ST: TOS: The Man Trap

The early introduction of shape shifters in the series is quite amazing to me.  I knew the idea of a shape shifter has always been on the minds of science fiction fans for a long time.  What I guess I didn't know was that the idea had such an early appearance in the series. 

I am trying to recall DS9 when they go into Odo's back story and his his species origin.  As I remember, Odo's race was from the Gamma quadrant.  Early on they did explore (I guess spy is a more apt term) the Alpha quadrant while the Federation was still in its infancy.  However, these shape shifters that are revealed in TOS are a different species than the Founders of the Gamma quadrant. 


For the production values of this episode, I enjoyed that the "original" crew is starting to make an appearance.  Even the intro reel was much better (I particularly enjoyed the symbol crash in the theme song, it adds flare).  Finally we are starting to break into the memorable actors who have been with us all along. 

As for Sulu... Well, I think the franchise has made a living of exploiting the insecurities of the Asian male crew members while they interact with the other females (see also - Ensign Harry Kim, VOY). 

ST: TOS: Pilot

Ok, so I'll admit it. It was my first time ever seeing this episode. Did I know Kirk wouldn't be in it? Yes. Did I know that Christopher Pike was the commanding officer? Yes. Did I know it would be slightly cheesy? Yes.

None of that could have prepared me for this episode. The intro reel is what really tipped me off. You know how sometimes you can watch a movie in the theater and the special effects looks amazing, but then when you watch it again on DVD they are kinda horrible (think Star Wars episode II - Attack of the Clones)? Well that really describes my feeling toward the opening. It was inspiring I'll give you that, but it didn't really seem... smooth.

The story line for the episode was pretty good; away party lands, captain gets captured by telepathic aliens, #1 takes over, captain is rescued. It could have been just me, but I think this story line would have been better suited for a later episode and not for the pilot. It was nicely thought out, but the execution was a little odd. And what was up with Spock's voice? Was he going though an early pon farr?

Some of the bridge scenes were quite fun too. I enjoyed how some of the sound effects have never been repeated as bridge noises. Also, some of the technology mentioned in this episode that was later abandoned sounded quite interesting. (for example the time factor of warp speed, and that neat little trick they did with the screen.

All in all, I think this episode did well to capture the ideas of struggle, humanity and compassion that Roddenberry loved. Did I love it? Yes.

Introduction: M@tt!

So I've only been part of this blog for over a year now and I'm finally getting to publish my introduction. Sorry to all the readers for the late posting. And also, I apologize in advanced: I'll be posting from an iPad or iPhone most of the time so I won't have too many flashy or neat designs on for my blurbs. Not to mention proof reading is a pain on such handy devices.

But now on to my trekkiness...

I too was born in '84, but I have been a diehard fan since TNG. In my early years, I lived with my grandparents. So when I wasn't outside chasing feral cats, I was usually inside watching a combination of Lamb Chop, Garfield and Friends, NOVA, and Star Trek. I thought it was the coolest thing ever! My earliest memories of watching Star Trek was on a little B&W AM/FM/VHF/UHF combination unit (see picture). I didn't realize the uniforms were red, yellow and blue until I saw it on the color tv set. Oh how the times have changed!

I've been a super fan all throughout my years. I watched most of TNG as first run and then several times in syndication. Then when I was old enough, I watched DS-9 with my dad (I liked Babylon 5 better I think). TOS is good, but not great. It is good to see the progression over the years though. Voyager was my all time favorite. It combined the aspects of isolation, Gillian's island and adventure all into the same 42 minutes.

My main focus for these entries will be to speak my mind about how I'm feeling about the episode.

Star Trek Episode 2: Charlie X

This episode spends the first 2/3 showing just what a hard time Charlie, (a "raised by wolves" type) is having adjusting to life in the civilized world and then 1/3 showing him responding the only way he knows how, which unfortunately happens to be mass murder.
He is then punished in a pretty inhumane way and they all (everyone but Charlie and the people he mass murdered) live happily ever after. It is a Shakespearean level of tragedy. The tragedy I am referring to is the treatment of the murderer. I explain:
Charlie is raised by a race called Thasians (not "Thetans". Apparently that's what scientologists have. I had to look it up. I thought it was the same word.) which are aliens with no bodies who still need a space ship for some reason. We see one and he seems to be doing a wizard of Oz impression. Jury's out on whether they really look like this or its just what they use to communicate with silly humans who want people to have faces.

Things the Thasians succeeded in teaching him:

• How to speak English (mostly).
• How to find food (presumably. A lot is made of the fact that he didn't starve to death on the planet he was abandoned on. Spock even says that there is not enough edible vegetation to survive, but somehow non-corporal beings understand his need for food and manage to get it for him).
• How to make stuff disappear, suddenly have the yeoman's face on it, turn into an iguana, etc. 
• How to melt things. This seems like a separate power that he doesn't use as much as one would expect. This would be a much worse threat than "I'll make you disappear" and the fact that he doesn't use it means something. Maybe it means he is not too bright, but it means something.

They do not manage to teach him:

• What to do with all that angsty teen energy. 
• How to play 3D chess.
• That goosing a women is not a way of showing friendship.
• Fashion.
• The birds and the bees.

During the first part of the episode, Charlie tries his hardest to fit in. The people around him seem completely confused as to why he can't just know every nuance of social interaction.
Ok, I don't know who told him that its ok to slap a woman's ass, but he obviously did not realize it was unacceptable. Now Janice could have just told him "look, that's not something you do." or Kirk could have told him that. Instead, Janice got all weird and sent him to Kirk. Crazily enough, Charlie remembers to ask Kirk at a later time and Kirk gives him this very strange line: 
"There is no right way to hit a woman." 
There is something about this line which eeks me out. He proceeds to tell him that hitting men is totally cool and then gets called away and leaves Charlie obviously confused.
Kirk decides that this hitting men thing that he came up with is really the key to unlocking Charlie's inner social butterfly and so the next time he fails to explain something to Charlie's satisfaction, he takes him to the gym and hits him a little. Charlie responds to this in the way a teen with a history of being abused would: He becomes uncomfortable and asks to stop, then begs to stop. When Kirk coaxes him into raslin' and takes him out, the other gym patron laughs at him. Charlie loses control, making the laughing man disappear.
We already know that Charlie has been neglected to an insane degree and so anyone should be sympathetic to his discomfort with physical contact, but we have not yet discovered that he has actually not only been raised without human contact, but by a race of beings who do not understand and cannot help but make him feel shame for his wanting to touch.
Taking his upbringing into consideration, it is remarkable that Charlie is as well adjusted an controlled as he is. When he is sent back to the Thasians, he cries and pleads and begs. He explains that they are unfeeling both literally and figuratively. The Thasians profess to want what is best for him, but are clearly unable to satisfy him needs.
Now that Charlie has lived with humans for some time, we can only imagine that his desire to escape will be all the greater. Before, he was willing to sneak aboard a ship of humans, having no idea what would happen to him or how he would be treated. Now, he will be even more desperate, and the Thasians will need to watch him extremely carefully. He will essentially be a prisoner for life in a cross between solitary confinement and the matrix once you know its just the matrix.
I blame the crew of the enterprise 90% for what happens to Charlie, and the Thasians 10%. I found the outcome, in which Charlie is punished and everyone else is fine to be pretty disturbing.

Pet Peeves and Inconsistencies: (that have not yet been addressed)

• First, a quick shout out to that crazy green shirt that Kirk changes in and out of all day like a girl unsure what to wear on her date. At one point, he changes into it in between telling Charlie he can follow him to the bridge and arriving at the bridge with Charlie. There are 2 possible explanations:
  1) He and Charlie agreed that green was a better color for the bridge and that it was totally worth keeping them waiting a few minutes if it meant he looked fabulous!
  2) Charlie used his super power to change Kirk's shirt into Kirk's other shirt.
• Why did they (Thasians) give him these powers? It doesn't seem like it would be very helpful to them to allow him to do these things, if they already could do them. Maybe he was whining all the time and always asking them to turn stuff into iguanas and they got lazy and just said "ok, you do it!"
• Why do the Thasians have these powers? If they are non-corporeal, then what do they care what the physical world is doing: whether a rock is a rock, empty space or an iguana?

I guess I don't know whether I like the episode. I found it disturbing, but that's not a huge turn off for me. The problem is, I don't think I was supposed to be disturbed, and being treated like I don't think things through well enough to see the problems in this scenario is a huge turn off.

ST: TOS, S1, E2: Charlie X

I am going to admit up front that I missed every conversation regarding the green floating head aliens until the scene where one appears on the bridge. I know from glancing over Bonita's shoulder that their name starts with a T, so I will call them T-aliens.

You guys are missing out. I am super comfy.

This episode showcases Kirk's authoritative prowess along side his odd wardrobe choices. Both Bonita and I were wondering what this green v-neck crotch pointing shirt was and I suggested maybe it was a formal dress because he was meeting crew from another ship. When that crew turned out to be some dumpy guys from a twenty man ship, that theory lost what ever water it was holding. Maybe it was casual Friday and no one else put a credit in the jar for that week. Maybe he lost a bet. We will never know.

It becomes very clear right away that Charlie is controlling people with his mind. At first I thought this would be a purely psychic in nature, like Professor X. (note: For a lame X-Men/Next Gen crossover, get the novel "Planet X") That is to say that I thought he would only be able to control minds and having never encountered a Vulcan, Spock would be immune.

When Charlie performs the card trick for Janis, the one where he changes the pictures, I was unsure if that was mass illusion or reality warping. Speaking of Janis; I feel sorry for her. She can only have so many close calls before that red shirt catches up to her. In the last episode the salt sucking alien was stalking her, in this one a reality bending attention/sex starved young man has an incredibly dangerous crush on her. As a man, I don't know what it would be like if the first time I saw a girl was also very close to the first time I saw an actual human and also near the end of my puberty cycle. I think, maybe my head would have just exploded. Clean up, transporter room six.

Kirk has agreed to take Charlie to Colony 5, but it doesn't seem like any one on the ship thought about the challenges that even a normal human boy first introduced into society at the age of 17 would face. They have a room ready for him, that seems to be the entirety of their preparations. Of course, he meets Janis in the transporter room, and she is the one assigned to take him there. Great planning guys. Kirk should have switched that up the moment Charlie asked, with eyes wide and pants engorged "Is that a girl?" A little later he slaps Janis on the ass, she forgives him but tells him he should ask the captain why that is not appropriate. When Charlie does ask, Kirk is befuddled at having to give s kind of sex talk, but it kind of comes across like he doesn't actually know why. The lead men on the ship, Kirk, Bones, and Spock, all try to to pass the responsibility of "raising" him to each other. It's kind of cute, but then when you think about it, it's really irresponsable. I guess Bones should have explained sex to Charlie, he's the most qualified to talk about biological functions and reactions and we know from the previous episode that he has been in love at least once.

Ladies?

Kirk decided that Charlie needs to work off some energy so he takes him to the gym. I'm sure skinny Charlie felt right at home and safe in the midst of dudes throwing each other, pudgil-stick fighting, and incredibly flexible women doing flips. It was a good theory though and it would have worked if not for Charlie's secret ability to bend reality to his very whim! he makes Kirk's practice partner disappear and Kirk takes it incredible calmly. Like it happens every single time he goes to the gym, ok.

At first Charlie obey's Kirk's father-like authority, but that looses traction quickly and people start disappearing, or being turned into iguanas like poor thrown under the bus Tina.


Kirk comes up with a plan that doesn't exploit some hidden strength that humanity has, but the limits of Charlie's power. Identifying that Charlie was getting near the threshold of his capabilities could have been done by any one, and I bet if Spock had not been so worried about being made to perform morose prose, he would have gotten there first.

The T-aliens that gave Charlie his powers show up to take him back. Kirks tries to get them to let him stay, saying he should be with his own kind but the T-aliens insist that the power they gave him is too tempting and he must go with them. If this T-aliens can bend reality to their will, and bestow that same power to a human, why can't they de-power him and send him on his way? You can feel bad for Charlie who will never touch another being again.

What was up with Uhura singing? Was that flirting, mockery? Was it supposed to be good? Was it good? I don't really know.

ST: TOS: S1, E1: The Man Trap

This episodes starts off establishing a friendship between Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy right in the opening Captain's Log when Kirk makes note that they will be seeing a woman from McCoy's past. There is no way for Kirk to have known that with out having talked to McCoy. That is more than we get in the entire Pilot episode.

McCoy is humanized very quickly when it is established that this is a lost love they will be visiting, and maybe one that he is not entirely over 12 years later. Kirk ribs him gently about this at the beginning of the episode further establishing the relationship that they have. They are comfortable enough with each other to poke fun while on the job. By comparison, Pike seemed to keep everyone at a distance, he didn't even want yeoman around him to deliver reports. When on the planet they discover the first dead member of the away team (a blue shirt, btw) McCoy doesn't say, "He's dead, Captain." he says, "He's dead, Jim.". He uses Kirk's first name. He is familiar with Kirk and comfortable with him, they are on a first name basis. Not even "He's dead James.", it's a nickname basis. That line will become iconic as the series ages. I had never thought about the implications of it before, that it gives us so much information in so little time.

She doesn't realize that Spock's sex rage is forthcoming.

Spock is cold in this episode, he is logical. That is to say, he is Vulcan, and not a human with pointy ears. He doesn't understand when Uhura, pretty aggressively, flirts with him right on the bridge. She is the initiator here, approaching him while he is in the Captain's Chair. This is a far cry from Pike's Enterprise where woman look coyly at the captain and are objects of lust and distraction. Our take away from this is that Uhura is a strong, assertive woman, with her own desires. I also had not realised that there was a TOS precedent for the the Uhura/Spock pairing set up in the 2009 Star Trek movie.

The antagonist creature in this episode is once again an alien that is not really malicious  but just trying to survive. As a "last of it's kind", you can kind of feel for it even as it starts to kill it's way through the away team and crew. Using McCoy's memories and the image of his lost love against him, you can feels bad for both the creature and McCoy. The doctor has a hard choice to make and is only capable of it after Spock rains down his famous two handed hammer punch upon the salt sucking alien in defense of Kirk. As ugly as it's true form is, as brutal as its killing methods, you still feel bad for witnessing the death of a species.

The salt sucking alien had lived on a planet with no salt left on it. I guess it probably licked the sweat from it's  "husband". Maybe that was some sort of foreplay, part of the reason he excepted it. He was it's meal ticket, supplying it with small jars of tiny salt cubes. The alien seemed to be doing fine with that level of consumption, but boy, once the buffet shows up it goes hog wild. The incredibly socially inept Green dies almost moments after his feet materialize on the planet surface. I guess the prospect of getting off that rock of a planet, and no longer having to depend on an aging "husband" for sustenance was enough to make it go into a, wait for it, salt rage.

All in all a fine first episode. The terms have fallen in line, the women, though now in short skirts, seem to be more respected. He had a little bit of Sulu in this episode, and his role was unclear. Is he a botanist? Why was yeoman Janis stealing his food? I'm waiting for Chekov and Scotty. Listening to the opening of the Pilot without the "Boldly go..." narration was really weird, I am super happy to have had it here.

Star Trek (actual) Episode 1: The Man Trap

Gone are the strong female characters and loose tongued doctor. We now meet the "real crew" that we will follow for the next 46+ years. The second pilot is yet to come (It aired as the third episode) and so I do not yet have a direct comparison between the old and new format.
Some changes are obvious already:

• The teleporter no longer takes an hour and a half. Maybe they were trying to make it believable, by not letting it be too quick and easy, but I'm glad they made it quicker and easier. The special effects were not worth it.
• These skirts! I used to watch the show and think "that's how women dressed then (the 60's, not the future) so I can't blame them" or "Maybe Uhura just dresses like that and I haven't seen any other women" But they all wear them! Its a good thing there are no stairs on the ship! I now know that they considered dressing the women like the men and giving them seemingly equal treatment. They tried it in the pilot and then decided to scrap it. 
• The crew in general has had many changes. My wish that Pike had stuck around and the weird old doctor was still there has already been expressed. I wish they kept a female helmsman (helmswoman?) but I am not going to begrudge the addition of George Takai. Speaking of...

I feel like the relationship between Sulu and Woven-Beehive-Lady is one of gay and fag hag, foreshadowing Takai's exit from the closet almost 40 years later. She is being sexually harassed by all of her other colleagues, and  then seems to take sanctuary in his room. Either he's playing the long game, they are showing us just what a gentleman he is (since apparently, men of the future have evolved to think primarily with their penises) or he's gay.

As for the episode plot, it seems odd to open with a back story about a character who is not Kirk, (ensemble cast, I know, but the captain is the lead if we're pressed to declare one. I'm sure Shatner would agree) I don't think they are really setting up McCoy's character for future episodes. I feel like this may have been misleading, but I wasn't born yet, so I can't be sure.
The big moral issue or question about humanity here is grazed over: the twisted fact that the scientist falls in love with the salt eating creature who killed his wife. Seems disturbing, but if I'm honest... Yeah. I would too. 
So on the whole planet, there are only me and Shawn. Then Shawn dies and I have a new Shawn, or at least something that looks and tries to act like Shawn. Even if it is just a broken volleyball with a hand print on it, I have already been convinced I would love it after a little while. The real question is: why did the salt creature care enough to keep the scientist alive? He's essentially livestock to her. He is not her species, and unlike her, he cannot make himself look like her species, so falling in love already involves jumping the inter species dating hurdle, then there is the fact that he is edible and she is hungry. He claims that she craves affection, but they don't really ever back that up. I think the back story here is a beautiful tale of love between a man and a salt monster (from the salt monster community's perspective).
And why do we call it a creature instead of an alien? Who gets to decide which word applies?

Pet Peeves and inconsistencies:

• The first kid to get de-salted and die has so little tact that he tells a superior officer's old flame "hey, you look just like a hooker I had once" (paraphrased) I feel like maybe they would screen potential astronauts (liaison's to new cultures) for this level of intelligence/social competence.
• I saw a lot of people dying in this episode without the proper death attire. Lots of yellow and blue shirted cadavers...  
• The Captain's log repeatedly shows a knowledge of things that the captain did not yet know by the time of writing. For example in his second entry during the first day he mentions that they were each seeing different women. I don't know if this is a president which will be maintained, but now I am on the lookout.
• The salt eater displays the ability in her first scene to appear as different people to different people. This is way cooler than what she does later when she is on the ship. There is no reason to sneak into Bones' room and then transform into his lost love, if she could just always appear as Mrs. Crater to him.
• The monster costume which is the shape shifters true form has a net-like piece of clothing. If you live your life never showing anyone what you really look like, why get dressed? And if you do, why wear a crotch net? While we're at it, unless a shape shifter has difficulty maintaining an alternate form (foreshadow: Odo) there is no reason to have a "true form" I think that this is sort of humans projecting our reality on another people. It is sort of like having a "true hairstyle" Every morning, a woman decides how to style her hair that day. She can also choose to cut or dye it at any point, so is her "true hair" down? grown in? unbrushed? bald?
• Ok WHAT is Sulu's deal? He is a pilot who is obsessed with muppet plants? Or is "muppet plant expert" part of his job? 
• We have an alien who lives off of salt, but we do not explain where she has been getting salt for the vast majority of her life. They have a little jar of salt tablets which are clearly insufficient as she eats the salt out of ~5 people and then is still so hungry at the end that she blows her cover in front of McCoy. Again, how has she not eater her "husband" before now?

 So I just have to make sure we get to the third episode in time for me to remember the pilot and be able to compare.
A final note: Shawn seems to disagree with wikipedia on the episode numbering. I was not going to give the pilot a number, since it did not air first, but Shawn said it was episode 1, so I numbered it. Then I look up the list on wikipedia and see that they agree with me, so I am calling this episode 1 and numbering from there, unless of course the boss (Shawn) tells me to quit it.