September 22nd, 1967, "Who Mourns for Adonais"
Fiver by Derek
Memory Alpha
Transcript
The fiver:
Sulu: A big hand just appeared in space!
Spock: I've got to hand it to you, Mr. Sulu. Your observation is correct.
Sulu: It's grabbing the
Enterprise!
Spock: Now things are getting out of hand.
Kirk: Spock! Stop with the hand puns!
Spock: Sorry, Captain. I wouldn't want to get ahead of myself.
Kirk: Don't tell me: there's a head on the viewscreen.
Sulu: Yep.
Kirk: Just for that, Spock, you're confined to the ship for a week.
You gotta love puns.
Apollo: I will now turn into Giant Apollo.
Kirk: How'd you do that?
Apollo: There was a piece of cake here with a note that said "BITE ME."
Kirk: You mean "EAT ME."
Apollo: Whatever.
Hey, I'm a sucker for Alice in Wonderland jokes, that earns a lot of points right there.
Palamas: I'm agog!
Apollo: And I'm a god. Works well, doesn't it?
Reminds me of the allegorical/Al Gore joke. I'll just toss that out as a pale imitation of the quote game, name that episode!
Kirk: Hey, Scotty's alive!
McCoy: Yep. Turns out he was only mostly dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. See, mostly dead is....
Kirk: ...slightly alive. We've all seen
The Princess Bride, no need to quote the whole thing.
McCoy: As you wish.
I'm also a sucker for Princess Bride jokes.
Scotty: I bet Cupid could shoot better arrows than you!
Apollo: It's Eros, moron! People who confuse Greek and Roman gods deserve to be zapped!
It reminds me of all of those times people surround Hercules with Greek gods instead of Roman ones.
The episode:
MCCOY: And he thinks he's the right man for her, but I'm not sure she thinks he's the right man. On the other hand, she's a woman. All woman. One day she'll find the right man and off she'll go, out of the service.
Yikes, there's '60s gender politics for you. The problem is that when Martine and Tomlinson got married in "Balance of Terror" there was no such talk of Martine retiring. Another question is why there would be a problem as long as children aren't in the picture and they aren't in the same chain of command.
KIRK: Thank you. Mister Sulu. Our forward tractor beams, adjust to repel.
SULU: Aye, aye, sir. Standing by.
It puts Wesley's repulser beam in "The Naked Now" into perspective, doesn't it?
APOLLO [on viewscreen]: Yes. I caused the wind to withdraw from your sails.
I suddenly wonder how he and Trelane would get along.
APOLLO [on viewscreen]: You have the same fire. How like your fathers you are. Agamemnon, Hector, Odysseus.
Odysseus needs no explanation, or at least he shouldn't. Kirk is like him because of his cleverness and his luck with the ladies.
Agamemnon was a king and general during the Trojan War. Kirk is like him because he's a great warrior.
Hector was also a leader in the Trojan War (although on the other side). Kirk is like him because of his nobility, love of peace, and to quote James Redfield, "martyr to loyalties, a witness to the things of this world, a hero ready to die for the precious imperfections of ordinary life."
APOLLO: I am Apollo.
CHEKOV: And I am the tsar of all the Russias.
I like the Queen of Sheba joke.
MCCOY: To coin a phrase, fascinating.
I always like it when a catchphrase is called for but the usual user of said catchphrase isn't present, so someone else has to say it.
APOLLO: I've known other women. Daphne, Cassandra, but none more beautiful than you.
Daphne was a nymph who turned herself into a tree to escape Apollo's advances. This is what we call a joke meant for the mythology majors in the audience. And before you ask, of course I'm googling all this stuff!
Cassandra of course is the one cursed with being able to see the future but no one will believe her. What I'm trying to get at is simply this: TOS writers don't just throw references to Greek mythology willy-nilly into a script just to sound smart; they do their homework!
UHURA: Mister Spock, I haven't done anything like this in years. If it isn't done just right, I could blow the entire communications system. It's very delicate work, sir.
SPOCK: I can think no one better equipped to handle it, Miss Uhura. Please proceed.
Gasp! A minor character given half a minute to show how competent they are in roles outside their usual pigeonhole! Remember when that actually happened in Star Trek?
Now's as good a place as any to mention the work of William Ware Theiss and the Theiss Titilation Theory. The gown worn by Palamas seems to be held up only by the weight of her cape, but plenty of double-sided tape was employed, there was no danger of a wardrobe malfunction.
Memory Alpha:
The original ending where Palamas is pregnant is discussed. I remember reading that one in the Blish novelization as a child. I'm glad it wasn't kept, as it's a little squicky. "The Child", anyone?
Nitpicker's Guide:
It's pointed out that Apollo melts a phaser while Scotty is holding it, making a prime opportunity to explain Doohan's missing finger in future episodes. I don't like this idea, by this point a mere finger should be able to be cloned and attached.
Youtube:
Apollo fixates on Palamas and transforms her clothes.
Star Trek Continues, "Pilgrim of Eternity", featuring the return of an aged Apollo.