror and he is temporarily stripped of some of his power. In this time they are able to communicate with the Enterprise, beam away and run. Of course this isn't the end of the story, Trelane catches up to them and Kirk is brought back down to the planet to a trial. Trelane wants to give Kirk the death penalty because he's so angry, but then he calms down and realizes that the anger was something novel and interesting. He then complains to Kirk</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
This is becoming quite tiresome, it's also very easy.</blockquote>
Kirk responds with a great speech<br />
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That's your problem, everything is easy. It's giving you a bad habit. You're not aware of it, but you have it. You don't <b>think</b>, Trelane, that's your problem. You miss opportunities, like your anger before, and mine right now. You enjoyed it, but you couldn't have accomplished it without me. You know why? Because you're a bumbling, inept fool. Here you have an opportunity to experience some thing really unique and you waste it. You want to commit murder? Go ahead! But where's the sport in a simple hanging?</blockquote>
Kirk then convinces him to hunt him in the forest and only attack him with a sword. His intention seems to be to try to evade long enough for the Enterprise to get away. Trelane chases him and seems to have having a great time, but eventually gets bored and pops some walls into existence so that Kirk can't get away. When he's about to kill him the most hilarious thing happens.<br />
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Trelane's parents show up. It turns out he is just a kid from some other powerful race! They scold him, apologize, and let Kirk get away.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rogue Planet</span></div>
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One thing I thought was really peculiar is the surprise that Spock exhibited about the planet not being in their data banks. I think they were just trying to lay the groundwork that something was odd, but there's no reason we should know about every planet around stars, let alone in the middle of nowhere without a light source. I suppose if it was in familiar federation space there might be something there, but they are on a mission of exploration right? It seems that they would come across new stuff like this all the time. Hell, last week they stumbled across a quasar, certainly it shouldn't be a surprise to find a random rogue planet.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">He's Looking in a Mirror!</span></div>
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There was one scene where a security officer tried to sneak up on Trelane but was caught and frozen by him. The problem was, Trelane was looking in a mirror at the time. This seems like the <b>worst possible time</b> to sneak up on someone. I have no further point here, but it cracked me up.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Spock Objects</span></div>
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There was a line from Spock when he was talking to Trelane that I thought was really good. Trelane felt like Spock was challenging him, and Spock said</div>
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I object to intellect without discipline, I object to power without constructive purpose</blockquote>
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Again, I don't have a deeper point here, just thought it was a great line.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rating</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">8/10</span></div>
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Enjoyable episode for sure. I like the idea of the super-powerful being and figuring out his flaws and what-not. No real flaws in the episode that I saw with the exception of the planet thing, but that was certainly a very minor point.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Upcoming Weeks</span></div>
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I will most likely miss a week or two. Several people are going to be visiting and I think it will be somewhat of a madhouse. I will probably not be able to sneak away long enough to write one of these. I will try as I find them a lot of fun to put together, but I might disappear for a bit. See you in a few weeks.</div>
Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-57129821335315622102013-06-30T21:40:00.000-04:002013-07-01T22:58:29.049-04:00The Galileo Seven: TOS Season 1 Episode 16<div style="text-align: center;">
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Sorry I missed a week, but in my defense, I do have a <a href="http://hausdorffbb.blogspot.com/2013/06/im-probably-dad-by-now.html">good excuse</a>. I am going to try to keep up with them once a week because I have fun writing them, although I might have to streamline it a bit. I'll probably have to do a lot fewer screenshots. It's a shame, because I have a lot of fun going and getting them, but it does take a lot of time.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Plot Synopsis</span></div>
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The Enterprise is on a relief mission of sorts, they need to get some medicine to some people, and they have 5 days to get there. It is only a 3 day journey so they decide to send some people in a shuttle craft to investigate at quasar. Things of course go south and the shuttle lands on a nearby planet. Because of radiation the transporters and sensors are pretty much useless, and now they only have 2 days to mount a proper rescue before they must leave to deliver their medical supplies.</div>
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The shuttle crash lands on a planet and Spock is the ranking officer. There is an immediate clash between the other crewmen in the shuttle and Spock over his logical approach to command. This pretty much seems to be the whole point of the episode. He's cold and calculating, for example the other crewmen want to bury a guy who died, but Spock said it's not worth doing because it's dangerous, they are battling the clock and there's no advantage to it. Why is it dangerous? There's some big monster guys on the planet.</div>
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Ultimately they are able to lift off of the planet, but they are too late as the Enterprise has already started leaving. Even though they have very limited fuel Spock dumps it and ignites it, dooming them because without the fuel they will fall back to the planet. But this allows the Enterprise to find them and beam them out. Oh yeah, in the meantime they fixed the transporters.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Spock is super Logical!</span></div>
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The way they portray Spock as a 100% logical being was kinda rubbing me the wrong way in this episode. It's not just that he's logical and without emotion, he can't understand emotion and refuses to consider that others might act emotionally. It's hard to imagine him rising to this rank in starfleet without ever learning this lesson.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Transporter Malfunction</span></div>
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I also found this a strange choice. I guess it was one more obstacle to overcome, but they fixed it before they needed it anyway. And there wasn't something interesting or novel about the fix as far as I can tell. It was just "the transporters don't work" and then later "they work now!"</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Against the Clock</span></div>
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I know they were trying to create a situation where Kirk would have to leave them behind, but it seemed like an incredibly poor choice to send the shuttle out when they had such a small time window. It was just a quasar, it would be there in a week or whatever. They should have delivered the medicine and come back. I suppose it could have been doing something that is rare and they could witness it, but I don't think that was the case here. Plus, if you are delivering medicine it is silly to plan to get there in exactly the time you need instead of getting there as quickly as possible.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Original Versus Remastered</span></div>
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I thought the quasar graphic was really cool, and I was curious what the original looked like, so I went and looked at the non-remastered version. It's quite a difference. They really did a good job on the new effects.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN1XxN4SckNT2Z_t5tKkASQX7q9qMpxzDuWXglHmRpAEI8fzHEuL9gx4F3fWnZy-D3ju-E_VHtNfBqTaUzDn3ElHB8MYdvTw-eH7Jp7eYrJ4KqLazsSs7_oW1czvGv0ALb-ftCYo_TfgM/s586/crappy+quasar.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN1XxN4SckNT2Z_t5tKkASQX7q9qMpxzDuWXglHmRpAEI8fzHEuL9gx4F3fWnZy-D3ju-E_VHtNfBqTaUzDn3ElHB8MYdvTw-eH7Jp7eYrJ4KqLazsSs7_oW1czvGv0ALb-ftCYo_TfgM/s320/crappy+quasar.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rating</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">6.5/10</span></div>
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I'm trying to decide between 6 and 7 here, guess I'll split the difference. It was a fine episode, but there were definitely issues.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Intense Debate Comments</span></div>
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I've decided to remove intense debate and go back to the default blogger comments. Of course, ID holds your comment threads hostage so you will stay with it, but luckily I don't have too many. I have taken screenshots and edited them into the bottom of their posts so they won't be lost.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG9-3wKZC5DDGJwTwh5lFL9rLtCtE-SwEHWMzRaFZWIk0CIaZPj8ZrT63g4iSeV2xqoXJWD5SlNOsDDyWLKwc8mlYgevSzIfOhvdCUtmUjeZ1WQiDB52Ri6D3wIzC9B91QjanGFuEp8cs/s702/the+galileo+seven+intense+debate+comments.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG9-3wKZC5DDGJwTwh5lFL9rLtCtE-SwEHWMzRaFZWIk0CIaZPj8ZrT63g4iSeV2xqoXJWD5SlNOsDDyWLKwc8mlYgevSzIfOhvdCUtmUjeZ1WQiDB52Ri6D3wIzC9B91QjanGFuEp8cs/s320/the+galileo+seven+intense+debate+comments.png" width="247" /></a></div>
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Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-21109363707864825702013-06-16T16:37:00.002-04:002013-07-01T22:56:50.122-04:00Shore Leave: TOS Season 1 Episode 15<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&npa=1&bg1=000000&fc1=000000&lc1=0080FF&t=hausbiblblog-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B005HED704" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Plot Synopsis</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsCbnwqBL_2d_EJziBwK5eoH8RPC5GcSkj4MvOEYl7TTQAYe32sWkckkU-UDwZu0T7shTIREV23hyphenhyphenJwHppMAb0q0apX2kGusPVig4YR7kgG7ZvQn3GF09Sx_BF-8vBfkuFmJzi8hsrQ8w/s1600/kirk+gets+a+massage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsCbnwqBL_2d_EJziBwK5eoH8RPC5GcSkj4MvOEYl7TTQAYe32sWkckkU-UDwZu0T7shTIREV23hyphenhyphenJwHppMAb0q0apX2kGusPVig4YR7kgG7ZvQn3GF09Sx_BF-8vBfkuFmJzi8hsrQ8w/s320/kirk+gets+a+massage.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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We start this episode with Kirk getting a massage from a Yeomen. They quickly reflect on how stressed everyone on board is because of all of the crazy stuff this ship has had to deal with. Everyone could use some shore leave, and we are in luck, they have found an uninhabited planet with earth-like vegetation which is perfect. A few people are sent down first to scout before letting the entire crew down. Bones is in this group and he sees a white rabbit with a pocket watch run by with Alice chasing behind.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfxhK6jEBeH258wU6kAGw1brm2_uIstGf24o3M22_fKt8eUU-MI3WSs0WfbB8WovJPE04C_EqCllLCd1VZIqkrIXh4TiWVdGloOPpapxlKY7bxdpXaUaGwUNlLb6_iu9gsWNW8o8_hyphenhyphenR0/s1600/white+rabbit.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfxhK6jEBeH258wU6kAGw1brm2_uIstGf24o3M22_fKt8eUU-MI3WSs0WfbB8WovJPE04C_EqCllLCd1VZIqkrIXh4TiWVdGloOPpapxlKY7bxdpXaUaGwUNlLb6_iu9gsWNW8o8_hyphenhyphenR0/s320/white+rabbit.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Kirk comes down to the planet thinking that this is possibly a joke that Bones is playing on him, but soon he sees man sized rabbit tracks and realizes something really weird is going on. They cancel shore leave for everyone else still on the ship and investigate things further to try to figure out what is really going on. It turns out that things that people have been thinking about (an old friend, a tiger, a flock of birds, a samurai, etc) manifest and interact with them in the natural way.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhejGWavWw3KhuakGNpX8OaKiFBm-kP29EzjdDKDhydPgvOmJtqX92lyO6Cs7vK5q5o2WoivEtyUn1uAoWB01pQY9bq3IQ_hCynErjlyBI9lKThrLgp6yomMP0OpZgykSoS8ZytePYcfUI/s1600/tiger.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhejGWavWw3KhuakGNpX8OaKiFBm-kP29EzjdDKDhydPgvOmJtqX92lyO6Cs7vK5q5o2WoivEtyUn1uAoWB01pQY9bq3IQ_hCynErjlyBI9lKThrLgp6yomMP0OpZgykSoS8ZytePYcfUI/s320/tiger.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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At some point Spock calls down and says that there is some kind of energy field draining their power, it is interfering with communication somehow. At that time Kirk was talking to what appears to be an old girlfriend. He is clearly very smitten and doesn't want to leave and says that they don't currently have a good enough reason to leave. I must say the whole thing reminded me of an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglerfish">anglerfish</a>, it certainly appears to be a trap of some kind and Kirk is too mesmerized to run away while he still can. Shortly thereafter Spock realizes that they have a short period of time left to act and beamed down while he still could.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmCBzvxL3btY6uskvE1EMFe3hzS2h84XawQtyD51C8U9NluKhQRvjWd0EPb6qp7b8o5_vIRQiklEEc2GEkZy80lJH3icPKjh31WHDbpmoUOeQ8if4AlHJlnDquUSmPYvd1oH6UmOSJ8RU/s1600/spock+having+trouble+beaming+down.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmCBzvxL3btY6uskvE1EMFe3hzS2h84XawQtyD51C8U9NluKhQRvjWd0EPb6qp7b8o5_vIRQiklEEc2GEkZy80lJH3icPKjh31WHDbpmoUOeQ8if4AlHJlnDquUSmPYvd1oH6UmOSJ8RU/s320/spock+having+trouble+beaming+down.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Meanwhile Bones is with the Yeoman who had previously conjured up a change of clothes to a medieval princess looking thing. She conjured up a knight that was going to attack them. Bones refused to believe it was real and asserted that it couldn't hurt him, so he got run through and killed (I imagine this could have been a very dramatic scene had I not known he does indeed live on). Kirk and Spock come upon the scene and investigate. It turns out that the knight's armor was just filled up with a dummy, furthermore all of the stuff on the planet (everything they've been conjuring in addition to the plant life and so forth) all have the exact same cellular structure, it's all manufactured somehow.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSfXNS-KjJ-TyvcVXQiJQQNITaaSr8EdHl-4hGle-1C9OveMfvny8mWMEmMfVALpmWyl-jnM3hPMM0MkGjVPaGs7Wa9mDRtSLx4xjA694KwrIcBU-KKE2DLpiKI3GmYWGgJiJT_6IK-vI/s1600/bones+is+dead.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSfXNS-KjJ-TyvcVXQiJQQNITaaSr8EdHl-4hGle-1C9OveMfvny8mWMEmMfVALpmWyl-jnM3hPMM0MkGjVPaGs7Wa9mDRtSLx4xjA694KwrIcBU-KKE2DLpiKI3GmYWGgJiJT_6IK-vI/s320/bones+is+dead.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Shortly thereafter they realize they while they have been talking both the knight and Dr. McCoy's body have disappeared, and then a guy shows up who says he's the caretaker of this planet. Also, McCoy shows up again, he says they have an amazing facility (I guess underground) where he was able to get patched up, and he has apparently figured out the trick to manifesting his fantasy because he came in tow with 2 beautiful women he remembers from some Cabaret. The caretaker says his race has built this planet as an amusement park where your fantasies can come true. You can relive memories or create any situation you want and enjoy yourself. The people who run this planet didn't realize that the crew didn't know what they were doing. Kirk tries to ask him more details about their race, but he simply says that they aren't ready to know, but invites everyone down to the planet to have a good shore leave. Kirk says that everyone is going to have a great time.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJpF33_Qev7K4AOlDhEQ2diMwwfu0w9RhfmSF3rt5PyxrSEHzIq2c_zdAhapheUfm7kRpajxOmQ3U2cjgRQGlIgKpOkfVME6iS8JQ965VuR-KQk9n4iBmjGccKNtDGQPVaHih2FgHf0As/s1600/bones+fantasy+women.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJpF33_Qev7K4AOlDhEQ2diMwwfu0w9RhfmSF3rt5PyxrSEHzIq2c_zdAhapheUfm7kRpajxOmQ3U2cjgRQGlIgKpOkfVME6iS8JQ965VuR-KQk9n4iBmjGccKNtDGQPVaHih2FgHf0As/s320/bones+fantasy+women.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Why the power drain?</span></div>
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My biggest issue with this episode is the power drain. When it was revealed that something was draining their power, interrupting communications and interfering with transporters, it really looked like they were in some kind of a trap. I'm pretty sure that was the whole point of it, provide some tension and try to lead you down the wrong path. This was of course heightened when bones was killed. But it turned out it was just a misunderstanding, but then why the power drain on the ship? It was never explained and doesn't really make a lot of sense. I was thinking that perhaps someone wanted the communication to be cut off, but certainly once they realized something was up and it wasn't fun anymore, they would change their mind, or at least other people there would want to have communication and it would counteract it. It kinda reminds me of <a href="http://startrekisawesome.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-corbomite-maneuver-tos-season-1.html">the Corbomite maneuver</a>, in trying to throw in a twist they made things not quite make sense.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Which Yeoman?</span></div>
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I really liked Yeoman Janices character, and was alarmed at the beginning when there was a different Yeoman doing what it would seem she should be doing. I checked <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janice_Rand#Departure">wikipedia</a>, and it looks like she's off the show, bummer! It seems that the reason she left are not completely clear, wikipedia gives a run down of them.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Budget running low?</span></div>
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As I was watching this episode, I was wondering if their effects budget was running low. There were not really any special effects here, the whole episode was pretty much just them running around some park. I've seen in commentaries of other shows that they sometimes do this to recoup the cost of really expensive episodes. Not that this is a bad thing necessarily, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HES9YI/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=hausbiblblog-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B005HES9YI&adid=05C9ZPG9VNRFJJ7ME8XC&">Data's day</a> is one of those episodes, and it is among my favorites. I'm pretty sure the friends episode <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000KZI6SI/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=hausbiblblog-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B000KZI6SI&adid=1C09KZRS24G6J0J1BXD6&">where no one is ready</a> is one of those as well, and that is also a great episode.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Getting Kirk to the planet</span></div>
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At the beginning of the episode Kirk was not planning on taking shore leave with everyone else. There was an amusing interaction between him and Spock that convinced him to go. It was one of those things where you knew exactly where it was leading right from the start, but it didn't make it any less great to see play out.</div>
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Spock: Captain, there was something I did come to discuss</div>
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Kirk: Yes Mr. Spock, what is it?</div>
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Spock: I picked this up from Dr. McCoy's log. We have a crew member aboard showing signs of stress and fatigue, reaction time down 9-12%, associational rating norm -3</div>
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Kirk: That's much too low a rating</div>
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Spock: He's becoming irritable and quarrelsome, yet he refuses to take rest and rehabilitation, now he has that right, but we've found...</div>
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Kirk (interrupting): The crewman's right ends where the safety of the ship begins. That man will go to shore on my orders, what's his name?</div>
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Spock: James Kirk *smirk* Enjoy yourself captain.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Shore leave for Spock?</span></div>
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Early on in the episode, Spock declares that everyone in the crew needs shore leave, except for him of course. He says</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
On my planet, to rest is to rest, to cease using energy. To me it is quite illogical to run up and down on green grass using energy instead of saving it.</blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">More ripped shirts</span></div>
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I don't know why this cracks me up so much, but it seems that at every opportunity Shatner rips his shirt and exposes his manly chest.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEMxa0rh63caMlZO2dogGAHE7G6E5zk7f8dif6F0rHXT6bZUeKGn1O-mvPadRpX1MV2Ndiz91_TGRb9g-fM_g8XFvRZtcn4iP3oO_pTxMTXo5nLc2kgikVMGBB1V_lz8QMZ19vBmgmbuE/s1600/kirk+ripped+shirt.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEMxa0rh63caMlZO2dogGAHE7G6E5zk7f8dif6F0rHXT6bZUeKGn1O-mvPadRpX1MV2Ndiz91_TGRb9g-fM_g8XFvRZtcn4iP3oO_pTxMTXo5nLc2kgikVMGBB1V_lz8QMZ19vBmgmbuE/s320/kirk+ripped+shirt.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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We also have a ripped shirt from the new Yeoman, and perhaps a continuity error, it seems to me that when she puts her uniform back on later the rip is on the wrong side, unless she put it on backwards or something<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhArQ0CgSHq2-ZcX27AmFQ4TEBmHFs3_quKQbiPtqEkQ3Ez_qnya8nJHeU5ONj9HN2rue6vawFjrhqW-QWgVliXkG9D_f-JqzgGfpXdPhnJ07mkxy_NM_bFYpphUM_a4C2hATnaVy0xMZ4/s1600/yeoman+ripped+shirt+continuity+error.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhArQ0CgSHq2-ZcX27AmFQ4TEBmHFs3_quKQbiPtqEkQ3Ez_qnya8nJHeU5ONj9HN2rue6vawFjrhqW-QWgVliXkG9D_f-JqzgGfpXdPhnJ07mkxy_NM_bFYpphUM_a4C2hATnaVy0xMZ4/s320/yeoman+ripped+shirt+continuity+error.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rating</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">6.5/10</span></div>
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I was debating whether to give it a 6 or a 7 I guess I'll split the difference. It was a bit of fun, and kinda goofy, but it didn't seem terribly well thought out to me, and it lacked a bit of punch I would say.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Intense Debate Comments</span></div>
<br />
I've decided to remove intense debate and go back to the default blogger comments. Of course, ID holds your comment threads hostage so you will stay with it, but luckily I don't have too many. I have taken screenshots and edited them into the bottom of their posts so they won't be lost.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxz3PIWApyD_1ohQJDT03yHm92XYRluUXv6nsMIzll7NZDJwh1ZHMgefO93hpeR5Au4Jf113EfGM0y4nNmoTJKAWcKJS7lXsgBZU6749RvJ7cIk7DUQlWX7Iy-o79cLzf4anyviIpxtfY/s849/shore+leave+intense+debate+comments.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxz3PIWApyD_1ohQJDT03yHm92XYRluUXv6nsMIzll7NZDJwh1ZHMgefO93hpeR5Au4Jf113EfGM0y4nNmoTJKAWcKJS7lXsgBZU6749RvJ7cIk7DUQlWX7Iy-o79cLzf4anyviIpxtfY/s320/shore+leave+intense+debate+comments.png" width="206" /></a></div>
<br />Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-73978586060644160912013-06-09T19:58:00.001-04:002013-07-01T22:54:56.050-04:00Balance of Terror: TOS Season 1 Episode 14<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&npa=1&bg1=000000&fc1=000000&lc1=0080FF&t=hausbiblblog-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B005HEEFF0" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Plot Synopsis</span></div>
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We start this episode with a wedding on board where Kirk is officiating, but we get interrupted by a distress call of a ship under attack near the Romulan neutral zone. We soon learn that there was a bloody war between humans and Romulans about 100 years ago. They never made proper contact, we don't even know what they look like, but we eventually were able to negotiate a neutral zone. Either side venturing into the neutral zone would be an act of war. The Romulans are supposedly very good tacticians and relish war, so Kirk is reluctant to provoke them. Any act that could be interpreted as aggressive by the Enterprise could give the Romulans an excuse to go to war. Although we are also reminded that this is speculation as our real knowledge of them is limited.</div>
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Somehow they get a video feed from the Romulan ship. I wasn't completely clear how this happened, but I think it was from passive scanning, it was supposed to be a video feed from one part of the Romulan ship to another and the Enterprise picked up the signal (please correct me if I'm wrong). It turns out that the Romulans look a lot like Spock! There was one guy on the bridge that was very suspicious of Spock, even accusing him of being a spy under his breath (and later more forcefully I think, damn, I really need to write these the same day I watch the episode). Anyway, Kirk announces that he implicitly trusts Spock to address the potential thoughts everyone is having (or maybe the explicit accusation thrown around). Spock of course isn't phased by this, and uses the information to guess that the Romulans and Vulcans must have a common ancestor and uses the information to guess at their demeanor. Spock says that the Vulcans were very savage before they found logic and is assuming the Romulans have a streak of brutality.</div>
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This is also the first time the crew of the Enterprise had ever seen a cloaked ship. Spock mentioned that the Federation had tried this type of thing, but the power requirements made it impossible. He notes that the Romulans must have found a way to get around them, but they know that power will be a limiting factor for the Romulans. </div>
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Although they can't see the ship, they can detect some signal from it, Kirk decides to follow it, but instead of plotting an intercept course he matches their movements perfectly so that they will appear as a sensor echo. Given the power requirements of the cloak, they figure that even their sensors will not be at full strength, and won't necessarily want to use up power doing full scans. There is a comet up ahead and Kirk figures that once they go through the tail it will give them a target and they can blow them up. As the Romulan ship goes gets to the comet Kirk runs around to the other side and gets ready to fire. But on the Romulan ship the "sensor echo" goes away. The Romulan commander figures out exactly what happened and changed course to avoid Kirk's assault. We have now seen that both Kirk and this Romulan commander are great tacticians.</div>
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There are some pretty interesting skirmishes, but ultimately Kirk wins. With the Romulan ship crippled he hails them and offers assistance. The Romulan acknowledges how similar they are and ponders that in another world they could be friends, but it can't happen here. He sets off his ship's self-destruct so the Enterprise can't take their technology. I guess this makes a lot of sense since they have a (potentially experimental) cloaking device.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Alien Races</span></div>
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We get to meet the Romulans in this episode, pretty cool. I'm not sure how much they had planned on these guys being a recurring enemy or not. Perhaps they had just thought it would be a good one-off enemy and they liked them and used later, or perhaps they had intended from this point to use them long term. Either way, it's neat to see where they started from</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Technology</span></div>
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It was also really cool to see the cloaking device make its debut. As I mentioned above, they talked about how it takes a ton of power, which is a limiting factor. Here, the enterprise was able to detect some signal from it, I guess we can chalk that up to it being an early model. My memory is that in TNG a properly working cloaking device will mask all signals. Also, it is established in this episode that they can't fire while cloaked, it takes too much power and must be turned off to power up weapons. </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Unique and Non-unique</span></div>
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There was a great little speech from Bones about how there are so many people out there like us (hence we are not unique), and yet there is only one exactly like us (hence we are unique). I love stuff like this</div>
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In this galaxy, there's a mathematical probability of three million earth type planets. And in all the universe, three million, million galaxies like this. And in all of that, perhaps more, only one of each of us.</blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Spock Describes the Romulan mindset </span></div>
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Spock: If the Romulans are an offshoot of my Vulcan blood, and I think this likely, then attack becomes even more imperative<br />
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Bones: War is never imperative Mr. Spock<br />
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Spock: It is for them Doctor. Vulcan, like Earth, had its aggressive, colonizing period. Savage even by Earth standards. And if the Romulans retained this marshal philosophy, then weakness is something we dare not show<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rating</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">8.5/10</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Intense Debate Comments</span><br />
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I've decided to remove intense debate and go back to the default blogger comments. Of course, ID holds your comment threads hostage so you will stay with it, but luckily I don't have too many. I have taken screenshots and edited them into the bottom of their posts so they won't be lost.</div>
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Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-51328209005567338452013-06-02T22:15:00.000-04:002013-07-01T22:51:48.047-04:00The Conscience of the King: TOS Season 1 Episode 13<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Plot Synopsis</span></div>
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The Enterprise is called to a planet by Thomas (an old friend of Kirk's) who says he found a new way to make synthetic food. It turns out that he had just wanted to get Kirk there so he could see the lead actor in a play which is being put on by a travelling group of actors. Thomas thinks it is someone from their past, Kodos the executioner. He was originally thought that he had died 20 years ago, but the body was never found. Thomas is pretty sure that it is his, but he wants Kirk's opinion too. Kirk compares the two pictures, he seems thinks it is him, but he's not totally sure and he doesn't want to wrongly accuse somebody of something so terrible. It also turns out that the actor has no history before Kodos supposedly died, and it matches up almost to the day.<br />
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Thomas winds up killed, and Kirk arranges to take the acting company onto the Enterprise rather than having them use their normal transportation. It turns out that there are only 9 people who could identify Kodos, and all but 2 are dead, both are on the Enterprise, one is Kirk and the other is some low level officer. Someone tries to kill the low level officer with poison but he pulls through. It's not completely clear that it is attempted murder, it could have been an accident because of the type of poison used (it was lubricant they use in engineering or something, it could have reasonably been accidentally dropped in his drink), but that seems pretty unlikely. And of course the viewers know it was attempted murder<br />
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Eventually Kirk actually decides to confront Kodos and they have an interesting back and forth. Kirk has his read a sentence and they can analyze if it is really him. They can't get a complete answer, but it certainly seems like it is him. Later on, the crewman who is recovering overhears that the actor might be Kodos and he heads over to the play to kill Kodos as revenge, but Kirk is able to stop him but they make enough noise that the actors realize what is going on and there is a confrontation. It turns out that Kodos' daughter has been killing the other witnesses, Kodos is completely distraught over this. She did it to protect him, but he didn't want any more bloodshed in his name. Finally, she tries to kill Kirk and Kodos jumps in front of Kirk and takes this hit.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Booze</span></div>
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There's a funny conversation between McCoy and Spock. </div>
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McCoy: Would you care for a drink Mr. Spock?</div>
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Spock: My father's race was spared the dubious benefits of alcohol</div>
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McCoy: Oh, now I know why they were conquered</div>
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In addition to simply being an amusing conversation, we learn that Vulcan was conquered at some point.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Crime and Punishment</span></div>
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There was a really great scene with McCoy, Spock and Kirk. Spock and McCoy are confronting Kirk about why he brought Kodos on board and why he hasn't accused him yet.<br />
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Spock: Almost certainly an attempt will be made on your life, why do you invite death<br />
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Kirk: I'm not, I'm interested in Justice.<br />
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McCoy: Are you? Are you sure it's not vengeance?<br />
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Kirk: No, I'm not sure, I wish I was.<br />
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McCoy: What if you do decide he's Kodos? What then? Carry his head through the corridors? That won't bring back the dead Jim<br />
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Kirk: No, but they may rest easier.<br />
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This scene was fantastic, and I thought it brought a few things into focus. Why hasn't Kirk just accused the guy? There certainly seems to be plenty of evidence. Kirk says he's not sure, he needs more to know that this guy is actually Kodos. But why? It seems that Kirk might not turn him over to the courts for normal prosecution, perhaps he is going to take matters into his own hands. If that's the case he will need a crazy amount of evidence, he certainly doesn't want to kill an innocent person. If he's certain it's Kodos perhaps he will take the vengeance route rather than justice. And best of all, when he's confronted with this he admits that it is a possibility and he's not even sure what he will do. That last line seemed to be him justifying to himself that vengeance is a reasonable path.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sheer Brutality or Tough Leadership?</span></div>
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Another very interesting thing that was brought up in this episode is what Kodos did twenty years ago. It seems that he was the leader of a colony and their food supply was nearly gone. They had 8000 people, but only enough food to feed 4000 of them before their resupply would get there. He decided to kill half of the people so the other half would live. Tragically, the resupply ships arrived ahead of schedule and the deaths were completely unnecessary. It would seem that he is a brutal monster.<br />
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But is it that simple? Suppose the supply ships had not been early. In that case, the 4000 people would have survived and the other 4000 who were killed would have died a painless death. If Kodos had not acted all 8000 people would have died a slow painful death. Without the surprising rescue, what he did would be brutal for sure, and yet necessary for the safety of the maximum number of people possible. (note: this is a little hard to say for sure with food, but I've seen this story play out with oxygen elsewhere, it's a bit more clear cut then, but the moral difficulty is the same) Not that what he did was necessarily the best solution, but to do nothing and let everyone die is obviously not the best answer either.<br />
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Of course, we also have the way he enacted this plan. There was some reference to the fact that he used some form of Eugenics. Kodos personally decided who lived and died. Certainly there are certain things you need to be careful of in such a plan, you need to make sure you keep enough people alive with all of the skills necessary to run the colony, but having one guy just pick and choose is obviously a problem.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Future Technology From the Past</span></div>
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One final thing I want to add here, there was a scene where they were comparing the voice output of the actor with the old voice output from Kodos, it was of course two big pieces of paper and they were checking the differences. I just love to see old visions of the future.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Intense Debate Comments</span></div>
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I've decided to remove intense debate and go back to the default blogger comments. Of course, ID holds your comment threads hostage so you will stay with it, but luckily I don't have too many. I have taken screenshots and edited them into the bottom of their posts so they won't be lost.</div>
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Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-77218473571535858902013-05-26T09:30:00.000-04:002013-07-01T22:50:01.527-04:00The Menagerie: TOS Season 1 Episode 11 & 12<div style="text-align: center;">
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This is certainly an interesting episode, the <a href="http://startrekisawesome.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-cage-tos-season-1-episode-0.html">original pilot "the cage"</a> was only shown to the television executives. They wanted to repackage that episode and deliver it to the public, so they combined it with another story and made it a two-parter. According to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Menagerie_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)">wikipedia page</a>, with all of their special effects they were having trouble getting things done on time, so this not only kept them from wasting the footage of the original pilot, but it also gave them some breathing room.</div>
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We start the episode with the enterprise coming to a starbase, which is apparently an unscheduled visit. Kirk insists that they were called there and the guy in charge of the starbase insists that it didn't happen. Kirk says the only possibility is that Spock lies, which is impossible since he's Vulcan. Of course, he's half human, but that part of him is repressed so it still seems impossible. We soon find out that indeed Spock is behind all of this as he sneaks around and uses recordings of various voices to take control of the Enterprise.</div>
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The reasons for doing this are not immediately clear, but we do know that it has something to do with Captain Pike and the forbidden planet Talos 4. Breaking the quarantine is the only thing left that still holds the death penalty. Captain Pike was seriously injured in an accident, he was saving children from a fire, or building collapse, or...something, I forget. The point is, he helped a bunch of people but got really hurt in the process. He is confined to a wheelchair and can only communicate through beeps (one for yes, two for no) but his mind works perfectly.</div>
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Shortly after Spock has taken the Enterprise and is en route to Talos 4, Kirk figures out what is going on and follows in a shuttle, he won't be able to catch up, but once he runs out of fuel and is stuck Spock goes back to pick him up and submits for a court marshal. But he has the computer set to autopilot to go to Talos 4, and he somehow tied the engines in with life-support so it can't be canceled. We proceed with the trial in which Spock shows evidence which basically consists of showing <a href="http://startrekisawesome.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-cage-tos-season-1-episode-0.html">The Cage</a> interspersed with scenes of the trial. </div>
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The rest of it was pretty much the same except for the ending. In the Cage, when they let the Enterprise crew go and the girl stayed, a copy of Pike was left there for her to love. In this episode, they seemed to just let the Enterprise crew go and she stayed there, apparently alone. Then they cut back to the ship and Pike was sent down the the planet to be with the Talosians who could give him the illusion of having a body, and effectively escape the confines of his broken body. Then they cut to the same scene with Pike and the girl. I like this ending much better, as the illusion of Pike staying behind always made me a bit uncomfortable.</div>
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Spock: This may or may not be the first time we've seen this, but they talked about how Vulcan's can't lie and therefore Spock shouldn't be able to, but he might be able to break this as he's half human. (<a href="http://startrekisawesome.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-naked-time-tos-season-1-episode-4.html">Episodes 4</a> <a href="http://startrekisawesome.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-enemy-within-tos-season-1-episode-5.html">and 5</a> mentioned that he was half human, but I don't think it has mentioned that Vulcans can't lie yet)</div>
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Enterprise: Again, not exactly a character, but learning things about the ship sort of fits in the same category. We learn that the events of The Cage happened 13 years ago, but the opening credits say the ship is on a 5 year mission. I never really thought about it before, but I guess the ship had been around longer in the past, and it is just embarking on this particular 5 year mission recently. I had always assumed that the 5 year mission started when the Enterprise was first built, apparently not.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Intense Debate Comments</span></div>
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I've decided to remove intense debate and go back to the default blogger comments. Of course, ID holds your comment threads hostage so you will stay with it, but luckily I don't have too many. I have taken screenshots and edited them into the bottom of their posts so they won't be lost.</div>
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Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-20120497411889609002013-05-19T09:59:00.002-04:002013-07-01T22:47:44.871-04:00The Corbomite Maneuver: TOS Season 1 Episode 10<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Plot Synopsis</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifOYe-CskFc33DqzNS4CBvYSAp-8Eo9gEmnfSljuVxYRXTTeUdz-yxL_TqYojudqqEy_Qya05L_FZo_njERdI3at6tUS64v_TFcR8I1lDDztTcAv-khEwtwBNmY85lyeuLQ7fI6rBSWM4/s1600/enterprise+vs+cube.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifOYe-CskFc33DqzNS4CBvYSAp-8Eo9gEmnfSljuVxYRXTTeUdz-yxL_TqYojudqqEy_Qya05L_FZo_njERdI3at6tUS64v_TFcR8I1lDDztTcAv-khEwtwBNmY85lyeuLQ7fI6rBSWM4/s320/enterprise+vs+cube.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The Enterprise is <a href="http://startrekisawesome.blogspot.com/2013/03/where-no-man-has-gone-before-tos-season.html">once again</a> farther out than anyone ever has been before. They were soon blocked by a cube in space. As they tried to move away from it, the cube compensated and stayed in their way. It was also emitting some kind of radiation so they needed to get away from it. When the situation began, Kirk was getting his quarterly physical, so he didn't see the red alert right away. This was great for two reasons, first, it was an excuse to have Kirk with his shirt off again, and two, it allowed Bones to deliver the line "What am I, a doctor or a moon shuttle conductor?" Great stuff</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF_tQm7Oy0maW8QnnGDWaGdNNUJzdM09AW2uSbV4Vs4JXBehhKS5gMbxFQgQMYmwjQK-MJR19l7ZzRqoKfgXOZ5izx5QC-frsJNzOsS5aVBxBcZhD6_-ocvUCK6WR4gqHxgRuFkasUzi8/s1600/kirk+quarterly+physical.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF_tQm7Oy0maW8QnnGDWaGdNNUJzdM09AW2uSbV4Vs4JXBehhKS5gMbxFQgQMYmwjQK-MJR19l7ZzRqoKfgXOZ5izx5QC-frsJNzOsS5aVBxBcZhD6_-ocvUCK6WR4gqHxgRuFkasUzi8/s320/kirk+quarterly+physical.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Kirk gets to the bridge and asks for an update. Spock says they are caught in fly-paper, an apt analogy. Given that communications are not being returned they have a few options. They can sit and wait for whoever put them in that trap, but they throw out that idea as it just shows weakness. This leaves them the options of destroying the cube or trying to get away from it. They decide to first try to get away, but it matches their every move and the radiation gets worse so they are forced to eventually destroy it. Kirk is not deterred and continues moving forward. </div>
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After a bit of time goes by, another ship shows up, a gigantic sphere. It gets them in a tractor beam and scans their ship. It is quickly apparent that it is far superior to the Enterprise, it gives them "ten Earth time periods, known as minutes" to get their affairs in order and then it is going to destroy them. Spock compares their situation to a game of chess and they are definitely losing. Kirk instead compares it to a game of poker and performs a pretty epic bluff. He says that starfleet ships all have a secret material in their hull call Corbomite, any attacking ship will get their weapons bounced back to them. No ship has ever been destroyed, instead the attacker always loses. The big ship decides against destroying the enterprise and instead is going to tow them...somewhere, with a smaller ship.</div>
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They figure that the small ship must have limited power and the tractor beam must use up a lot of that power, so they slowly turn their engines on to work against the tow and to drain power from the small ship. At some point the little ship is incapacitated and the Enterprise gets away. They are all set to run off, but they realize the little ship is sending out a distress signal and the big ship is too far away to receive it. Some people still want to run away, but Kirk points out that finding new life is their mission, and they beam over to the little ship. It turns out that this whole thing was a test by an alien (who looks like a little kid) to see how they would react. The scan suggested they would pass the test, but those records can be manipulated, he couldn't know until he really did it. Everyone had a good laugh</div>
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I really like the idea of this episode. A stronger being pretending to be weaker and seeing how we react. It goes a long way to see someone's true nature when they think they have the upper hand. How do they treat people who are in a position of weakness. Of course they will treat you well if they think you can squish them, but if the tables are turned will they squish you or treat you fairly? But I have a few problems with their execution here.</div>
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1. The cube. Their initial contact with these people did not leave them with choices. It didn't let them retreat, it refused to communicate, and it almost killed them with radiation forcing them to destroy it. I suppose there was some aspect of a test here that they kept moving forward after they destroyed the cube, but it seems like with that framework much more could have been done. (the cube could have let them retreat, or there could have been a simple message transmitted that would test them in some way.</div>
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2. The sphere. What exactly was the test that was being conducted when the enormous sphere was going to kill them all in 10 minutes? Again, he wasn't letting them get away, and the communication was minimal. Presumably Kirk would have failed the test if he had fired on the sphere, but when the timer was almost gone what other choice would he have?</div>
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3. The bluff. Did the alien really fall for the bluff, or was that all part of the plan?</div>
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It seems to me the ending of "I was testing you" was just added at the end because they didn't know how else to end it. Kind of a bummer and I really was digging the episode up until that point.</div>
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Other than the lame twist ending, I thought it was a pretty good episode<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Intense Debate Comments</span></div>
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I've decided to remove intense debate and go back to the default blogger comments. Of course, ID holds your comment threads hostage so you will stay with it, but luckily I don't have too many. I have taken screenshots and edited them into the bottom of their posts so they won't be lost.<br />
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Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-60367744615142544212013-05-12T13:11:00.000-04:002013-07-01T22:44:02.007-04:00Dagger of the Mind: TOS Season 1 Episode 9<div style="text-align: center;">
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Right at the start there is a bit of tension between Bones and Kirk as they have different opinions about prison in general. Kirk says he has been very impressed with the new type of prisons "they're more like resort colonies now". Bones responds that "A cage is a cage". Kirk says that Bones is behind the times, but he was having none of it. A little bit later on in the episode Spock has an amusing comment "Interesting, your people glorified organized violence for 40 centuries, but you imprison those who employ it privately". Anyway, they had to beam down some supplies to the penal colony and they brought back some mysterious classified box of stuff that they weren't supposed to look at. But it turned out that a prisoner (Gelder) had snuck aboard in the box and he soon he knocked out the transporter operator and stole his clothing.</div>
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Dr. Adams (the guy in charge of the penal colony) tells them that Gelder was very intelligent and dangerous. Which set up an expectation for me that they would have a lot of trouble catching him, but he pretty much went right to Kirk and requested asylum. They knocked him out and took him to sickbay, and intended to return him to the penal colony but Bones thought that something was up and insisted that he keep Gelder aboard to study him. He quickly discovered that Gelder seemed to have fragments of memories, but there was a lot of missing information. He also discovered that Gelder had been a doctor. Something is definitely amiss! When they arrived back at the penal colony Bones remained on board to continue studying Gelder, so he sent Dr. Noel along with Kirk to go down to the planet to check things out. Hilariously, Kirk had previously hit on Dr. Noel at a Christmas party and was annoyed that Bones had sent her. He said she had better be the best choice for the job</div>
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When they get down to the planet they meet Dr. Adams and a number of other people who seem to be working for him. Everyone except for Dr. Adams has a blank look on their faces, it seems very strange indeed. Dr. Noel for some reason is very invested in Dr. Adams, because she seems blind to all of the strange stuff that they are seeing. Kirk is asking a lot of questions, and focuses on a strange looking machine which includes a prisoner sitting in a chair getting his mind manipulated. Kirk thinks Adams is being evasive, so he comes back later to investigate with Dr. Noel. He sits in the chair and she uses the machine to implant memories into his mind. She starts making him feel hungry, and then tries something a bit more difficult, she makes him remember that Christmas party with him taking her back to his quarters.</div>
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Adams catches them and takes over the controls. We see his real methods as he turns the intensity of the machine up and tells him that if he remembers what really happened here he would be consumed with great pain. Luckily, Dr. Noel was able to get away. In the meantime Spock does a mind meld (the first ever!) with Gelder to find out the horrible things that Adams has been doing. Being afraid of what is happening on the planet with the captain, he prepares to beam down but can't get through while the shields are up. Luckily, on the planet Dr. Noel is turning off the power. In addition to allowing Spock a chance to get down to the planet, it saves Kirk from the chair. Kirk then kicks Adam's ass and he winds up in the room by himself. When the power comes back on Adams is hit with the full force of the machine. His mind is emptied, but there is no one there to fill the void. This kills him. We get another very nice "he's dead captain" from Bones.</div>
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Bones says that it is hard to believe that he would be killed from this machine, Kirk responds "not when you've sat in that room"</div>
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Spock: We learn about the mind meld. It's pretty cool to see the first instance of something that wound up being so iconic. As the writing in these seems to be pretty "seat of their pants", I imagine it was just thrown in without much thought for the convenience of this episode and it just became a mainstay later.</div>
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Kirk: The scene where Kirk first realizes that Dr. Noel was going to accompany him was pretty amusing. He seems like a ladies man as he has clearly at least flirted with her in the past, but he is also somewhat embarrassed by her being there.</div>
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Bones: Dr. McCoy was the first to think that something was up with Dr. Adams, and he stuck to his guns even when everyone else seemed to think he was wrong. It was really great to see him stand up to the challenge.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">First time</span></div>
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In addition to the mind meld which I mentioned above, they mentioned that they can not beam through shields. It makes me wonder if the very idea of beaming produces some clear writing problems and they decided to make the rule that they can't beam through shields to set limits to transporting.</div>
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Obviously the big theme of this episode was prison. Bones was against the very idea of prison, no matter how nice things are. Kirk was more focused on the fact that the prisons are very nice and not the cages the we all imagine as a typical prison. I think Kirk was more focused on the practical implications (we need to do something with criminals) while Bones was being more idealistic.</div>
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Very enjoyable, and I love that I got to see the first instance of a few things that became prominent later in the Star Trek universe.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Intense Debate Comments</span></div>
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I've decided to remove intense debate and go back to the default blogger comments. Of course, ID holds your comment threads hostage so you will stay with it, but luckily I don't have too many. I have taken screenshots and edited them into the bottom of their posts so they won't be lost.<br />
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Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-81627996062631969762013-05-03T09:30:00.000-04:002013-05-03T09:30:01.253-04:00Miri: TOS Season 1 Episode 8<div style="text-align: center;">
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Sorry for the late update. Lately I have been busier during the first half of the week than the last half, so I'm going to start pushing these posts live on Sunday instead of Wednesday.</div>
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The episode opens with the enterprise getting an "Earth style" distress signal, but there are no colonies or vessels out this far. They get to the planet and the topography is exactly like Earth (it shows Africa and North America). Kirk says "Not our Earth, another Earth. It seems impossible, but there it is." It seems like a really weird choice to me. Why not just say it is a planet with an Earth-like atmosphere? Unless I missed it, they never explained why this planet is so much like Earth. For practical reasons, aliens basically look like humans and it's no big deal, why not just do the same thing and say this planet looks like Earth?</div>
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They beam down to the planet and realize the similarities to Earth continue, Kirk estimates that it is equivalent to approximately early 1900's Earth, Spock says he thinks it looks more like the 1960s, except the level of general decay suggests that there have been about 300 years of natural deterioration of anything human made. Again, to suggest that this is happening in this alternate Earth's equivalent decade as when they are filming seems like a peculiar choice. Especially with the decay it could have been any time. Perhaps they are trying to shine a light on the fact that everything looks like Earth and this is just a smirk at the audience.</div>
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Anyway, it appears that the planet is deserted, Spock points out that the distress signal is likely automated, but it is too soon to know for sure that there are no people remaining. As they are looking through a pile of junk Bones moves a tricycle and a somewhat disfigured guy runs out of a nearby building. He complains that it is broken and they say they will fix it, then he dies. </div>
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They then search for additional people and come across Miri hiding in a closet. She is very afraid at first, but they eventually convince her that they are not going to hurt her. We soon learn that all of the grown ups (grups) got sick and died, and it seems they went somewhat insane and violent in the end (which is why Miri was so afraid of them at first). It turns out that 300 years ago the people of this planet were creating viruses intended to prolong life, it worked on children (making them age about a month for every 100 years of real time passing) but it killed any adult. It is guessed that some hormone change in puberty is what makes the virus act differently in adults. Unfortunately, the away team is infected</div>
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The away team determines that they have about 7 days to find a cure, so they set up a lab and Bones and Spock work together finding a cure. In addition to the work they were doing on the planet, people on the enterprise were using the computer to help them solve the puzzle, but the kids on the planet distracted them and stole their communicators. Why would they do this? Miri's jealousy! She was very taken by Kirk, and he somewhat took advantage of this to get information from her. But when Janice showed some affection for Kirk, Miri riled up the kids and while they were taking Janice captive they also stole the communicators. All because Kirk was toying with the emotions of a young girl.</div>
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While Kirk is rescuing Janice and convincing the kids that they will eventually grow up and die from the disease as well, Spock and Bones continue working on the cure. They have something that seems like it will work, but without the computer they can't know for sure. Spock says that it could be a vaccine or "death in a beaker". Bones figured they will die anyway if they don't take it so they might as well give it a shot (I'm with him). He takes the medicine and the scabs simply disappear before our eyes. A very star trek style effect, but really stupid looking in this case. Why not peel off the scab to show healthy skin underneath, having them disappear is just silly.</div>
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Anyway, now they have cured the disease and are free to beam back up to the enterprise. The episode ends on an amusing little interaction, Janice tells Kirk that Miri really loved him. Kirk responds that he never gets involved with older women.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Unnecessary Shirt Ripping</span></div>
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I don't know why this cracks me up so much, but Kirk's shirt get ripped again in a way that didn't seem necessary at all.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_3nmXMzve4yrsIzOqGvjAen5oyU3HrAxNOeCF3yKKKSUNHeXZ_j581-MTWl4rdcFOPy2uht7YI3Cr9Y2ep2flcEG70fPAvNwRRk4Ac7_GTmk-QeJj0FWXFbGtaQwCMcr4jfwtFfYskqU/s1600/kirk+ripped+shirt+for+no+reason.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_3nmXMzve4yrsIzOqGvjAen5oyU3HrAxNOeCF3yKKKSUNHeXZ_j581-MTWl4rdcFOPy2uht7YI3Cr9Y2ep2flcEG70fPAvNwRRk4Ac7_GTmk-QeJj0FWXFbGtaQwCMcr4jfwtFfYskqU/s320/kirk+ripped+shirt+for+no+reason.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Episode Themes</span></div>
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Insufficient information: I really like the dilemma near the end where they potentially have a cure, but they don't know if it is instead deadly. Logically it is easy, you either take the medicine and potentially die, or don't take the medicine and surely die. But that doesn't mean it would be easy to up-end that thing.</div>
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Dangerous Technological Advancement: Obviously the people of this planet tried to extend their lives with Technology and they wound up dying because of it. This is a theme I typically enjoy.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Characters</span></div>
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We see more Spock and McCoy sniping at each other, but it has definitely turned into friendly banter rather than what appeared to be disdain the first time this came up. When they first were discovering that they were infected with the disease they discovered that Spock was immune, the following conversation took place</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Kirk: Why is Spock immune?<br />
Bones: They must not have an appetite for green blood.<br />
Spock: Being a red blooded human has obvious disadvantages</blockquote>
Janice says she's always trying to get Kirk to look at her legs. She is distraught that he legs are now covered in scabs. This incident is what sets Miri off.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rating</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">8/10</span></div>
<br />
Overall I quite enjoyed this episodeHausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-12345615642355885812013-04-24T16:11:00.002-04:002013-04-24T16:11:25.782-04:00What Are Little Girls Made Of? TOS Season 1 Episode 7<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&npa=1&bg1=000000&fc1=000000&lc1=0080FF&t=hausbiblblog-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B005HEDR1I" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Plot Synopsis</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
We start the episode in orbit of the planet "Exo-III" where a brilliant scientist Roger Corby was apparently on the surface. He had gone missing a while ago and they think he is here. It is difficult to imagine he has survived on this planet, as the surface temperature stays below 100 degrees, but they guess that he perhaps stays underground. They get a transmission from Corby that only Kirk and his Fiancee Christine (who is a nurse on this Enterprise) should beam down. They comply, but when they beam down Corby isn't right there and Kirk thinks things are suspicious so he calls down a few security guys as well. It doesn't take long for these security personnel to be killed, one by a really scary looking guy</div>
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We finally meet up with Corby and he is acting very strangely. He certainly shows no compassion for the security who just died, and he refuses to let Kirk contact his ship. He's made some important scientific discoveries and he is afraid that they will be lost if they are not properly handled. He says<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Do you realize the number of discoveres that have been lost because of superstition? Of ignorance, of a layman's inability to comprehend?</blockquote>
I certainly don't want shortsightedness to inhibit scientific discoveries (stem cell research comes to mind), but we really don't know what he's up to yet.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmB09b6BEmxrPiqD-s7Iezoa9djbyMEaJjGrai_gxWR1IIzFc5zZ_X1ciVGUe2iy8TfaPbXOKqPHcvvv7U82Kijvk1BAAO_y6w5ajmfiG5A7nkl7CldLTn3662-QJQYRKUpfH05EM86Rs/s1600/corbys+helper+androids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmB09b6BEmxrPiqD-s7Iezoa9djbyMEaJjGrai_gxWR1IIzFc5zZ_X1ciVGUe2iy8TfaPbXOKqPHcvvv7U82Kijvk1BAAO_y6w5ajmfiG5A7nkl7CldLTn3662-QJQYRKUpfH05EM86Rs/s320/corbys+helper+androids.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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But we soon learn that Corby has been making androids based on the technology from the ancient race from this planet. Corby shows his servant android (pictured above) to everyone, but we soon learn that everyone down on the planet with Corby is an android, and ultimately Corby himself is revealed to be an android too. He was dying and transferred his mind into the android body, but he insists he is still himself.<br />
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But he's not himself any more. His emotions have been taken away, or at least changed significantly. He claims that everyone should be transferred to an android body, it would remove jealousy, greed, hate. Kirk retorts that it would also remove love and tenderness. Christine argues that he had no compassion for the people he is hurting and he is not acting like himself. He insists that he has constructed a perfect being, all of the benefits of humanity without the flaws. But it is clear that he doesn't even believe what he is saying and ultimately kills himself along with the hot servant android<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Interesting Themes</span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="text-align: left;">What makes us human?</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
Obviously a major point of this episode was the question of what makes us human. Is it our flesh? What if we could transfer our brains into android bodies? Would we still be human? It took the position that even if we transfer our memories we lose something in the transfer. I would argue that it should be possible to make a better android and transfer mechanism to remove this, but it is still a really interesting topic, at what point would you not be human any more?</div>
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<ul>
<li>Is there a point when technology has gone too far?</li>
</ul>
<div>
The race that lived on the planet previously got wiped out by their own creations. At some point they tried to shut the android down, they rebelled and killed their creators. It reminds me of I Robot.</div>
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<div>
<ul>
<li>Programming consciousness is too complicated to really control</li>
</ul>
<div>
The hot girl android was supposed to be a simple machine to take commands, and yet it wound up having some emotions and acted unpredictably in the end. Even if we could make machines like this, should we? We would have to acknowledge that controlling them might not be possible.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rating</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">7/10</span></div>
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<div>
I enjoyed this episode, but something is keeping me from giving it a higher score. I guess I would have liked to have seen some of those themes explored a little more deeply. It was certainly good fun, and a bit step up from last week.</div>
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Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-72071914990026079212013-04-17T17:32:00.000-04:002013-04-17T17:32:36.948-04:00Mudd's Women: TOS Season 1 Episode 6<div style="text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Plot Synopsis</span></div>
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This episode starts with the enterprise chasing an unknown ship. It wasn't responding to any transmissions and tried to get away. It fled into the asteroid belt of whatever solar system it was in at the time, with so many asteroids in one place one eventually hit and destroyed the ship, the enterprise crew had trouble beaming them out in time and even used up most of their lithium crystals to do it. Two things here, why lithium instead of dilithium? I'm curious to see if this is something they later change and say that the ships were always powered by dilithium, or if the switch from lithium to dilithium is an upgrade at some point. Second, asteroid belts don't work that way! They might be close together on a map of the solar system, but they are <a href="http://www.ehow.com/about_5101224_asteroid-belt.html">really far apart</a> at the scale of a starship.<br />
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Anyway, they beam off the people on the ship, who were Mudd and 3 beautiful women. The women had a very strong effect on all of the men on the ship, they want these women and can be very easily manipulated. We knew something was up pretty quick when Mudd quietly told the women to make sure they wouldn't get a medical scan, but the stopped himself and just said that it was sure not to happen, the expectations was that even if it comes up, they would have no trouble distracting the doctor and convincing him not to do it.<br />
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The crew really wants to find out what is up, and they interrogate Mudd and find out who he is. With the use of a lie detector they find out he is a criminal and keep him confined to his quarters, the women however are permitted to wander around. No problem, the girls should be able to take over the ship in no time, the problem is the one who was supposed to take control of Kirk couldn't go through with it. But Mudd is a resourceful man, he found out that the ship was heading to a mining planet to get some replacement crystals. He made contact on his own and told them about the women that they could potentially have for wives. This will make a quick acquisition of new lithium crystals difficult.<br />
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So they barely get to the planet, they even have to put themselves in a decaying orbit, it was the best they could do. They have a limited amount of time, and although Kirk tries to be tough, he really had no choice but to let the girls and Mudd go down to the planet to be with the miners. But in the meantime we have learned what is up with the girl's beauty. It turns out that they have been taking some illegal drug that makes them beautiful, and I guess gives them power over men (unless the power is simply a direct result of their beauty, I wasn't clear on that).<br />
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On the planet one of the girls (the same one that didn't want to betray Kirk) wasn't interested in the miners anymore, and didn't take her drug. She became plain looking and then the beauty drugs are revealed to the man she was meant to marry. He was pissed about it, but before he can say much the woman says he's not really looking for a wife, but for "this" and she grabs the drug and takes it. She becomes beautiful quickly. The miner complains that she is only beautiful because of the drug, and Kirk reveals that he had replaced the drug with a placebo. She's beautiful again be she has confidence, it was in her the whole time. Can I vomit now? Anyway, the two of them are happy and the enterprise gets its crystals.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Characters</span></div>
<br />
McCoy and Spock: I've been talking about their interaction a bunch lately. In the past I have said that they seem to hate each other. At the end of this episode they snipe at each other a little bit but it seems to be more in fun than previously. Perhaps the actors are hitting a stride.<br />
<br />
Enterprise: While not exactly a character, it is a fact about the ship so I figured I'd put it here. We learn in this episode that the enterprise runs on lithium crystals as I mentioned above.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Rating:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">5/10</span></div>
<br />
I thought this episode was only okay, I was debating between a 5 and 6. The asteroid thing and the annoying ending with the "it was just your confidence" pushes it down to a 5 for me. What do you think?Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-45997474679187407332013-04-10T22:39:00.003-04:002013-04-10T22:39:39.667-04:00The Enemy Within: TOS Season 1 Episode 5<div style="text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Plot Synopsis</span></div>
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While down on a planet a crewman hurts himself and has to beam back up to the ship for some medical attention. He was covered in what appeared to be dirt, but it turned out to be some mysterious substance that screwed up the transporter. Kirk beamed up shortly afterwards and Scotty (who had beamed him up) walked off with him leaving the transporter room unmanned. While no one was there to see, an evil Kirk materialized on the transporter pad<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCIP-2KbVVGY5lOEuYCAddUdZh4UlbSE3QAu-hhqinkpl8gSXpYmb7PZ1uaK0lbPqd1KgAmWVaWO8o6AKoI3vyU_QIeT3DBDUneABaT_znuO6P-djNbu5L0OmVDFH_XsquFeCWeU2gtwY/s1600/evil+kirk+on+the+transporter+pad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCIP-2KbVVGY5lOEuYCAddUdZh4UlbSE3QAu-hhqinkpl8gSXpYmb7PZ1uaK0lbPqd1KgAmWVaWO8o6AKoI3vyU_QIeT3DBDUneABaT_znuO6P-djNbu5L0OmVDFH_XsquFeCWeU2gtwY/s320/evil+kirk+on+the+transporter+pad.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Of course nobody realized there were two Kirk's at this point and mischief can easily be had. Evil Kirk went to sickbay and insisted on getting some booze from Bones. He then headed off to Yeoman Janice's quarters and waited for her to finish her shift. When she came in he attacked her and tried to rape her. She defended herself quite well and scratched his face, at one point they were close to the door, which opened, and someone outside was able to see what was going on and helped her. Evil Kirk then proceeded to beat the crap out of that guy. This scene was intense.<br />
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<br />
Meanwhile, good Kirk was coming across confusing situations where people were claiming he did things he hadn't done and been places he hadn't been. Then Scotty shows Kirk and Spock the dog who had beamed up and was doubled, one very docile and the other aggressive. We then see a scene where Janice is explaining what had happened to Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Kirk obviously denies that any of this took place, and uses the fact that his face isn't scratched as evidence. Janice was very obviously traumatized and confused that Kirk would do this to her, it was a really powerful scene to watch, and excellent performance. My only real issue was that they should have been able to piece things together at that point, they shouldn't have been so hard on Janice. It actually made me wonder if the duplicated dog scene was supposed to have taken place after this scene.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKCMWGeL3zUUk1oNsUUs2vk6QnoJFYc2SZ4f8tjIBzXghSzfS1OVRWRofpTFbEcvzyT0P8nXcMdV974BDw_AsE4XH9ztRzGQl_r7AXjiloX9AFYvVm3Dc_CYc9HwaO4WlbuTu8-j16_JY/s1600/vulnerable+yeoman+janice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKCMWGeL3zUUk1oNsUUs2vk6QnoJFYc2SZ4f8tjIBzXghSzfS1OVRWRofpTFbEcvzyT0P8nXcMdV974BDw_AsE4XH9ztRzGQl_r7AXjiloX9AFYvVm3Dc_CYc9HwaO4WlbuTu8-j16_JY/s320/vulnerable+yeoman+janice.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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But they did eventually put the pieces together, partly due to the corroboration of the crewman whose ass was kicked by evil Kirk. They soon realized that good Kirk was also having problems. Without his dark side he was a poor leader and was unable to make decisions. They realized they would need to capture evil Kirk alive and find a way to merge them back together. After some hijinks they are able to capture evil Kirk and it is just down to getting them put back together with the transporter. They try first with the dog, but it doesn't work and the dog dies. They think Kirk could survive a similar trip, but they can't be sure until they do some lengthy study of the dog. Ultimately, Kirk decides to take the chance and try the trip sooner rather than later and he is obviously okay.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3c51YEfqn6j_x6IkWBEjtwuuuvEsYlyKS1ZGhiLzwaOwQ_AiGN9AoK3qOuvwLZMuipl68pTmTBTcT-1IDo1xVfSX81hfiJxSiePlr0GH8Ujh29rUIGTPme4ZSNjrMm2KUFAPZctj6oXM/s1600/hes+dead+jim+(the+dog).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3c51YEfqn6j_x6IkWBEjtwuuuvEsYlyKS1ZGhiLzwaOwQ_AiGN9AoK3qOuvwLZMuipl68pTmTBTcT-1IDo1xVfSX81hfiJxSiePlr0GH8Ujh29rUIGTPme4ZSNjrMm2KUFAPZctj6oXM/s320/hes+dead+jim+(the+dog).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Why was he so eager to do this now rather than wait? There was a side plot running through the episode that a team still on the planet needs to get back up to the ship before it gets too cold during the planet's nighttime. (-140 degrees if I recall correctly) Obviously once they realized the transporter was doubling it was out of commission. I don't really understand why they couldn't send down a shuttle craft, maybe they haven't decided that the Enterprise has shuttles yet. Also, they were also just hanging out in the cold, you would think they would find a cave, or at least sit in some sort of tent for a little bit of protection. Not that this would solve the problem, and it probably was easier to get the point across this way, but it still made me laugh<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW452uumVjFlDjVSZ_aMXXFJua_lw7fGddCQDUp0ZtNe1nk7h_po9mIX5KoETyBONrcrdogRTEljEws3q7p_pQIb_itEuO5UuX4_x0hcQfy4yMwKrhRz-0SksFqUdjbkX4I8AX4i_OIwI/s1600/away+team+exposed+to+the+elements.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW452uumVjFlDjVSZ_aMXXFJua_lw7fGddCQDUp0ZtNe1nk7h_po9mIX5KoETyBONrcrdogRTEljEws3q7p_pQIb_itEuO5UuX4_x0hcQfy4yMwKrhRz-0SksFqUdjbkX4I8AX4i_OIwI/s320/away+team+exposed+to+the+elements.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Characters</span></div>
<br />
Yeoman Janice: She was amazing in this episode. When she was attacked she was very strong in the moment and was able to fend off her attacker. Later on she was very vulnerable emotionally and showed that she felt very betrayed by Kirk. Great stuff.<br />
<br />
McCoy and Spock: In the comments of previous episodes, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/04120398274599495132">Troubleshooter</a> has mentioned that Spock and McCoy sometimes represent logic and emotion respectively. With this in mind, I couldn't help but notice that they seemed to epitomize those things in this one shot<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQZ8Byc2EwhXO8Ag6AcN7S1qiJnZyNf5XcBenWRIwS7BAWBWt6LNHlYG28G0fH4oiteALy1j7PmdCeMi0peie8zSkdgTqFuqLwqdiGnZW1YFtVHObDJYrRvCK18KwVB4xBtRYalNymq2k/s1600/spock+is+logic+bones+is+emotion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQZ8Byc2EwhXO8Ag6AcN7S1qiJnZyNf5XcBenWRIwS7BAWBWt6LNHlYG28G0fH4oiteALy1j7PmdCeMi0peie8zSkdgTqFuqLwqdiGnZW1YFtVHObDJYrRvCK18KwVB4xBtRYalNymq2k/s320/spock+is+logic+bones+is+emotion.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Also, I would argue that they still seem to hate each other. Even when he is agreeing with McCoy, Spock can't just say that, he has to say "For once, I agree with you"<br />
<br />
Spock: Apparently they haven't worked out the details yet about what he is. At one point in the episode he mentioned that he is half human and half <b>alien</b>. You would think he would have said half Vulcan.<br />
<br />
Quotes<br />
<br />
I just had one, it was from Dr. McCoy. When the dog came back on the transporter pad and was dead, he delivered the line<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
He's dead Jim</blockquote>
This is one of those simple lines that gets repeated over and over. I'm guessing McCoy says it many times in the series as it is something people seem to reference quite a lot. This was either the first instance, or I just didn't notice it before.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Rating</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">8/10</span></div>
<br />
I liked this episode quite a lot. I was deciding between putting it at 7 or 8, I think Janice's performance pushes it up to 8 for me.<br />
<br />
How would you rate it?Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-4339040082446055312013-04-03T12:00:00.000-04:002013-04-03T12:00:03.964-04:00The Naked Time: TOS Season 1 Episode 4<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&npa=1&bg1=000000&fc1=000000&lc1=0080FF&t=hausbiblblog-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B000IB3HJM" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Plot Synopsis</span></div>
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The Enterprise is orbiting Psy 2000, a planet which is about to die. They are there to pick up a science team that was there to observe the planet near the end of it's life, unfortunately when they get there they find the team dead under mysterious circumstances. The environmental system settings are all out of whack, and the engineer died sitting in his chair, frozen, like he didn't care what was happening. Spock and crewman Joe Tormolen beam down in environmental suits to investigate, and apparently Tormolen is an idiot because he took off his glove while he was down there and was infected with something.<br />
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When they get back to the ship they are checked out by sickbay and the contagion is not seen, at the end we find out that it looks like water to the scanners or something. Anyway, if you are infected you feel like you are drunk, one of the things that happens is you sweat a lot which is apparently why the science team on the planet had changed the environmental setting to such low temperatures. The pathogen is also spread through skin to skin contact via sweat. But whatever, the whole point here is to get a bunch of drunk people running around the enterprise and for hilarity to ensue. We get random crewmen challenging Spock on the bridge<br />
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We get a shirtless Sulu challenging random people to fencing.<br />
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Another (or the same?) crewman takes manages to lock himself alone in engineering and take over the ship remotely.<br />
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Wait a minute, that could be a problem. Remember the planet that was going to explode? Yeah that could be a problem. It could go at any minute and we need to be able to run away at a moments notice, but he has transferred all control from the bridge. This seems like a pretty serious security problem to me! Anyway, with a backdrop of more and more craziness on the ship, Scotty manages to get back into Engineering and take control back. But the low level crewman has completely powered down the engines and it will take a half hour to warm them back up again. The planet is going to blow up in less than that much time.<br />
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It turns out that there is a way to pump matter and anti-matter into the engines cold, but no one has ever tried it before. Spock to the rescue! He gets the mixture just right and they get away just in time, but it turns out that they have discovered how to time-travel! Spock says that they can now go anywhere they want at any time. How much you wanna bet they use it to go to mid-twentieth century Earth? Seriously though, the implications here should be pretty huge, from now on in this series and in future series time travel should always be an option. I wonder if they deal with that at all? What might be neat would be if they use it willy-nilly for a while and discover problems inherent in it. Who knows, maybe they won't even share their findings with star fleet. By the way, if you know how this works out please don't tell me. I'd like to find out naturally as it comes up.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Unnecessary shirt ripping</span></div>
<br />
I don't know why this cracked me up so much, but when Bones gave Kirk the cure, he ripped his shirt in a way that seemed totally unnecessary to me. In the last episode Kirk also had his shirt ripped too. It almost seems like they are just looking for ways to show off.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Notable Quotes</span></div>
<br />
When Spock had just gotten to the planet and he had told Kirk that everyone was dead, Kirk asked what had caused it. Spock replied with a super intense tone and said<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I don't know captain. It's like nothing we've dealt with before!</blockquote>
It might have been all about the delivery, but it sure made me laugh while I was watching it. Perhaps along the same lines, when Sulu was running around the ship challenging people to fence he said<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I'm sweating like a bridegroom</blockquote>
Is that an old saying I've just never heard of or just a weird quirk of this character? Either way I love it. One final quote, which was actually an interaction between Bones and Spock. Spock was fine but Bones had to dig into him a bit<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Bones: You're blood pressure is practically nonexistent, assuming you call that green stuff in your veins blood</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Spock: The readings are perfectly normal for me doctor, thank you. As for my anatomy being different from yours, I am delighted.</blockquote>
Whoa, do Bones and Spock hate each other? Which brings me to my next section<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Characters</span></div>
<br />
<b>Bones</b> and <b>Spock</b> hate each other! They didn't seem to be playfully jabbing at each other like long time pals, they really seemed to be going at it. I'll have to see if this keeps up.<br />
<br />
I guess we learned that <b>Sulu</b> likes to fence.<br />
<br />
Also <b>Spock</b> told us that his mother was human on a world full of unemotional Vulcans. I'm pretty sure this is the first time we learn this. In <a href="http://startrekisawesome.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-cage-tos-season-1-episode-0.html">episode zero</a> he said one of his ancestors was human, but of course it is not uncommon for things to change between the pilot and the normal run of a show.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Connection to The Next Generation</span></div>
<br />
The second episode of the next generation did a version of this episode called <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HEQ71K/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=hausbiblblog-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B005HEQ71K&adid=10BZRG85MS09GA14686Q&">The Naked Now</a>. In that episode, Riker even makes a reference to the person who died fully clothed in their shower at the beginning of this episode. Even though I haven't seen that TNG episode in years I remember that reference from Riker, I have never seen the episode it was referencing until today, so that was kind of neat. I wonder if this episode was always a favorite of Roddenberry's, or perhaps of the writers of TNG. It's interesting that they did a version of it so near the beginning of that show's run.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Great Stuff I don't know how to Categorize</span></div>
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There was a scene with some younger people playing 3D checkers next to a 3D chess board. Awesome<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rating</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">7/10</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div>
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Let me know how you would rate it</div>
Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-36924263925635439342013-03-27T12:00:00.000-04:002013-03-27T12:00:08.672-04:00Where No Man Has Gone Before: TOS Season 1 Episode 3<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Plot Synopsis</span></div>
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The Enterprise is planning on leaving the galaxy, which is something no one has ever tried before as far as they know. Right before hand they see the wreckage of an old ship the Valiant that went missing 2 centuries ago and they recover it's black box. It turns out the captain use the auto-destruct, which is troubling as it makes them wonder what happened to make him want to go to those extremes. They try to leave the galaxy anyway and they encounter a lot of flashing lights, and in particular something happens to a few of the bridge crew. It also blew out the warp drive.<br />
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The guy who got hit was Mitchell, and he immediately has fancy blue glitter eyes, so he is obviously taken to sickbay.<br />
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While he is in sickbay he develops some really cool powers, he reads half of the ships library while he's there, he can make himself appear dead for a while, he can read minds, he saved the ship from losing it's impulse drive by reading the engineers mind and seeing that he was careless in his last inspection.<br />
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Spock says that as Mitchell gains more power he will become more than human, people will be an annoyance to him and he wouldn't hesitate kill us all if it suits him. His solution is to kill him, or perhaps maroon him on the nearby planet Delta Vega. Kirk is upset as he has been friends with Mitchell for 15 years, but ultimately seems to conclude that this is likely going to be a necessary outcome.<br />
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It turns out that there is an abandoned base on Delta Vega. I'm not sure why there is an old base so close to a place no one has ever gone, but it's a good thing it's there, because they can use the facilities to repair their warp engines.While they are there the doctor's powers eventually kick in, and Mitchell's power grows to the point that he breaks out of the cell. The two of them run off into the desolate wilderness. He turns a wasteland into a lush area with water and plants and whatnot.<br />
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Kirk feels he is responsible and chases after them, he gets in a fight with Mitchell and the doctor sees the bad side of what could happen so she helps Kirk by sapping some of Mitchell's power away. Then Kirk and Mitchell get into a pretty epic fight which eventually leads to Mitchell's death. In the fight Kirk's shirt gets ripped and he gets to show off his manliness for a while. I don't know why but this really cracked me up.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Notable Quotes</span></div>
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There were three quotes from this episode that I liked, the first two were about Spock's lack of emotions. In the first, Kirk asked Spock if he found something irritating and Spock responded<br />
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Irritating? Ahh yes, one of your earth emotions</blockquote>
The other was right after Spock suggested that the most logical course of action was to kill Mitchell before his power was so great that it would be impossible to deal with him, Kirk yelled at him<br />
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Try for one moment to feel, or act like you have a heart!</blockquote>
The last quote was from Mitchell near the end when his powers were God-like. Kirk was trying to reason with him that he shouldn't abuse his power, and he said<br />
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Morals are for men, not Gods</blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Interesting Ideas</span></div>
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One of the things I love about science fiction generally and Star Trek specifically is that they use a specific and fanciful setting to tackle ideas that come up in my different setting in real life. Of course things are taken to ridiculous extremes, but that is part of the fun. In this episode there were three things that stood out to me as interesting ideas that they were playing with, the first is the idea that <b>power corrupts</b>. Mitchell was friends with Kirk, and presumably other people on the enterprise, for a long time. And yet, when he was significantly more powerful than them and his interests were very different he became less concerned with their perspective. I think we all like to think that we would not do this in the same situation, but it's hard to not be self-interested.<br />
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The next idea is that you should take care of a difficult problem <b>before it gets worse</b>. Obviously killing Mitchell was a terrible thing to do, and yet if he is likely going to get more powerful and try to kill everyone perhaps it is the right move. It turned out that Spock was right here, even though his course of action was something that we would hate to do, it ultimately would have been the right move.<br />
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And on the same topic, <b>what lengths would you go to</b> in order to protect those you care about? Would you do something you found deplorable if it meant you would protect your family (or crew)? Kirk found the price too high, Spock did not. Was it worth the risk if it meant giving Mitchell the chance to be good?<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Seat of Their Pant Writing</span></div>
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Something else I was thinking about a lot while watching this episode was how the writing is a bit more loose than the Next Generation writing, which I watched a lot when I was growing up. I think in the Next Gen era they had a lot of details worked out before hand, in this series I think they were focused on the core story and just let the rest of it fall together as was necessary.<br />
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This episode started with them leaving the galaxy, obviously from the later series we see that we are restricted to the alpha quadrant, so this wouldn't be possible there, but in this earlier time it was no big deal. There also seems to be no explanation as to what happened to them when they tried to leave the galaxy. If this were a later series I would expect some explanation like there was an alien species who were trying to contain us in our own galaxy or something. Here it is just "this happened, now let's deal with it" rather than telling us why it happened.<br />
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Another thing that I found amusing was that they lost there warp engines near the edge of the galaxy, which is a place that as far as they knew no one had ever tried to go that far. And yet there was an old abandoned base on a nearby planet. It seems to me that if there was a base so old it has since been abandoned, they would have explored outside the galaxy while they were there at some point. And if people had tried that and were eventually destroyed (like the Valiant) there should be a record of it. Not that I think that is much of a knock on the series, it just shows that their writing was more focused on the broad ideas instead of the details.<br />
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One final thing that amused me, the Valiant went missing 2 centuries before, but I think the original series only happened about 3 centuries in the future. I suppose that could be optimism on Gene Roddenberry's part that we would be at the edge of the galaxy in 100 years, but I'm guessing it is more than the actual date that this is supposed to happen was not decided on at the time. In fact, I bet that's why they used star dates. "What year did this happen?" "I don't know, really far into the future, so we can do whatever we want, just make up a fake dating system". While I'm on that, at one point in the episode Kirk said it was stardate 1312.9, perhaps this was supposed to be thirteen hundred years after starfleet was founded or something. Who knows.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Characters</span></div>
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Something that really stood out to me was that the doctor wasn't McCoy. I think that perhaps the only true main characters at this point are Kirk and Spock. There are several other characters that recur, but those 2 are the only ones that always seem to be there. I wonder if they are trying to give the impression that it is a big ship with rotating crews for different times. It makes sense that there would be multiple people in every important role. On the other hand, the doctor had to die, so maybe that is why there was a new person there.<br />
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Spock: We see more attention given to the fact that he is logical and not emotional. He's cold and calculating, will to do the lesser of two evils which would make most of us at least hesitate.<br />
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Kirk: He demonstrates his good character. He wants to give Mitchell every chance to do the right thing, but ultimately takes responsibility for not acting sooner.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rating</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">7/10</span></div>
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Do you agree with my rating or any of my analysis? Let me know in the comments.<br />
<br />Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-19814972531439897212013-03-13T12:00:00.000-04:002013-03-13T12:00:06.876-04:00Charlie X: TOS Season 1 Episode 2<div style="text-align: center;">
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Plot synopsis:</div>
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The episode starts with the enterprise bringing aboard a child (Charlie) from another ship, the Antares. Apparently they found him alone on a planet. 14 years ago there was a crash and he was the only survivor, he was 3 years old at the time. Obviously this means that he will be socially a little bit off, since he grew up alone. Two members of the crew from the Antares beam over with Charlie and talk with Kirk in the transporter room before they leave in somewhat of a hurry. It seems like they are going to tell Kirk something about Charlie, but he uses his mysterious power and they just say how great he is or something like that. </div>
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At one point Charlie interrupts the conversation of the others and Kirk tells him that it is not the way people act. Kirk wasn't mean to the kid, but he does make it clear he doesn't take shit from anyone. Kirk asks Yeoman Janice to take him to his quarters and he asks if she is a woman. This is the second episode in a row where she had to deal with a creepy guy, I think that might be her purpose in this show.</div>
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We later see Charlie getting checked out by Dr. McCoy, he is in good health. He then tells the doctor that he wants people to like him. I'm sure anyone who can remember being 17 can relate. The then runs into Janice in the hall and has a short conversation with her, as he walks away he slaps her on the ass. Anyone who can remember being a 17 year old boy can certainly understand the impulse.</div>
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There is an argument between Spock and McCoy as to whether it was possible that Charlie was really all alone on the planet. Spock doesn't think it was possible, as the ships stores of food would have ran out after a year or so, McCoy says he could have started eating food from the planet but Spock doesn't think that seems likely. </div>
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The next scene was great, it was in a mess hall or cafeteria or something. Spock was playing some type of futuristic stringed instrument, my guess is it is a take on a lute. Anyway, he's playing and Uhura starts singing along with him. It was a fun little scene, and everyone was enjoying the music. But then Charlie came into the room and tried to talk to Janice, she nodded at him but then motioned for him to be quiet and enjoy the music. He then used his power to break the instrument and mess up Uhura's voice, he then got Janice's attention and showed her some pretty impressive card tricks. Like, turning an ace into a picture of Janice.</div>
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In the next scene we see Kirk talking to the ships cook telling him that for thanksgiving the crew would eat meatloaf, but it better taste like turkey. I found this scene hilarious, partly because I just love the idea of passing meatloaf off as turkey, and partly because it is amusing to think the captain of the ship would be dealing with this. It is also interesting that they celebrate thanksgiving, apparently the united federation of planets is american (not that they've mentioned the federation yet, for all I know in Gene Roddenberry's head at this point the ship is an american ship, although I'd guess he just didn't think about this point much if at all). Charlie overheard this conversation, and later we find out that the meatloaf that got put into the ovens actually turned into turkeys.</div>
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From there Charlie follows Kirk onto the bridge where they are having trouble contacting the Antares, Charlie seems to know something is wrong with the ship before anyone else, we find out later that he actually caused the ship to blow up, of course he claims it would have happened anyway. He never seemed concerned that he had killed 20 people, just that those people had made him feel bad. Teenagers with super powers is a really bad idea.</div>
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After that Charlie has a few more failed social interactions. He loses to 3D chess with Spock, after which Spock leaves and Charlie melts his pieces. Janice tries to introduce him to someone his age but he's not interested. Then he tries to learn to fight from Kirk but expects to be perfect the first time out and of course that doesn't go well. Another guy in the rec room laughs at him and his makes him disappear, the extent of his powers are now evident and the fun and games are over. Kirk calls in security and Charlie makes their phaser disappear, we later learn that all phasers on the whole ship are gone. </div>
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Kirk tells him to go to his quarters, but he doesn't listen and pretty much has control of the whole ship. He goes to Janice's quarters and gives her a flower, she's not interested and he gets upset and makes her disappear. He roams the ship a bit getting into some more mischief, for instance, making some poor girl's face disappear.</div>
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We cut to the bridge, Kirk notices that no one has disappeared since the kid has taken over the ship (he either didn't know about Janice, or I got the order of things slightly wrong). Kirk decides that they will overwhelm him by turning on everything on the ship "every light". I found this absolutely hilarious, as if the displays are what matter, presumably all of these functions on the ship still need to be going on in the background whether there is a display on the bridge or not. Anyway, Charlie comes on the bridge and McCoy and Spock turn on all the displays. It seemed to be working that he was overwhelmed, but it didn't matter, a Thasian ship showed up. They are energy being who had taken care of Charlie as a kid, they gave him powers so that he could survive. Kirk tries to say they could teach him to not use his powers, but they said it was impossible for him to not use his powers (ask Riker about that) and want to take him back. Charlie complains as they are immaterial and he can't feel them like he can feel people on the Enterprise, but he is ultimately taken by the Thasians and all of their people who were disappeared were given back. It actually wound up being a fairly sad ending, Charlie got totally screwed.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBXUva-nrHvqtQe2sYYfEtDAqvgWTLQJxlVP16Sv6zxj6CY7zELykWkM6gUzZu3w7G6IWPFglHyyzyVR03V-PKNCBJm_28hiOtVD1ew6yUz4oJn0Wdcl9w0D0c9BXx7zJ1YMXzbRLT09o/s1600/thasian+ship.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBXUva-nrHvqtQe2sYYfEtDAqvgWTLQJxlVP16Sv6zxj6CY7zELykWkM6gUzZu3w7G6IWPFglHyyzyVR03V-PKNCBJm_28hiOtVD1ew6yUz4oJn0Wdcl9w0D0c9BXx7zJ1YMXzbRLT09o/s320/thasian+ship.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Characters:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Yeoman Janice: So far she seems to be a lightning rod of sorts for creepy guys. I wonder how long she'll be part of the show, I don't remember ever seeing her in the movies.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Kirk: We see that he cares greatly for people, but he also runs a tight ship and won't take crap from anyone.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Spock: We see Spock playing his lute-like instrument, which is cool. My mental picture of his is the epitome of cold hard logic, but he is clearly having fun here. He is also very involved in solving mysteries of the ship.<br />
<br />
Dr. McCoy: He seems to be around more than I would expect. I would think the doctor would be in sickbay more often, but he seems to be on the bridge a lot, for example the discussion with Spock over whether Charlie was really alone on the planet. Nothing wrong with this, just surprised be a bit.<br />
<br />
Rating:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">6/10</span></b></div>
<br />
I had a lot of trouble rating this one. There were certainly some enjoyable moments. And I feel like I'm getting to know the bridge crew a bit which is great. On the other hand, Charlie's powers and the story line around him was a bit goofy. I certainly felt sorry for him, he had to deal with the terribleness of being a teenager pushed to the extreme. It would have been nice if there was some payoff at the end, maybe the Thasians could have taken his powers away and he could go on to starbase to try to live a normal life, him just being taken away was a pretty big bummer. I think that is what made me decide between a 6 and a 7.<br />
<br />
Please feel free to tell me what rating you would have given this episode in the comments</div>
Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-63042477545500650472013-03-06T15:00:00.000-05:002013-03-06T15:00:01.554-05:00The Man Trap: TOS Season 1 Episode 1<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&npa=1&bg1=000000&fc1=0000FF&lc1=0000FF&t=hausbiblblog-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B000HL0EW6" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
</div>
<br />
Plot Synopsis:<br />
<br />
The Enterprise has come to a planet which is only inhabited by a researcher and his wife Nancy. Kirk, Dr. McCoy, and another person (who isn't mentioned in the voice over, hint hint) beam down to check on the researcher and give them supplies they have asked for, salt. It turns out that Nancy is an old love of Dr. McCoy. When they beam down, they meet up with Nancy first, they don't realize that they each see her as a different person. The third crewman sees her as a beautiful woman he had seen on some pleasure planet so he of course makes some rude comments and is told to wait outside. At some point she went out, ostensibly to tell him she wasn't offended, and she "finds him" dead with red marks on his face.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwuZn_mIFvLczjRjBY4fLICWcBp0BskksKNlYlfHCBo1qyjVsltiiyvt6pmI6F3UdFmgz8K4EhFdDAJzxtzZtg0oil7f8UIljrn_LL-tokgDzZthhEuGnScry7Y5gZn60tfnxUAmukvcc/s1600/TOS+S1E1+dead+crewman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwuZn_mIFvLczjRjBY4fLICWcBp0BskksKNlYlfHCBo1qyjVsltiiyvt6pmI6F3UdFmgz8K4EhFdDAJzxtzZtg0oil7f8UIljrn_LL-tokgDzZthhEuGnScry7Y5gZn60tfnxUAmukvcc/s1600/TOS+S1E1+dead+crewman.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small; text-align: start;">blue shirt, Why not red shirt?</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
They go back up to the ship to figure out how their crewman died and eventually discover that there is no salt left in his body. Obviously they notice the connection with the people on the ground whose only request is salt, but they don't know what to make of it yet. They beam down again with a few extra people (wearing blue and gold shirts, again, no red shirt deaths) to try to figure out what is going on. They split up to look for Nancy and the two extra crewmen wind up dead. The creature who is pretending to be Nancy takes the form of one of the dead crewmen and meets back up with the others, they beam up to the ship. He's now searching around the ship looking for salt, he sees a woman bringing a tray of food to Sulu and he follows her as there is a salt shaker on the tray. He creeps her out and winds up having to run off.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiFPBKp1u1dy3ZCAuea2Lr3-mBItfPvO31FrjDRsSTcHX5OaDt0-Vb8DZ96RaVrKLNUFX6f1Pg_g2WO-6iFarxkUZIh_6_3N08_teHKZRnNNROs_AkQ1tMFS85FLyvbz95AL5W3YW4TJU/s1600/TOS+S1E1+alluring+salt+shaker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiFPBKp1u1dy3ZCAuea2Lr3-mBItfPvO31FrjDRsSTcHX5OaDt0-Vb8DZ96RaVrKLNUFX6f1Pg_g2WO-6iFarxkUZIh_6_3N08_teHKZRnNNROs_AkQ1tMFS85FLyvbz95AL5W3YW4TJU/s1600/TOS+S1E1+alluring+salt+shaker.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mmm salt</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
He roams around and kills some more people, and then pretends to be Nancy again and convinces the doctor to go to sleep, then he impersonates him and meets up with the bridge crew. We find out from the researcher on the planet that this species used to thrive on the planet, but this is the last one, they make comparisons to buffalo. Kirk mentions that they have salt traps all over the ship but so far the creature hasn't tripped any of the traps. Dr. McCoy (who is really the monster) says they should just give him salt, Kirk says he would potentially be willing to do something like that except that it has killed a number of his crew.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8QiAkR-OD-efq7f-aEQL0D0UG7sVaVMX28zyECGctUlG_l422aF1X_wtXsETeVhtfzMr22bCdj6QFGhzSEwjPHh0I7AjSmHA209w4ZEYBJd8NfVjINshwiSRIeyLqsC2iXnliuBM5OZY/s1600/TOS+S1E1+face+sucking+alien.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8QiAkR-OD-efq7f-aEQL0D0UG7sVaVMX28zyECGctUlG_l422aF1X_wtXsETeVhtfzMr22bCdj6QFGhzSEwjPHh0I7AjSmHA209w4ZEYBJd8NfVjINshwiSRIeyLqsC2iXnliuBM5OZY/s1600/TOS+S1E1+face+sucking+alien.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So that's where those red circles came from</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After the meeting, the monster goes back to McCoy and Kirk and Spock wind up in there with them. There is a fight and eventually the monster gets killed by McCoy, who didn't want to kill it because it looked like Nancy. And then it's over, a fairly unsatisfying ending in my opinion.<br />
<br />
Notable quotes:<br />
<br />
Kirk to McCoy about Nancy "Stop thinking with your glands"<br />
<br />
Yomen carrying the food to the creepy follower "Why don't you go chase an asteroid?"<br />
<br />
Rating:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>5/10</b></span></div>
<br />
To me, this episode is really on the low end of acceptable. There was very little exploration about the monster's past or what happened to it's society, that would have been interesting. And a more satisfying ending could have made it a lot better as well, it was just like "this is the last of his species, aaaaaand dead. Welp, let's fly off to our next mission." Not really any character development for any of the main characters either, so it's not like this was a backdrop of sorts so that we would have much of a chance to get to know the bridge crew or the enterprise. Please let me know how you would rate it in the comments.Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1514330141705953679.post-2570571455111154282013-02-27T12:01:00.000-05:002013-06-16T14:28:59.085-04:00The Cage: TOS Season 1 Episode 0<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&npa=1&bg1=000000&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=hausbiblblog-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B000HR1YHE" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
</div>
At the beginning of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HR1YHE/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000HR1YHE&linkCode=as2&tag=hausbiblblog-20">The Cage</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=hausbiblblog-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000HR1YHE" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (at least viewed via amazon instant view) there is a short interview with Gene Roddenberry. It was pretty interesting, he said that this original pilot was not accepted, but they let him shoot another pilot and obviously that one went forward. There were a few interesting items from that interview, apparently the network was unhappy that he didn't have the entire bridge crew as white men. In addition to them being multi-cultural, the first officer was a woman. We might think that women would appreciate this fact, but apparently the women in the test audience said "who does she think she is?" Hilarious! Also, apparently Spock's eyebrows and ears were intended to make him look like a devil. I love it.<br />
<br />
Plot Synopsis:<br />
<br />
The Enterprise received a distress signal from an unexplored solar system 18 light years away, and it turns out the USS Colombia disappeared from that general area about 18 years ago. Since there is an M-class planet in that solar system, it is possible that there are survivors, but Captain Pike decides to continue on to starbase to help his own crew until they get more evidence that there truly are survivors. In the meantime he asks the doctor in to his quarters, and the doctor gives him a martini because there are things a man will tell his bartender that he won't tell his doctor. I love it! Anyway, in this conversation, we learn that they have just come from a mission where several people died and many were injured. Pike blames himself and considers leaving the service.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2lyWPXO81F5uwHGitNJlzT2ErMFf2_xhXjz597WIL3m7OHmqh62KcKTN3JwusD46C2gWpKluSUhyphenhyphenk72BiIvagqUqgWC4YVWXAtcF8nMBKna09ZENEIu3tNaaLezW_1QbHW40YXD5BY4U/s1600/doctor+with+martini.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2lyWPXO81F5uwHGitNJlzT2ErMFf2_xhXjz597WIL3m7OHmqh62KcKTN3JwusD46C2gWpKluSUhyphenhyphenk72BiIvagqUqgWC4YVWXAtcF8nMBKna09ZENEIu3tNaaLezW_1QbHW40YXD5BY4U/s320/doctor+with+martini.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
They get a second distress call indicating that people did indeed survive the crash landing, and they head that way to help them out. When they get down to the planet, they see a tent city with a bunch of old scientists and one young lady, who was apparently born right around the time of the crash. One thing that caught my attention was a guy on the away team excitedly tells an old scientist that he can make it home soon because "the time barrier has been broken", what does that mean? Anyway, the woman takes Captain Pike off to the side a bit and some big brain aliens pop out from a hiding place in a rock wall, stun Pike, and drag him into the mountain before anyone can do anything about it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7_avyPTiRxkmApX5uIb0J4-mgqtYdxygU0HCffYC4SsaIabWpjwU4zcGffCHiPmlwFrgJwYKdPhpnmkbMf6Cg3AxBQV80fYauT4z-sIi9o0_9FWHlSKad4XGKC_rCnduNJV9z5FUaOns/s1600/captain+pike+stunned.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7_avyPTiRxkmApX5uIb0J4-mgqtYdxygU0HCffYC4SsaIabWpjwU4zcGffCHiPmlwFrgJwYKdPhpnmkbMf6Cg3AxBQV80fYauT4z-sIi9o0_9FWHlSKad4XGKC_rCnduNJV9z5FUaOns/s320/captain+pike+stunned.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<b><br /></b>
Pike wakes up in a cage with one transparent wall, it appears that he is in some sort of alien zoo. We soon learn that the big brain aliens have some pretty amazing telepathic powers and are able to project illusions into people's minds. The tent city and survivors were only illusions and Pike is soon teleported in his mind to a place similar to the mission they were at earlier where some of his crew had died. He was with the woman from the camp earlier, who claims to be an illusion as well, but Pike isn't buying it. After some more illusion stuff, he winds up in the cage again with the woman. We learn that if you fill your mind with primitive aggressive thoughts, the aliens can't read it, this will come up later.<br />
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<br />
Meanwhile the Enterprise crew were trying to figure out what to do, they tried shooting at the mountain where Pike was taken underground, but with no success, they even carted down a huge laser which should have blown a hole right through it, but again nothing. We learn later that they had indeed blown a huge hole in the mountain, but the aliens manipulated their minds so it looked like they failed. After regrouping on the ship, they tried to beam another away team down, but the aliens manipulated the transporter operators to only beam the two women down into the cage with Pike. He was instructed to choose between either one of them or the girl who was already on the planet. During the discussion Pike managed to get ahold of one of the aliens. He used the phaser that one of the women had brought down to blow a hole in the cage wall. Even though it looked like nothing had happened, he figured out that the alien just made it seem that way, he threatened to blow the alien's head off if he didn't shut down the illusion, which he did. The jig was up at this point, and we learn that the woman was actually a survivor of the crash, but when the aliens has fixed her injuries she wound up a bit deformed, her beauty was all illusion. This whole thing was for her benefit, so they could get her human companionship. But no worry, they let the Enterprise crew go and gave her the illusion of Pike staying with her. This seemed like a good conclusion, but it seems somewhat...dirty.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCKoB1MD-ax8ndjYk0ugYHk6L-tYCLP7M8I9WYPfQJVMoE1LwtyqBJW1DzKXbdD-20mMDLcHLkYaET-G-J86Gob-yTn9lwVuxdwlmpqsjsUMUOcGgQFa_k1e3FFdYiAKjtiSRQFBxhhLQ/s1600/2+pikes+happy+ending.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCKoB1MD-ax8ndjYk0ugYHk6L-tYCLP7M8I9WYPfQJVMoE1LwtyqBJW1DzKXbdD-20mMDLcHLkYaET-G-J86Gob-yTn9lwVuxdwlmpqsjsUMUOcGgQFa_k1e3FFdYiAKjtiSRQFBxhhLQ/s320/2+pikes+happy+ending.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Characters:<br />
<br />
Pike: We learn that Pike is quite smart, as he figured out what was going on pretty quickly and was able to outsmart the aliens. He also cares a lot about the people under his command, as we found out from his talk with the doctor. He was also stressed from the job to the point that he was considering leaving star fleet.<br />
<br />
Spock: Much more emotional that my impression of him. I'm assuming this is one of those things that got changed after the pilot.<br />
<br />
The Enterprise: Not really a character exactly, but I did make a couple notes about the ship. It has 203 people on board and apparently it can "break the time barrier". I'm curious of those things will come back later. My impression is that the Enterprise has a lot more people than that, but I don't know where that would have come from, I guess in the DS9 episode "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HEGRJ2/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=hausbiblblog-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B005HEGRJ2&adid=14YJJXQ5SZNSM822EYCM&">Trials and Tribble-Ations</a>", the Enterprise seemed quite crowded.<br />
<br />
Rating:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">8/10</span></b></div>
<br />
I quite enjoyed this episode. I'm not entirely sure how I want to calibrate my scoring system, but I want to save 9's and 10's for episodes that are truly exceptional. I have a feeling I will be giving out a lot of 8's. Please let me know how you would rate it in the comments.Hausdorffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01690401058367596952noreply@blogger.com2