50th Anniversary TOS Episode Discussion Marathon

[Nate the Great]

October 13th, 1966, "Mudd's Women"

This is Take Two due to the server glitch. Hence a bit shorter and less nitpicking.

The fiver (by Derek)
Memory Alpha Page
Transcript

The episode:

* When can I stop complaining about lithium crystals? At least by now we've starting moving away from "crystal as fuel source" and toward "crystal as key engine component."
* I'm interested in the idea that somehow Vulcan hybrids look different enough to normal Vulcans that Mudd can see that. If Spock isn't the first, I'd assume that they're pretty rare.
* Women as "cargo." Um, yeah...
* Silly Mudd trying to claim he didn't know the Enterprise is a starship. Cue rants about energy output profiles, ID transponders, warp field signatures, etc. here.
* I'm sad that the "hypnotic effect" of the women must largely be communicated via Captain's Log because there isn't money for unnecessary extras. I'm reminded of how effectively NextGen did a similar scene in "The Perfect Mate".
* Just three miners? Obviously they can't even have offscreen workers because they'd fight over the women and use up screentime. There are ways to work around this. The three are at a remote outpost and the married guys are elsewhere, the others are too old or young to be desirable, the others are criminals or aliens that would be considered undesirable, etc.
* I do wish that the true nature of the Venus Drug was more consistent. Just a gelatin placebo? Well then you can't have onscreen transformation like that. A real drug? Well then they have to have a Kirk speech convincing them that they don't need it. It was real until the final scene when Kirk tricked them with gelatin placebos? A variant of the Kirk speech.
* I'm still confused about why the women would want to live in this place of complete isolation, constant storms, and constant hard labor. There weren't any transports going in the direction of Earth available?

The fiver:

I get the Powerpuff Girls references, but maybe there were a few too many.

Mudd: Hi, my name is Walsh.
Spock: Your speaker credits say your name is Mudd.
Mudd: Who are you going to believe, the fiver or me?
Spock: Welcome abord, Mr. Walsh.

Zeke, there's a typo there. Anyway, nice dig at the unreliability of the fiving process and the fivist himself (jk Derek )

Memory Alpha notes:

* Harlan Ellison visited the set during the filming. Even though he enjoyed himself, that's still unfortunate.
* I had forgotten about the subspace radio marriage idea. This is a loaded issue worthy of an essay by itself.

[NAHTMMM]

Yeah, "The Enemy Within" has a dumb decision leading to the plot, but the plot is a good one, so it gets slack where so much of later Trek doesn't. It's a good exploration of a sci-fi idea. Spock's first dissertation on the "good" vs. "evil" side was a bit too on-the-nose for me, especially his willingness to label them good and evil -- the two Kirks don't have labels to that effect on them. But even though we follow the "weak" Kirk around as he's trying to solve the plot to everyone's satisfaction, the "dark" Kirk isn't treated as an enemy to be conquered despite the title, and I like that. Shatner did a particularly good job showing weak Kirk's descent into ineffectiveness.

I agree that I don't much care for the wraparound tunic. I thought we already had a neck pinch in "The Naked Now", when Spock gets Sulu with it.

Captain's Log: Spock forgot to check the weather channel before our away mission, but I'm sure nothing will happen to strand any of us on this frozen wasteland.
Fisher: Ow! My hand! And I'm covered in this weird dust!
Apparently I have a poor sense of pattern recognition.

This type of joke always amuses me.

Fisher: Hey! I was already injured once this episode! Don't you have some "one use only" rule for redshirts?
(WHACK! THUMP! THWACK!)
Fisher: Oof....
Evil Kirk: I'll have to get rid of that rule before Chekov comes aboard....

[NAHTMMM]

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

* Silly Mudd trying to claim he didn't know the Enterprise is a starship. Cue rants about energy output profiles, ID transponders, warp field signatures, etc. here.

I'm sure he knew it was a proper starship, but given his ineptitude in blowing his ship up, I think anything other than reading the transponder output would be beyond him.

* Just three miners? Obviously they can't even have offscreen workers because they'd fight over the women and use up screentime. There are ways to work around this. The three are at a remote outpost and the married guys are elsewhere, the others are too old or young to be desirable, the others are criminals or aliens that would be considered undesirable, etc.

Well, you can claim that the operation is sufficiently automated that just three people are needed on-planet to keep it running. I find it more concerning that, despite lithium mining supposedly being lucrative (granted, Mudd said that to the women), the buildings were so bare of anything decorative. You'd think the women would have beamed down, looked around, seen nary a vase or Van Gogh, and gotten suspicious.

* I do wish that the true nature of the Venus Drug was more consistent. Just a gelatin placebo? Well then you can't have onscreen transformation like that.

That last transformation, where even Eve's clothes changed, was ridiculous.

* I'm still confused about why the women would want to live in this place of complete isolation, constant storms, and constant hard labor. There weren't any transports going in the direction of Earth available?

Yeah, this is a serious plot hole, combined with the apparent lack of luxury. The women have access to a proper starship now, they can get passage to wherever they like. Nowadays, at least one would probably have decided to forego marriage in favor of a career. Or at least they could have shown actual connections developing between the other two miners and women . . . but I guess Eve was the designated guest star character so she got the airtime.

I have nothing to add about the fiver, it's good.

[Katy Jane]

I forgot what a stinker this one was... you want someone beautiful but you should really want someone like me who will cook and clean for you... Bleh.

[Nate the Great]

The lithium cracking station on Delta Vega back in "Where No Man..." was fully automated. I'm just saying that three people stuck with only each other for months at a time would lead to at least one of them becoming violent or otherwise emotionally unstable.

[Nate the Great]

October 20th, 1966, "What Are Little Girls Made Of"

The fiver (by Kristina)
Memory Alpha page
Transcript

The episode:

* Yeah, this "I left my career to take a job as a nurse for the remote chance of finding my lost fiancee, except I've also been fawning over Spock therefore I'm kinda cheating on said fiancee" thing is a whole kettle of fish best left unexplored. But seriously, couldn't they have held out on Chapel's infatuation until after this episode?
* Um, contact with Korby's been lost, we're not sure we can find him again, oh wait there he is. Just a little too convenient, don't you think?
* Ever since Phil Farrand pointed out how short the legs on that unformed android were, it's always bugged me. Putting aside "was fixing that beyond the show's budget", the real question is "who was the incompetent that built them too short in the first place?"
* Kirk's implantation of prejudice against Spock into the double really is clever.
* The first mention of Kirk's brother George and his family. Aside from the space amoeba episode nothing's really going to be done with them except in the novels. I'll wait until that one to discuss Peter Kirk's future.
* I think this episode is the first to feature Kirk outsmarting a computer. Classic staple of the show.
* This idea of "a Kirk that doesn't want to kiss a willing woman is an imposter" thing is amusing.

The fiver:

Captain's Log: We've found Korby and his associates. They all live in a yellow.... uh, some underground caves.

Um, how does a Beatles reference connect to this scene?

Kirk: Then one phaser shot it is, straight from the hip.
"Brown": GAK?
Chapel: Captain, I presume you'll be charged-- with battery.

Oh, the puns.

Kirk: Right. I think I'm between a Ruk and a hard place.... but pull me up, will you?

Okay, that one's pretty clever.

Memory Alpha notes:

* It would make sense that the people on the planet would have older-style phaser pistols.
* Apparently this episode has the first official redshirt death, but I'm not sure if Memory Alpha goes by airdate or production order.

[NAHTMMM]

A much better episode than last time.

Ruk made a good android. Andrea had her moments too.

Imagine back when it first aired, sitting through the commercials waiting to see what was on, and it comes back to a naked man and a blob on a rotating platform thing. What kind of show is this?

Andrea: Oh, Christine, you are as beautiful as your name sounds.
Chapel: You're news to me and look a little too good for comfort. Where did you come from?
Andrea: I can only remember waking up, feeling a bit dizzy. Rogeybuns was the first thing I saw.
Chapel: Captain, permission to turn green.
Kirk: Granted.

Very good summary of that moment.

[NAHTMMM]

Oh, also, when Kirk, Chapel, and Brown are overlooking the precipice where one of the redshirts just fell, that upwards camera angle of Brown was very effective in making him look as off-kilter as he was acting. Something about his hand made it look disproportionate to the rest of his body.