TV Verdict

Original Air Date: January 5, 1967

Three more episodes down and no sign of Star Trek fatigue setting in. I’m still only a little more than halfway through the first season, but I’m already eyeing The Next Generation and can’t wait to get started on that (and if anyone’s got a line on where to find it for cheap, please let me know in the comments section).

Speaking of comments, I’ve been getting some really nice feeback lately and I just wanted to say thanks to those of you who have been reading and are nice enough to show your support. This obviously isn’t a column that’s going to interest everybody, but it’s nice to hear from some hardcore Star Trek fans that appreciate what I’m trying to pull off. I’m first and foremost tackling this because I really want to spend as much time as possible watching Star Trek, but it’s obviously also a challenge to see if I can get through it all. I’m very thankful that people are taking the time to read it, and the support I’ve gotten makes me feel like maybe I can do this after all.

Still a looong way to go, so don’t give up on me.

The Story: While en route to deliver medical supplies to Makus III, the Enterprise encounters a star/galaxy-like system radiating light and energy. As part of his mission, Kirk determines that it’s his duty to investigate it further and charges Spock, McCoy, Scotty and four other crew members out in a small shuttle called the Galileo for a closer inspection.

The Galileo is quickly pulled out of orbit, however, and disappears off the Enterprise’s radar screen. The shuttle makes an emergency landing on the planet Taurus II, where they soon encounter giant, ape-like creatures; two of the Galileo’s crew are killed with giant spears before anyone can even figure out what’s going on. As the stranded crew attempts to figure out how to escape the planet’s surface and possibly find rescue (Scotty determines that the phasers onboard might be used to harness enough energy to achieve orbit), Spock takes charge and repeatedly applies logic to the crew’s plight, much to the dismay of nearly everyone else.

Kirk, meanwhile, is determined to make every effort to locate his missing crew, despite being ordered to proceed to Makus III by the visiting Commisioner Ferris. The Commissioner grants Kirk a few hours to find the Galileo, after which time he’ll have no choice but to follow orders and deliver the medical supplies.

The situation on Taurus II continues to deteriorate. The crew continues to grow increasingly hostile towards Spock and his endless need for logic; they demand to bury the body of one of their lost crew, but Spock — applying logic — points out that it would be far too dangerous and therefore not logical. Eventually, he relents and agrees to have a burial, but the remaining crew is attacked again by the giant ape monsters. Eventually, Scotty’s phaser plan works and the shuttle blasts off back into orbit. However, there’s not enough fuel for the shuttle to continue flying and Spock determines that the Galileo will eventually re-enter Taurus’ atmospher, burning up in the process and killing everyone onboard. As a desperation move, Spock dumps all the remaining fuel from the shuttle, leaving a bright tail in its wake as the fuel burns — a distress signal, of sorts.

The Enterprise, which has already run out of time and reverted course to Makus III, sees the glowing tail of the Galileo and does a quick about-face. Just as the shuttle is burning up as its orbit decays, the surviving crew are beamed aboard the Enterprise and rescued at the last possible second. Kirk calls Spock out on his desperation move, equating it to an “emotional outburst” while the entire crew has a good laugh.

Reflections from a First Timer: Star Trek’s ass-kicking streak continues. We finally get an episode that puts Spock front and center and puts his entire Vulcan, logic-is-everything belief system to the test. Until now, Spock has been more of a foil to the emotionally-driven Kirk; here, though, he’s carrying the show and it’s the supporting cast that’s bouncing off of him. And, as Spock is currently my favorite character on the show, I was more than happy to see him take the lead.

What’s perhaps most interesting about “The Galileo Seven” is the way that it seems to waver back and forth at points between Spock’s point of view and those of the other crew members. Yes, he seems cold when he’s quickly moving on from the deaths of the two crewmen (he’s more fascinated by the weaponry used to kill them), but it’s hard to disagree with him when he’s trying to talk the survivors out of a burial ceremony. It isn’t logical, he tells them, because it puts them out in the open to be killed as well. He’s got a point. That the show eventually comes down on the side of humanity, emotions and all (nowhere is this clearer than when McCoy explains that the monsters are attacking them becaue they’re angry, which actually is totally logical and predictable to anyone with emotions) is, I suppose, part of the point of Star Trek. I dig that about the show — it’s totally pro-human, not just accepting our flaws but actually supporting them as a means of learning from our mistakes. In the end, Spock is only able to save the lives of the Galileo crew by acting more “human” and acting out of desperation. I guess that’s an endorsement of sorts.

I also liked seeing just how much many members of the Enterprise crew actively dislike Spock. He’s the teacher that’s too strict and the student that always has his hand raised all in one, and they all resent him for it. I didn’t really get the impression that it was any kind of prejudice against an alien race — it’s that they really can’t stand his adherence to logic and the fact that he seems so unfeeling. Obviously, Bones and Spock bicker a great deal (well, Bones throws barbed comments at Spock; they’re never reciprocated), but there’s an obvious respect between those two characters. McCoy gets annoyed with the green-blooded Vulcan, but it’s more a love/hate thing. The rest of the crew don’t seem to respect or like Spock at all, and that made his character so much more interesting to me — mostly because he could give a crap. Good for him.

Enterprise Casualties: Four. Crewmen Latimer and Gaetano are killed after deboarding the Galileo, while two nameless members of the Enterprise search party are killed off-camera.

Badass Kirk Moment: “I intend to continue the search…foot by foot, inch by inch, by candlelight if necessary, until the last possible moment! If you’ll keep your nose of my bridge, I’d be thankful.”

“The Squire of Gothos”

Stardate: 2124.5

Original Air Date: January 12, 1967

The Story: On a routine supply mission (don’t they all start this way?), the Enterprise comes across an uncharted planet that Kirk orders be recorded for exploration some time in the future. Suddenly, Kirk and Sulu disappear from the bridge, leaving the rest of the crew to surmise that they’ve been beamed down to the strange planet.

Spock, McCoy and two more crew members for a search party and beam down to the surface of the planet. Though Spock had originally believed the planet unable to sustain human life, the rescue party finds it totally habitable. They come across what appears to be a medieval castle, and inside is Kirk, Sulu and a pompous, overbearing Liberace-like man identifying himself as General Trelane (William Campbell).

Spock locates the missing crew and beams them back aboard the Enterprise, but Trelane, not willing to let his new playmates go, brings everyone back to his castle — now including Uhura and Yeoman Ross. He insists that everyone stay as his guests, offering them food, wine (neither of which have any taste, according to McCoy) and music (at one point insisting that Uhura play the piano, which she’s suddenly able to play). Determining that a wall mirror may be the source of Trelane’s power, Kirk tricks the General into a duel and destroys the mirror. Once again, the captives escape and beam back to the Enterprise, but every time the ship attempts to get back on course the mysterious planet blocks their path. Kirk agrees to return to the surface to confront their tormentor, finding himself on trial inside a courtroom of Trelane’s making.

Trelane finds Kirk guilty of treason and spearheading an insurrection and sentences him to death by hanging. Kirk, however, has other ideas; he sells Trelane on the excitement of killing for sport, and Trelane agrees. A hunt ensues, and just as Trelane is about to kill Kirk two giant bodies of light appear and scold Trelane for misbehaving. They’re his parents, and intend to punish him for acting badly. They bring Trelane back home and allow Kirk to return to the Enterprise.

Reflections from a First Timer: While certainly an entertaining outing of Star Trek, “The Squire of Gothos” is a dip in the momentum that’s been established lately. It too closely resembled “Charlie X,” another episode I wasn’t totally crazy about: the antagonist is a spoiled brat who can control space and time and does whatever he wants whenever he wants to do it, only to be reprimanded in the end by parental figures and summoned back to his home. The major beats — including the resolution — are pretty much the same, with the only difference being that “Charlie X” took place aboard the Enterprise and “Gothos” takes place on Trelane’s home turf. To me, Charlie actually posed a greater threat than Trelane because he wasn’t in control emotionally; I felt like he could lash out and do damage at any time (he took away people’s faces, for crying out loud). Trelane is fairer, in a weird way, and keeps instigating Kirk not because he’s dangerous but because he’s bored and wants to play.

There were things to like about the episode, of course. When Kirk and Sulu go missing, we get to hear Spock do the “captain’s log” voiceover; is this the first time it’s been anyone but Kirk? I like Kirk’s whole speech about what fun it would be to hunt and murder as sport — as an egomaniac himself, the captain knows just how to speak to a man’s ego. And William Campbell is fun and over the top as Trelane. He might be a more interesting villain if the stakes didn’t feel so low. There’s maybe one too many successful escapes in the episode (they get back to the Enterprise, Trelane brings them back; they get back to the Enterprise, Trelane brings Kirk back), but that’s ok. The whole show felt a little like we’d been there and done that, and it’s too early in Star Trek’s run for the series to already be repeating ideas.

Enterprise Casualties: None

Badass Kirk Moment: Selling Trelane on the “fun” of murdering for sport.

“Arena”

Stardate: 3045.6

Original Air Date: January 19, 1967

The Story: Kirk, McCoy and a few other members of the Enterprise crew are invited to dine with Commodore Travers, a man revered for his hospitality. Upon beaming down to the Cestus III outpost for their dinner engagement, the crew finds the outpost has been destroyed by some enemy attack and the entire population wiped out. Before long, Kirk and company are coming under fire from an unseen enemy themselves.

The Enterprise is simultaneously attacked by an alien ship, and with a battle going on on two fronts, Kirk is able to stave off his attackers long enough to beam the surviving crew back aboard the Enterprise and attempt an escape. The alien ship gives chase, however, and just before both parties enter into unexplored space both the alien ship and the Enterprise are incapacitated. A voice comes over the comms system identifying himself as one of the Metrons, a race of beings bent on fighting off any invaders. The voice tells Kirk that he will have to fight the captain of the alien ship in a one-on-one duel to the death; the winner will be allowed to go free, while the loser will be killed.

The remainder of the episode is made up of Kirk’s game of cat-and-mouse with his adversary, a reptilian creature known only as the Gorn. With no weapons with which to defend himself, Kirk must use the terrain to his advantage to stay alive. He is eventually able to fashion some weapons out of the desert planets natural resources, defeating the Gorn nearly to the point of death. However, when called upon to finish the Gorn off, Kirk refuses. The Metron appear on the surface to congratulate Kirk on both his victory and on his decision to show mercy to the Gorn, stating that Kirk shows hope and promise for humanity. They return the captain back to the Enterprise, fully recovered from his injuries.

Reflections from a First Timer: Well, here’s finally an example of a classic, iconic Star Trek episode that I wasn’t all that crazy about. Made famous mostly by its location — it was shot largely at the Vasquez Rocks in Los Angeles — I’ve seen pieces of and references to “Arena” throughout pop culture for years now, most notably in Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey (not only does the duo watch part of the episode, but the Vasquez rocks are where they’re brought before being killed by the evil robot us’s). It seems to me, though, the episode is famous more for ironic reasons than because it represents the best of what Star Trek has to offer. An outsider might look at it and just see some campy fighting, overwrought music, hammy Shatner acting and a guy in a terrible, terrible lizard costume. Come to think of it, they wouldn’t exactly be wrong. That pretty much sums up “The Arena.”

I’ve made note before that I’m watching the “remastered” episodes of The Original Series, meaning that a number of the effects shots (particularly the exteriors of the Enterprise) have been updated and upgraded to be more state-of-the-art and contemporary. And, to be honest, it can be pretty jarring at times. Panels and buttons and compartments aboard the ship can often look a bit clunky, and then we cut to a starscape shot and it looks gorgeous and modern. What’s really funny, though, is that for all that hard work in remastering the effects, there was simply nothing that could be done about the Gorn. It’s a guy in a lizard suit. And on the few instances where it cuts from lizard-suit Gorn to an updated, remastered shot of the Enterprise, it’s a huge leap in technology and aesthetic. It pulled me out of the episode, to be honest, the way that the special edition of Star Wars does when we go from the CGI monsters in the desert to the interior of the Tatooine cantina and a guy in a rubber mask springs into frame. Here it’s 1997, and here it’s 1977. Same goes for “Arena.”

And, once again, we find “Arena” repeating some of the messages of earlier episodes. Kirk decides to show mercy on the Gorn the same way he decided to go back and help the ailing ship in “The Corbomite Maneuver,” and both times the results are the same: Kirk is rewarded and applauded for his compassion. I’m not disagreeing with that message — I prefer that he be honored and not punished for doing the right thing — but like “The Squire of Gothos,” there seems to be a little bit of repetition already at work.

I didn’t hate “Arena”; if nothing else, I finally got to see what all the fuss has been about. But it felt the silliest and campiest of the all the episodes so far, and the one that’s dated the worst. Maybe that’s because I’m so used to seeing it exploited in a way that’s making fun of it a little. I refuse to approach Star Trek with any irony. Gene Roddenberry would never have wanted that.

Enterprise Casualties: Two crewmen (including one actually wearing a red shirt; is he the first?) are killed in the firefight.

Badass Kirk Moment: “An incredible fortune in stones, yet I would trade them all for a hand phaser…or a good solid club.”