To Boldly Go Where Everyone Has Gone Before

January 3, 2020: 3 Episodes

Series: Star Trek: The Original Series

Season, Episode #,and Episode Name: Season 1, Episode 6, “The Enemy Within”, Episode 7, “Mudd’s Women”, and Episode 8, “What Little Girls Are Made Of”

Setting the Stage: I started at 6:15 pm on January 3, 2020, still watching via Netflix, so I’m using their viewing order. Tonight was a banner night for attendance. Professor Zoom was firmly planted in my lap for the entire episode. Tempura (my oldest cat) was in the lap of my husband (who was occupied with his phone, some Trek fan he is). Thor (my youngest cat) was asleep at my head. My two middle children, Jazz and Loki, wrestled in the kitchen almost all night. It’s so much fun to watch Star Trek with a background of cat mews.

Quick Summary with my reactions: I’ll start off with “The Enemy Within”, which starts off with A PUPPY IN AN ADORABLE COSTUME, carried by Sulu. Rut Roh Raggy, we’re having issues with the transporter… and now there are TWO KIRKS! McCoy’s bedside manner leaves something to be desired, but the music for evil Kirk is a nice touch. THE PUPPY IS BACK, but now he has an evil, barky twin. Evil Kirk makes unwanted advances at Rand, who scratches his face… Go Rand! We cut to three men surrounding a woman who has just been assaulted, which is absolutely no bueno, but at least Fisher backs up Rand’s claims and she’s not backing down either. Evil Kirk puts on makeup, steals a phaser, and then is electrocuted and sedated. Spock is all in research mode while Scotty reports that there’s still an issue with the transporter, while Sulu and the crew are freezing; but not dead or frostbitten at 41 below 0, tsk tsk. GUYS, THEY’RE GOING TO SEND THE PUPPY IN FIRST – HE BETTER NOT DIE!!!! Um, one is definitely a stuffed animal, I totally noticed that. NOOOO THE PUPPY IS DEAD, THIS IS WHY WE DON’T TEST ON ANIMALS. It’s Kirk vs. Kirk, and evil Kirk’s scratches are on the wrong side of his face for part of the time. We end with a weird word from Spock.

Moving onto “Mudd’s Women” and who is this pirate motherfucker? I already don’t like him. I do like the sparkly dresses, but WTF McCoy? At least Scotty and Spock have less leery looks, in fack Spock is plum amused. PEOPLE ARE NOT CARGO… I understand it was the 60s, but I wanted to mention that for those in the back. Let me tell you, though, I love George Takei; his voice is fantastic. I absolutely love that the computer knows this guy is no good. Wait, what is happening to the women? Great, now the miners want to trade crystals for women. PEOPLE ARE NOT CARGO! The best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, I’ve always said. Okay, the episode was made better by the Venus drug swap and helping Eve find her confidence. Spock doesn’t take shit from McCoy and I’m all for it.

In the last episode of the evening, we’re going on an adventure! In “What Little Girls Are Made Of” we find Chapel’s long lost financée after some Lurch-looking alien sneaks out of the cave as Security Red Shirt #17 falls to his death, and then he kills Security Red Shirt #18! When we finally meet the rest of the party, I have but one question: WHERE IS THIS WOMAN’S BRA?! Lurch (who’s real name is Rok, but I am a big fan of The Addams Family and do a mean Wednesday Addams cosplay) can copy voices, okay that’s nifty, and is an android; but so in Andrea (the lady with no bra). Seriously, WHY ARE THEY ALWAYS CLONING Kirk – and why does that scene take forever? In the plot twist of the century… Korby is an android too! Looks like Kirk and Spock worked out a distress signal by using a derogatory term, and Chapel decides to stay on as the nurse as it turns out, there was never anyone to find on the planet.

My Impressions: Honestly, there’s not a lot to report on these three episodes. They’re all pretty “meh” in my opinion. In TEW it boils down to two things: Evil Kirk and Dead Unicorn Puppy. I’m likely not going to watch this episode again as it falls into the same category as “John Wick: Chapter 1”. I mean, why does the dog have to die? I’m a big animal lover, if you couldn’t tell, and it just seemed unnecessary to bring that cuteness into my life and it come to a sad ending.

Mudd is the most ridiculous man and I can’t like him any less, I tried but he definitely hit rock bottom for me. I am a bit disappointed that Kirk gives into the demands of the miners so easily, but he redeems himself by switching out the drugs for a placebo and then checking with Eve before leaving her on Rigel 12 with a man she just met (cue that song from Frozen, you know: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPImqZo0D74 ). This is also not another episode I would want to watch again.

WLGAMO has a very “I, Robot” feel to it. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot twist of Korby being an android, I absolutely did not see that coming. I also really liked super sassy and on-the-ball Spock, but we saw so little of him this episode. It really felt like the Captain Kirk show. I found myself missing the rest of the crew, the ship, and the overall shenanigans that the crew causes by making OSHA violations.

I continue to power through. Until tomorrow…

January 2, 2020: 3 Episodes

Series: Star Trek: The Original Series

Season, Episode #,and Episode Name: Season 1, Episode 3, “Charlie X”, Episode 4, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, and Episode 5, “The Naked Time”

Setting the Stage: I started at 7:00 pm on January 2, 2020, still watching via Netflix, so I’m using their viewing order. It has recently come to my attention that there’s this thing called “production order”, which I am clearly ignoring because I didn’t know about it. Professor Zoom was in attendance, but snoozing away. The husband joined for WNMHGB, but was occupied with his phone for some of it.

Quick Summary: “Charlie X” starts off with a fun moment, “Are you a girl?”, makes me think at first that he’s definitely on extacy. Why is Kirk wearing a weird green shirt? Okay, the butt slap thing was really funny, I mean I saw it coming a mile away after what Charlie witnessed in the hallway. I find it interesting Uhura has something akin to the OG Bluetooth. McCoy tries to get out of giving “the talk”, then Spock and McCoy argue like an old married couple. The interlude with the music and recreation time was a nice way to show the crew in their off time and it totally looks like there’s a little something going on between Spock and Uhura. Kirk is adorable and god-awful at trying to explain why you don’t smack a woman’s ass to a 17 year old boy who has been rather isolated. At least everyone gets turkey for Thanksgiving. I think the gym scene was just trying to get Kirk shirtless. The big question is, why are Rand’s bed clothes less revealing than her uniform?

“WNMHGB” is the second sighting of 3D chess, but it looks different than the last episode. Why are the uniforms turtlenecks? Our first sighting of Scotty, I have a soft spot for engineering, but oh no, the creepy doctor is back. The shot of the Enterprise going through space is pretty swank, actually… but why does the Yeoman look bored and then scared? Wait, did the two folks on deck just get electrocuted? Mitchell wakes up with strange eyes, and he knows he’s being watched (having just watched Babylon 5, he pulled a Lyta Alexander, well I guess she pulled a Gary Mitchell). Somehow Mitchell is reading faster, and able to control other things, and everyone is creeped out. They’ve decided to maroon the man on Delta Vega, but he’s got lightening fingers (looking at you Shazam! And Raiden). They finally get him sedated and try to get the ship repaired. Dude can withstand lasers AND he’s turned the psychologist into his crazy eyes. The crazy people die after a crazy fight.

The Naked Time opens on Hoth (okay, I’ll cool it with the Star Wars references. See what I did there, hehehehe, I’ll show myself out) and clearly there were no Tauntauns to keep everyone warm (okay, now I’m done). As they return, Joe thinks he can’t get the damn spot out as Sulu is talking about fencing, there’s a fight over the butter knife, and Joe gets stabbed. Sulu decides to play hookey and go to the gym as the rest of the crew also starts acting strangely. Now Sulu is shirtless, has a rapier, is chasing people around the ship, and apparently no one told Kirk that swords are sharp. Spock makes a very quick “Three Musketeers” reference, and I am all for it! I’ve noticed the uniforms are more in line with what I’ve seen at cons and in media, and I like these the best. Is Spock, crying?!, I didn’t think we did that here. Oh, so everyone is drunk… okay that sort of makes sense, and now we’re going to have a slugfest between Kirk and Spock. The end of the episode, leaves me feeling like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aizCMO-mI1Q

My Impressions: I liked all three episodes for wildly different reasons. I enjoyed “Charlie X” because a lot happened in this episode and I had the most reactions. My interest was held the entire episode. Charlie interacts with the whole crew, and you get to see some more parts to the ship. You can tell that everyone is out of practice in dealing with children, even though that one Yeoman was supposedly around Charlie’s age. The actor who played Charlie really got me invested in him as a character. I’m beginning to see the pattern in all these sad endings, though.

The “crazy eyes” episode, as I’m not referring to it as, really showed how committed Kirk is to to both his duty and those he calls his friends. Do you endanger the whole crew? Well I guess not after there’s NO WAY, but even at the end, Kirk still hesitates. I mean, he did the same thing in “Charlie X” when Charlie had clearly demonstrated he couldn’t be trusted, but maybe there’s still a chance? Oh, Kirk – I did not peg him for the optimist.

“The Naked Time” was just a fantastic display of acting, as everyone had to be their character and then not their character in the same episode. It was a fun episode, while still holding that sense of mortal peril because everyone was going to die if they didn’t come up with something. Scotty says he cannot change the laws of physics, and I’m glad to know that this science fiction show has some standards behind them. Sometimes, a show will make shit up to make things fit, but I like how they are trying to set up some boundaries to make it seem more real. Reminds me of the engineer in one of my favorite YouTube videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg; it’s long but absolutely worth it if you’ve ever been in a meeting with people who have no idea what they are talking about.

January 1, 2020: 2 Episodes

Series: Star Trek: The Original Series

Season, Episode #,and Episode Name: Season 1, Episode 1, “Pilot: The Cage” and Episode 2, “The Man Trap”

Setting the Stage: I started at 1:50 pm on January 1, 2020 with “Pilot: The Cage” and then followed up “The Man Trap”. I’m watching via Netflix, so I’m using their viewing order. With me is my dog, Professor Zoom, and at least one of my cats. I am firmly keeping in mind that these were filmed in the 1960s as I blaze ahead.

Quick Summary: “The Cage” opens to some dude who is later revealed to be Captain Pike and he’s obviously having some sort of mid-career crisis. The doctor looks like he’s a dirty old man, and I truly hope he isn’t a regular. There’s a woman on deck, later found out to be the Lieutenant, and she’s quickly my favorite. I can hear her eye roll as Pike puts his foot in his mouth and later when he “regrets” he has to leave her on the ship in order to have a senior officer on deck. Alien stuff happens, there’s trickery afoot, and then there’s a scene where they all take turns shooting at a rock and I’m reminded “DON’T CROSS THE STREAMS” – oh wait, wrong universe. Pike and a blonde woman are stuck in this illusion, there’s a brief appearance of “She-Hulk”?, and there’s totally a point where Pike is trying to channel the Dark Side (yes, yes I made a Star Wars reference, you’ll be fine). The aliens cede control and everyone makes it back to the ship, except the blonde who I’m sure we all feel sorry for. Cue the music and the tiny flying starship, end scene.

“The Man Trap” opens with almost an entirely different crew, which I am 1000% okay with. We now have Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy and :cue Chicago accent: “they’re on a mission from God”, and by “God” I mean the Federation to conduct some medical tests. There’s some death, some old flame romance, some talk about salt, and some shapeshifty murder mystery to be solved. Back on the ship, there is some more color on screen – and not just in relation to the skin color of some of the crew, there are red uniforms! Red happens to be my favorite color, but that’s not important. There’s some hint of how Spock is different than his human counterparts, but mostly the episode is trying to keep track of who the creature has become. The salt monster is finally revealed, and killed by McCoy. What is it with two sad endings? More music and more tiny starships flying through 1960s “space”.

My Impressions: Although the Lieutenant (Number One) doesn’t have a lot of air time, she’s absolutely my favorite character of this episode. She’s got some bad ass nails, a kick ass attitude, and is good in a crisis. I’m a little sad she doesn’t make it to the series as a regular, but I’m happy with the changes to the crew from the Pilot to the next episode. For the ‘60s, this was damn progressive. It does warm my computer science heart to listen to unemotional Spock. I think I am going to relate most to him, as I value logic and efficiency. I also think I’m going to love Sulu and Kirk if they continue to eat all the time, I am a food based lifeform as it were. Okay, we’re all food based lifeforms… but it’s my love language. I’m also a bit disappointed that every single red shirt survived, I was led to believe that they are the only ones who die! Okay, I’m not really disappointed… just amused. What I really want to know is, does Jose ever get his peppers?