TV Verdict

“The Corbomite Maneuver”

Stardate: 1512.2

Original Air Date: November 10, 1966

Welcome to the first super-sized installment of Boldly Going. While I’ve typically only been writing about one or two episodes at a time, I’m tackling three shows this week. The reasons for this are twofold: 1) Seeing as “The Menagerie” is a two-parter, it doesn’t make sense to break it up over two columns and 2) If I’m ever going to get all the way through The Original Series — even through Season One — I’ve got to start doing more shows at once. Don’t be surprised if you start seeing more three-episode installments in the future.

In other Star Trek-related news, I’ve recently found out that the big annual Trek convention (the main one that all the stars attend) is going to be held in Chicago this year. I really, really want to go, which begs a couple of questions: Have I gone to far in my nerdiness? Comic book conventions have finally become acceptable — cool, even — in mainstream society, but I think we’re a long way off from embracing Star Trek conventions. And will the die-hard fans be able to spot a newbie like me? Should I be a fan for a couple of years before I venture into that convention hall? Do I need to earn it?

The Story: During a routine star mapping, Enterprise newbie Lt. Dave Bailey (Anthony Call) notices a giant, multicolored cube floating in the middle of space. Kirk is summoned in the middle of a regular physical (McCoy doesn’t tell him he’s being summoned at first, instead opting to finish the physical) and arrives on the bridge to determine the best course of action. While the inexperienced Bailey suggests firing upon the cube, Kirk instead opts to try and go around it; unfortunately, the cube moves wherever the ship does and blocks every possible escape route. Eventually, the cube begins moving towards the Enterprise emitting potentially deadly radiation. Backed into a corner with no other choice, Kirk commands that the cube be fired upon and destroys it in the process.

Shortly after the cube is destroyed, a new giant sphere appears in the ship’s path, made up of many, smaller spheres. An alien voice, identifying himself as Balock, addresses the Enterprise and informs the crew that he will destroy them in “10 Earth units known as minutes,” during which they should pray to whatever deity they believe in. As Sulu begins the countdown, Bailey begins to lose it and insist that Kirk take action; Kirk responds by ordering him off the Bridge. Spock is able to pull up an image of Blalock on the view screens, and while the image is blurry and unstable Blalock appears as a grotesque, bug-eyed alien.

Once again backed into a corner, Kirk decides to bluff Blalock. He tells the alien that the Enterprise is equipped with a substance known as Corbomite, which will ensure the destruction of Blalock’s ship should he fire upon the Earthlings. Blalock buys the bluff, offering Kirk more time and insisting he be provided with more information on Corbomite. Kirk, now sensing he has the upper hand, refuses the request.  A smaller ship breaks free from the giant sphere to monitor the Enterprise, threatening to destroy the ship at the first sign of an escape attempt. Kirk orders the crew to break free of the tractor beam, nearly destroying the Enterprise in the process but eventually breaking loose.

Now free of the small ship’s pull, the crew discovers that the small ship has been disabled and won’t make it back to the large sphere, meaning any alien on board will eventually die. Deciding to show compassion, Kirk orders the Enterprise crew to stage a rescue effort and beams himself, Dr. McCoy and Bailey aboard the ailing vessel. Once on board, the rescue party discovers that the blue alien thought to be Blalock is nothing more than a puppet. The only crew member on the ship is the real Blalock, a super-intelligent child (played by a very young Clint Howard), who offers Kirk and company a seat and a glass of a delicious beverage known as “Tranya.” Blalock informs Kirk that the whole exercise was just a test, and Kirk’s demonstration of compassion means that the Enterprise passed. He asks that a human stay behind so that the two may exchange ideas, and Kirk offers Bailey for the gig. Kirk promises Blalock that Bailey will likely make mistakes, but that the alien will get a better sense of mankind that way.

Reflections from a First Timer: OMG. This episode is great. As someone with a pretty decent awareness of pop culture, I’ve known for years that there exists an episode of Star Trek featuring a very young Clint Howard as a tiny ruler with an adult’s voice. Of course. But I didn’t realize that “The Corbomite Maneuver” is that episode, until Kirk and McCoy and Bailey arrived on the tiny ship and had to crouch down. Seconds before baby Clint Howard showed up, it occurred to me that this was the show, and there it was. Thick-eyebrowed little Clint, sipping on Tranya and laughing his crazy, grown-man laugh.

But before we get to the Clint Howard stuff — which, in the context of the episode, actually works and turns war into a child’s game — “The Corbomite Maneuver” brings it hard. It’s really the first episode of the show that takes place almost entirely on the Bridge, where we simply get to see all of the characters interact and drive the story rather than the story driving them (to be fair, Star Trek has been pretty great about this so far). I love the sarcastic exchanges between Kirk and Bones. I love Sulu’s detached calm as he counts down the destruction of the Enterprise. I love Kirk’s stubbornness and resolve; the way he thinks on his feet and uses his own flawed humanity to his advantage (he lies, basically). And, as usual, I like the unbridaled optimism of the whole show, from Kirk making the decision to go back and help the ailing ship despite its threats to destroy the Enterprise to the resolution, in which two races decide to exchange cultures and learn from one another (though this has always been the mission statement of the Enterprise, we really haven’t seen it in effect until now).

This was my favorite episode since “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” which is really interesting as it was the first episode produced after the two pilots (“Where No Man” being the second pilot after “The Cage”). Should I be disheartened that Star Trek started out with its very best shows, leaving it nowhere to go but down? I know that’s not the case; there are many, many classic episodes still to come. Or should I just be thankful that this is a series that knew its own voice right from the outset?

Enterprise Casualties: None.

Badass Kirk Moment: “I’ve already got a female to worry about. Her name’s the Enterprise.”

“The Menagerie (Parts 1 & 2)”

Stardate: 3012.4

Original Air Date: November 17, 1966 (Part 1); November 24, 1966 (Part 2)

The Story: What do you do when you’ve got over an hour of Star Trek that’s never going to air, because you went back and reshot the original pilot? You use that footage to tell a flashback story. And, so, Star Trek’s original pilot “The Cage” becomes the two-parter (the only two-parter in The Original Series’ three-season run) “The Menagerie.”

The Enterprise docks at Starbase 11 so Spock can answer a call from the ship’s former captain, Christopher Pike (played now by Sean Kenney under a lot of makeup). Following an accident in which he was exposed to harmful delta rays, Pike is now hideously scarred and disfigure, confined to a moving chair (only his head sticks out) and able to communicate only “yes” and “no” with a tiny light (one blink for yes, two for no). Spock essentially kidnaps Pike and hijacks the Enterprise, deceiving nearly everyone on board and setting the ship on an automated course to the planet Talos IV. When Kirk and Commodore Mendez learn of Spock’s deception, the set out to follow the Enterprise, at which point Spock surrenders himself and insists that he be court martialed.

The remainder of the two-parter plays out with footage from “The Cage,” explained as a video feed being beamed from Telos IV that details exactly what happened to Captain Pike. Though Mendez continues to insist that Spock be found guilty (traveling to Telos IV is punishable by death), but Spock — who accepts guilt — asks that the tribunal (consisting of Mendez, Kirk and Pike) watch the rest of the footage. As the events of “The Cage” play out, Kirk realizes what Spock is trying to achieve: Pike can, in a sense, return to his old, mobile self with the aid of the Talosians illusions (the same illusions they created in “The Cage”). Commondore Mendez disappears, having been a Talosian illusion created so that Kirk would hear Spock out. Starfleet, which has been watching the same video feed, gives Kirk permission to finish the trip to Talos IV and return Captain Pike to Vina (the woman trapped there in “The Cage”) and the Talosians. Kirk does, and Pike reverts back to his old self alongside Vina. Spock is cleared of all charges, explaining that he didn’t want to indict Kirk and therefore had to act behind his back — he acted logically about the whole affair.

Reflections from a First Timer: I don’t have much to say about “The Menagerie,” seeing as it’s basically just a repurposed airing of “The Cage.” The framing device is fairly clever, adding an element of mystery to the episode that even kept me guessing as to what Spock’s motivations were (I pretty much guessed, as I already knew how the Pike aspect of the story would play out, but the fact that it was able to hold my interest is saying something). Had I never seen “The Cage” — and I wouldn’t have been able to until 1988, had I been watching Trek from the beginning — “The Menagerie” would have been a lot more compelling. Watching the episodes in the order that I have, however, made it feel a little like a clip show — I was tuning out a bit during the stuff I had already seen only to be drawn back in by newly created material. I still think the episode works, largely because I think “The Cage” works (it’s also an interesting study in the two captains, as we get to see how the Enterprise was commanded in the days before Kirk), but it didn’t have the freshness it might have had otherwise.

I will say that the repurposed ending, which finds Spock returning Pike to Talos so that he can live out the remainder of his days as he once was (as opposed to the hideously scarred, paralyzed shell he had become) took on a much greater resonance than the original ending to “The Cage.” It was a smart move to show us Pike’s fate, and a bold step to allow a character to live with the illusion. Sometimes, we need the lie to be happy.

“The Menagerie” also made me appreciate the visual of Bruce Greenwood’s Captain Pike appearing in a wheelchair at the end of the J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek. I’m guessing that revisiting that film will be a very different experience once I’ve gotten all the way through The Original Series.

Enterprise Casualties: None.

Badass Kirk Moment: Not his finest moment, but bringing down a “guilty” verdict on his best friend couldn’t have been easy.