A GOOD KIRK, A BAD KIRK, BUT IS ANY KIRK THE REAL KIRK?

Episode Title:  The Enemy Within

Air Date: 10/06/1966

Written by Richard Matheson

Directed by Leo Penn

Cast: William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk    Leonard Nimoy as Lieutenant Commander Spock             DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA "Bones"              James Doohan  as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”   George Takei  as Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu    Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura     Jim Goodwin  as Lieutenant Farrell       Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman First Class Janice Rand       Eddie Paskey as Crewman Connors       Ed Madden as Geological Technician Fisher            Frank da Vinci as  Crewman          Ron Veto as Crewman           Sean Morgan as Crewman Gerald Thompson       Don Eitner as  photo double for Captain James T. Kirk

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets:  Alpha 177

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The episode begins with the crew of the Enterprise exploring a strange new world.  The planet is Alpha 177, it doesn’t have much for intelligent life it’s most interesting life form is a doglike creature that has the a horn.  I call this creature "the unicorn dog," and I bet I’m not the only one who does.  The planet has radical changes in temperature where a daytime its normal humanlike environment the temperature at night drops to -160°. 

Is this what you thought you would see when I told you we would seek out new life?

            As the away team is collecting samples of the minerals and even one specimen of unicorn dog, Geological Technician Fisher is injured in a fall. His injuries aren’t that severe just cuts to his hand but he is covered in this yellow like substance that neither he nor anyone else knows what it is.  As he beams up to the ship to get medical attention the strange substance on him seems to cause a slight problem in the transporter.  Nevertheless, he successfully transports onboard.  Captain Kirk follows Fisher back up to the Enterprise through the transporter.  When Kirk emerges from the transporter however he seems to be a little lightheaded, so much so that Scotty feels he has to personally escort the Captain back to his quarters.  After they leave another Captain Kirk emerges from the transporter and this one has an angry look on his face.

Two Kirks come out of the transporter and both seem to be a bit off. 

            The disturbed Captain Kirk goes to the sick bay where Dr. McCoy is treating Fisher for his wounds.  When Fisher tries let his Captain know that his hand is better he is surprised when the previously concerned Captain ignores his improved medical situation.  When McCoy tries to talk to him Bad Kirk demands McCoy give him a brandy, which interestingly enough the doctor has plenty in store in sick bay as opposed to his quarters where you normally would keep that sort of thing.  McCoy gives Bad Kirk the brandy he demands and Bad Kirk leaves the sick bay chugging the stuff.

Brandy doesn't belong in sick bay it belongs in my belly.

            Mr. Spock having been notified by the Doctor of Captain Kirk’s weird behavior, goes to check on the Captain in his quarters.  When he questions Good Kirk he is simply told that he hadn’t been the sick bay and he thinks Dr. McCoy may be playing a trick on him.  Since Good Kirk was never in sick bay he is telling the truth. 

            Captain Kirk’s strange behavior starts to make a lot of sense to Mr. Spock when Scotty summoned him to the transporter room.  It turns out the unicorn dog creature that they beamed up was duplicated by the transporter.  One unicorn dog is nice while the other unicorn dog is nasty.  Scotty said that we cannot chance this happening to a man and so they have no way of bringing up the landing party.  Now this point I really want to know why they don’t grab a shuttlecraft to go pick them up.  The suggestion never comes up in the episode I considered to be huge dent in what is a generally enjoyable episode.  I don’t want to hear about how they hadn’t invented shuttlecraft yet they clearly had a bay door in the back of the ship so someone thought about shuttles.  The transporter was invented second because the budget wasn't big enough to allow landings.  Later in the episode they explain that the thermal heaters they try to beam down duplicated and they were nonfunctional.  I don’t know why they couldn’t come up with some in story reason to say they can’t use or a shuttlecraft; it would’ve been appreciated had they tried.

(Found this video from about ten years ago I am glad I am not the only one to find this odd.)

            Bad Kirk decides that it’s time for some sex so he uses his authority as Captain to allow himself into Yeoman Rand’s quarters.  When the Yeoman returns she is approached by her drunken commanding officer.  Now it is been hinted at that Yeoman Rand has a crush on Captain Kirk but her fantasies probably did not include the Captain surprising her in her quarters while he is drunk.  At first Bad Kirk tries to seduce her but when it’s clear she’s not going to be seduced he decides to resort rape.  Rand resists that she successfully scratches the Bad Kirk’s face.  During the attempted rape the door from her quarters opens just as Fisher walks by and he sees the Captain attacking the Yeoman.  Rand asked Fisher to get Spock so Fisher runs the intercom and calls the First Officer.  Unfortunately for Fisher the Bad Kirk received all of the incredible fighting skills that Captain Kirk possesses any easily kicks the crap out of Fisher sending him to the sick bay. 

Yes it turns out Bad Kirk is evil.

            When Spock confronts Good Kirk he of course denies it.  The two men both head down sick bay where Rand and Fisher are being treated.  In sick bay Grace Lee Whitney puts on a great performance as someone who’s just been a victim of an attempted sexual assault.  She’s able to project all the natural emotions of the shock of someone that she knows having tried to assault her and the irrational feelings of guilt and hesitation to report for fear of ruining his career.  Not knowing why he did it she tries to look to her own actions no matter how unfair that is to herself for an explanation.  Good Kirk doesn’t have the injuries that Rand inflicted on Bad Kirk, but both Rand and Fisher still insist it was him.  Spock having seen what happened to the unicorn dog figures out exactly what has occurred.  Spock explains that it is an impostor who is currently on the ship.

            Spock encourages the Captain to keep most of this a secret because if the crew learned the complete truth the captain might appear less-than-perfect and could undermine Kirk’s ability to command the ship in the future.  Personally I think Spock is underestimating the crew of the Enterprise, but Good Kirk agrees with him.  Unfortunately, appearing imperfect may be the least of Good Kirk's problems because it  is also apparent that his inability to command is growing.  While all this is going on Lt. Sulu is bravely leading the away team in survival techniques to fight off the cold.  But all the survival techniques in the galaxy won’t save them indefinitely.

Mr. Sulu and the away team freezing to death.

            Good Kirk performs the ship wide announcement that there is impostor on board who looks just like him but I scratches on his face and he orders a ship wide manhunt for the false Captain with phasers ordered to stun.  Bad Kirk hearing the announcement goes into a frenzy of anger at the other version of himself taking command of his ship.  Bad Kirk finds a makeup in his own quarters, which makes me wonder what exactly Captain Kirk actually has makeup for, and uses his appearance to fool a crewman into giving him his phaser.

Bad Kirk hears Good Kirk giving orders from his chair

            Good Kirk, under the guidance as Mr. Spock, comes to the conclusion that Bad Kirk is hiding in the engineering decks of the ship. Good Kirk and Mr. Spock go down there to try to confront him.  They do so and Good and Bad come face-to-face. Good Kirk tries to talk Bad Kirk into surrendering, by pointing out that they need other.  Bad Kirk rejects the offer from his counterpart and actually tries to shoot him with the phaser.  Mr. Spock however uses what will be known as the Vulcan nerve pinch to subdue Bad Kirk.  This prevents Bad Kirk from shooting Good Kirk but he still fires his phaser and damages part the ship’s engine.  The part that he’s damaged is connected to the transporter so not only is the transporter broken in terms of the normal function is now completely deprived of power.  The fate of Mr. Sulu and his away team are getting grimmer by the moment.

When your internal struggle becomes external

            In sick bay they restrain Bad Kirk.  Mr. Spock makes an interesting observation, despite calling Bad Kirk “the impostor” in reality both sides are parts of what is the actual Captain Kirk.  Each contains an element of Kirk’s nature. The Good Kirk is compassionate, intelligent, and brave.  Without his other half however he is weak and indecisive.  The more he remains separate from his other self he loses ability to focus and take command.  The Bad Kirk is strong, bold, and a fighter.  Unfortunately without his other half he is prone to violence whenever he gets scared or just annoyed.  The longer he remained separated from his other self he becomes more and more like an animal.  Also neither Kirk can survive without the other which is demonstrated as Bad Kirk starts to die in sick bay his vitals get better with the arrival of Good Kirk.

I bet there are many days Spock wants to nerve pinch his Captain.  Today was a dream come true!

            
            Scotty, being the miracle worker that he always is, finds a way to get the transporter working and thinks he can reverse the problem that caused separation.  They do a test on the unicorn dogs and although they succeed in recombining the animal into one creature the animal dies as a result.  Spock concludes that because the animal lacked intelligence it didn’t understand what was happening thus causing become terrified and died.  He reasons Captain Kirk can be recombined and he will most likely survive because his intelligence can comprehend what is happening to him.  Dr. McCoy disagrees he says that it unknown what caught killed the unicorn dog and if they try this with the Captain he was likely end up just as dead.  As each moment passes the away team is inching closer and closer to their own deaths.

The final and sad fate of the unicorn dog

            Good Kirk makes the decision to take the risk and Bad Kirk agrees but it is merely a ruse to trick Good Kirk so that he can escape.  It is unfortunate for Good Kirk that his other self is the part that inherited his mad fighting skills as he is easily beaten.  Bad Kirk scratches his counterpart so they look more like and heads to the bridge take command.  He orders the ship out of orbit condemning the away team to its fate; however a recovered Good Kirk and McCoy arrive.  Bad Kirk insists the ship is his and that his counterpart can’t take it from him.  Bad Kirk begins to falter because he has been separated from the rest of him for so long; this allows Good Kirk and McCoy to take Bad Kirk down and drag him to the transporter room.  Bad Kirk rejects this the whole time claiming he wants to live to which his counterpart says that they both will in each other.

            In the transporter room the two Kirks board the transporter pad and it is activated.  In a testament to the skills of Scotty, Captain Kirk is successfully restored.  The first thing the restored Kirk does is he orders that the away team to be brought back up to the ship.  With the away team rescued in the nick of time, Dr. McCoy confirms that they’ll be all right in the long term, Kirk heads back to the bridge. On the bridge Kirk thanks Spock for “the both of us,” but he does also confides that he is disturbed to see a part of himself that he wished not to have seen.  Yeoman Rand attempts to clear the air with the Captain was clearly having trouble doing so, Kirk puts her at ease.  That is how the episode should have ended but unfortunately we are also given a glimpse into how out of touch Mr. Spock can be with human emotions where he says the most tone deaf thing to Yeoman Rand about how Bad Kirk had interesting traits.

Additional thoughts: So Captain Kirk has makeup in his drawer. Is makeup fashionable for men in the 23^rd century?  Or is Captain Kirk more of a style trendsetter? Maybe he just has it in case a woman gives him a hickey?

            Joking aside this episode is the first to introduce what would become a common plot device in many great Star Trek episodes: bizarre transporter accidents.  Originally conceived in order to save money on the budget, the transporter, a device that takes objects both living and inanimate apart molecule by molecule turning them into energy and moving them from one place to another has endless possibilities for great stories.  When you think about it the concept is absolutely terrifying.  Yet they’re used in every episode and we’re later told that transporters of the safest form of transportation and accidents are almost always unheard of. But when they do have accidents watch out the strangest and most bizarre things can happen.  A person can be split into two different people and one of those people can desire to consume the other.  Funny thing is in this case we’re talking about the Good Kirk wanting to consume the Bad Kirk.

            There is of course also the inevitable question on rather it is morally ethical to force Bad Kirk to go over the recombining procedure against his will.  The episode never really explores this but I would say yes.  Bad Kirk isn’t a person he is half a person and in his separated state he is incapable of making rational decisions about himself or anyone else. Now in the episode the Good Kirk does, a bit reluctantly, choose to be recombined with his other half, and the episode does point out that Good Kirk is the one that retained Kirk’s intellect.  However I would argue that had both been unwilling it would have fine for Spock to force both of them.  As they are not two people but one person whose mental state in such a shape that they can’t be trusted to make a rational judgement on the matter, so Spock and McCoy would be well within their rights to force such a procedure on dissembled Captain for his own good.  Good Kirk had been shown to not be completely capable at making decisions without the help of either Spock or McCoy.  

  

One of the things I’m thinking about after this episode is when Captain Kirk reflects on this adventure he had how exactly does he remember it?  Does he only remember from the perspective of the Good Kirk? Do both sets of memories run simultaneously?  Can he recall the memories of both halves with equal precision?  It is a shame this is never addressed.

            This episode also features another common plot point in Star Trek one that I don’t particularly care for.  That is Starfleet’s demand for some form of perfection from its officers particularly its captains.  It’s unrealistic and goes against the concept of an idealized future.  In this episode Spock and McCoy prop up Good Kirk like the corpse in The Weekend at Bernie’s.  They realize that Good Kirk is no longer capable of functioning as a starship captain but continue to help him do it because to do otherwise would undermine the crew’s confidence in him and also potentially ruin his career having been formally relieved.  When you think about it this attitude is a disservice to all involved and rather insulting to the crew of the Enterprise.  I find it absurd that a fully trained crew of men and women who have chosen to explore the unknown depths of space can’t be reminded that their Captain is a human being with frailties like every other human being because if they are they may all lose faith.

Good and Bad the final struggle

            In a rational world Captain Kirk would’ve immediately been relieved of command the moment Rand and Fisher made their assault allegations against him, at least temporarily as the ship’s senior officers investigated the allegations.  Once it was determined that Kirk had been split into two people Spock would’ve remained in command up into a time Kirk was restored.  Once he has been restored Kirk should be allowed to his resume command without any dent to his career or reputation.  After all it wasn’t his fault of the transporter split him into two people, so his reputation shouldn’t suffer from it.  But no Starfleet is run by irrational boob heads and if Spock and McCoy don’t prop Kirk up he’ll stay out.  How does Starfleet even function?

            Also for those who think William Shatner’s a bad actor really should watch this episode. Not only does the character of Captain Kirk tend to suffer from popular misconceptions and stereotypes about him, but unsurprisingly the actor associated tends to suffer them as well.  If William Shatner was such a horrible actor how the hell did he start a TV show on a major network in almost every decade of his career?  In this episode Shatner has to play three different versions of the same guy and he pulls it off exceptionally well.

FINAL GRADE 4 of 5

CAPTAIN KIRK MEETS A SPACE PIMP!

Episode Title:  Mudd’s Women

Air Date: 10/13/1966

Written by Gene Roddenberry

Directed by Harvey Hart

Cast: William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk    Leonard Nimoy as Lieutenant Commander Spock             DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA "Bones"             James Doohan  as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”   George Takei  as Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu         Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura     Jim Goodwin  as Lieutenant Farrell          Eddie Paskey as Crewman Connors                  Jerry Foxworth as Unnamed Guard                Roger C. Carmel as Harry Mudd        Karen Steele as Eve McHuron         Susan Denberg as Magda Kovacs                    Maggie Thrett as Ruth Bonaventure       Gene Dynarski as Ben Childress            John Kowal as Herm Gossett            Seamon Glass  as Benton     Majel Barrett as Enterprise Computer  

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, unnamed J-class cargo spaceship

Planets:  Rigel XII

My Spoiler filled summary and review:  The story begins with Captain Kirk leading the Enterprise on a chase of an unlawful J – class cargo spaceship. The little ship tries to evade them by heading into a meteor shower.  It however cannot take the strain and its engine start overload and shields go down making it vulnerable to any meteorite that comes close to it.  Regardless of what they done Captain Kirk will not allow that little ship to die so he takes an incredible risk and extends the Enterprise’s shields around it.  Because of the distance between the cargo ship and the Enterprise the use of extending their shields causes their own engines to overheat and wrecks all but one of their dilithium crystals and that one remaining crystal is cracked.

Are we the prettiest young ladies you ever saw?

In the transporter room, Scotty is with Dr. McCoy ready to receive the occupants of the other ship.  They manage to get the first person aboard, a tall plump man who introduces himself as Captain Leo Walsh.  They ask him if there’s anyone else and he says three more he came over by himself because he wasn’t sure if they were a friendly ship.  Here McCoy should’ve smacked him and pointed out is about that everyone on his ship was about to die and the fact that they are trying to rescue them should alone automatically make them a friendly ship. However, seeing as time was of the essence, they just quickly worked to be the other three people aboard.  When they do successfully get the other three people onboard, just in the nick of time as their space ship is destroyed by a meteor, it is revealed that the other three members of the ship’s crew are all beautiful women.

Beauty, only Mr. Spock is immune.  

 Captain Kirk orders that the captain of the transport ship be brought to his cabin “whether he can walk or not.” When there Captain Walsh explains to Captain Kirk that the three women are not part of his crew but rather they’re his cargo.  The women are to be wives for settlers on the frontier.  Walsh blames Kirk for wrecking his ship and Kirk doesn’t care for anything Walsh says just takes down his name and information in calm and detached manner tells Walsh he will hold a hearing on his actions and basically he’s in a lot of trouble.

Kike meets Mudd's Women

With Walsh confined quarters it seems there won’t be any trouble however the women are having a strange effect on the ship.  The men of the Enterprise, despite having amongst their crew beautiful young women who are in the prime of their life and in excellent physical condition who walk around the ship wearing tight one piece miniskirts for uniforms, suddenly find themselves dazed and confused at the sheer beauty of the three new arrivals. The intoxication of these beautiful women on the men is so severe that often interferes with their ability to even think straight.

Due to their dilithium crystal situation the Enterprise changes course and heads to a planet named Rigel XII, which is a dilithium mining facility.  Soon the last crystal cracks and is destroyed causing the Enterprise to have to limp there on impulse power.  By the time the ship gets to the planet they will have barely enough power to maintain a good orbit.

Maybe she's born with it maybe it Venus drug?

At the hearing is uncovered that the so-called Leo Walsh isn’t Leo Walsh at all but a con man named Harry Mudd.  Despite his crimes and history being exposed before the committee he still insists that his present mission is completely valid.   Mudd is helped by the fact that the women introduced as Ruth Bonaventure, Eve McHuron, and Magda Kovacs, back his story that they are wives for settlers on the planet Ophiuchus III.  Of the women, Eve becomes their greatest advocate and a greater help to Mudd as he tries to clear himself with the Captain.  Eve explains that she and the two other women come from places in low population devoid of eligible men to marry.  So instead of moving to Earth, which in the universe of Star Trek is a paradise with plenty of resources and lots of eligible men to marry, they decide to have further out in space to the rugged frontier where there are fewer women and more desperate men.  Eve expresses genuine anger that they have opportunity to meet men who are willing to be their husbands in the Enterprise is bringing them in the wrong direction.

A game Harry Mudd is determined to win!

Eve’s passion for herself and the two other women’s undertaking helps convince Captain Kirk that there want is genuine and they are not being forced against their own will.  Eve shows herself to be very differently from her two counterparts, where the other two go along with Mudd’s plans without question Eve often shows her independence by standing up to Mudd and even questioning him in front of others.  Nevertheless she and the others continue to be a mystery for the Enterprise.

  

"Where's the drug Harry? I may be as sexy as ever but my make up is now messed up and my hair is out of place."

That mystery could be solved if they could peek into Mudd’s quarters at one point.  The women seem to head into a form of withdrawal.  In their view they return to being ugly, however it really just looks like their makeup is a little messed up because they are actually still as attractive as ever.  Messed up makeup is supposed to make women ugly?  I suppose we can blame that on the limited graphics that 1960s television could produce. (More on that thought later.)  Fortunately for the women Harry Mudd finds what he is looking for.   What he was looking for is what gives the women there fix, it is a little drug called Venus.  The Venus drug is the source of their beauty and power.  As soon as they take it Ruth and Magda are as beautiful and stunning as ever.  Eve who is angry at the fakeness of it all has to be more persuaded ultimately she is and he hands her the little red glowing pill.

So Harry Mudd is not only engaged in the ancient practice of mail order brides he is involving another ancient practice called catfishing.  He wishes to set men up with women who appear more beautiful than they really are.  When Harry Mudd learns that they’re going to a planet that has a mining operation for dilithium crystals the most valuable item in the galaxy, he decides to match the women not up with some other farming colonists but with these great and wealthy miners.  According to Mudd the dilithium crystals, which we’re still nicknaming “lithium” crystals for now, are worth thousands of their weight in gold and hundreds of their weight in diamonds.  This makes them the con artist’s most likely target.

Since Harry’s confined quarters it is up to the women to carry out the mission.  Although she nearly gives them out by accidentally walking in front of his medical scanner, Magda learned from Dr. McCoy that there are three miners who are all healthy men, are single, and haven’t seen a woman in quite a while.  Ruth manages to swipe a communicator and this will allow Mudd to directly communicate with the miners.  Eve was assigned to seduce Captain Kirk but failed when she had an attack of conscience.

Too beautiful can't focus.

It did not matter Mudd got his message through.  When Captain Kirk met with the miners it came time to discuss price, Kirk was all set having the authority to pay any reasonable amount.  However the lead a miner, whose name was Ben Childress, told Captain Kirk that their price was they wanted the women and Mudd too.  Childress explains that he was going to arrange for him to go free.  Now at this point I think Captain Kirk’s getting a hell of a deal he can get free dilithium crystals and the only thing he has to pay is to allow four people to go where they already want to go.  If I was Kirk I think I could try to swing for couple extra dilithium crystals for spares, considering this is only Kirk’s third appearance yet second time we see him wreck his ship’s engines he could use the spares.  However Captain Kirk is not like me, Kirk is a man of high ideals and the idea of letting a criminal free just to get dilithium crystals is a thought that is disgusting to him. However just as Kirk has high ideals, Harry Mudd did not get to be the con artist he is without planning ahead having a few aces up his sleeve.  He exposes Kirk’s hand to the miners pointing out that they only have a half a day before their ship crashes and burns.  Kirk is forced to go along and allow the women and Mudd to travel to the planet Rigel XII.

Now don’t you think that allowing a Federation starship and its crew to die a horrible death burning up in a planet’s atmosphere should be illegal in the Federation?  It seems to me like that would be some sort of crime.  Kirk does try to threaten them with some consequences but prison never seems to be one of them.  Maybe it is just that dilithium crystal miners are so rich and powerful, even in a society like the Federation that supposedly doesn’t use money at least in the same way that we do, they can threaten starships with little or no repercussions.  I don’t know why Kirk doesn’t just arrest them right there and throw them in the brig.   I mean how did Childress plan to get off the ship?  Did he want to use the transporter or a shuttle-craft?  The Captain can just say no.  They can be forced to stay up there to burn the rest of them unless he hands over a crystal. What will the miners to do about it?  Will they complain to a Federation court?  They would then have to explain why they would allow a starship die in the first place.  In our last great adventure Captain Kirk out bluffed a powerful alien holding only a pair of twos and in this adventure he’s convinced the fold with a full house to a man who can’t even clean a dish.  But what do I know?  I thought he should just taken their first offer.

Aren't we worth a bucket of dilithium crystals?

Down the planet with the crystals get to be delivered the miners are enjoying dancing with the women.  Everyone is having fun except for Kirk who is still waiting for his dilithium crystals and Eve for some strange reason no one knows why.  Eve has a temper tantrum because is not getting the same attention as her two companions who were dancing while she is looking out at the sand storm with a frown on her face.  She then opens and runs out the door into the very storm.  Childress goes out and finds her and rescues her from certain death.

The next morning he wakes up to find Eve cooking for him.  For some reason this annoys him but he accepts her meal anyway.  While giving her a backhanded compliment by saying her food is good but not as his leading her to point out he can probably still taste this food because additions are so damn dirty.  He defends himself by blaming the type of water that he has.  She says he should take them outside and put them in the desert winds and have the sand blast them clean.  He tries this and is surprised when actually works.  When he comes back however the Venus drug has worn off and his companion is back to plain old Eve.

This makes him angry when he realizes he’s been catfished.  Childress yells at her he demands to know what happened to her good looks. She doesn’t really respond but what she should say is “it is in the same places all your money.  I was going marry you for your money as you were to marry me for my looks and I come down here and I find your entire place looks like crap!  I mean you’re supposed to be like a super billionaire and you’re in horrendous living conditions.  Don’t blame this on the environment Kirk and Spock fly through the depths of space which is a lot worse than being in the desert planet and their dishes aren’t dirty!”

Hair and make up done in seconds! Who wouldn't want Venus drugs?

At this point Captain Kirk, who off screen got the ugly truth out of Mudd about the women in the Venus drug, arrives and forces Mudd to tell the truth to Childress. Mudd explains that the Venus drug gives you more of what you already have.  It makes women pretty and desirable and it makes men strong and aggressive.  This makes Childress very angry he goes on a rant about how he and his friends worked very hard in the almost died, in fact they should’ve died, but they preserved and now they’re rich and are billionaires they expect to have very good looking women for what they went through and that Mudd delivers average homily women.

At this point Eve grabs the Venus drug out of Mudd’s hand, which for some strange reason is no longer glowing, and it consumes it transforming herself back into sexy Eve once more.  Before and after taking the drug she lectures Childress on the way in which he values women, criticizing him for valuing sex over companionship.  Her speech could have been a great moral moment but it was sort of undermined by three things.   The first issue is she herself is targeting Childress for his money not simply companionship, the second is she forgets that sex and sexual attraction is somewhat important, and the third is she and the other two women attempted to win over Childress and his friends with what they themselves viewed as a lie.

However Kirk reveals to Eve that she hasn’t taken the drug what he gave her was a placebo.  (Notice it didn’t glow.)  Eve really is beautiful the only thing she was lacking before was confidence and nothing says confidence like a mysterious drug that will generate pheromones. Eve revealed to be the true beauty that she is, Childress asks that she stay so they can talk.  I assume by “talk” he means he wants to show her his bank account so he can prove he’s truly a billionaire like she’s truly a beautiful woman, despite the fact it was a crappy house and that if she marries him he’ll buy her a much better house.  Childress also promises Kirk that he can have his dilithium crystals.

As Kirk and Mudd prepare to leave Mudd asks if he can stay on this planet as his punishment. Kirk says no but if he wants he will appear as a character witness at Mudd’s trial if Mudd thinks that will help.  Mudd responds by saying he thinks they’ll throw away the key.

Additional thoughts: I think we can assume the by the way everything works out at the end of this episode that Eve and Childress were the last couple that were visited by the duo of Kirk and Mudd.  The way Kirk and Mudd speak of the other two makes me think this is the case.

  Now I can understand Kirk having the authority to arrest Mudd, Starfleet is the primary law enforcement for the Federation.  But should he be allowed to hold the hearing on Mudd with his own senior staff?  Shouldn’t this be someone a little more impartial?  I mean the Enterprise crew are still mad they had to blow their engines just to save them.  That was good trick that never see again although when we see the consequences that makes some sense.

Also the mining operation on Rigel XII if the Enterprise wished they could go a few planets closer to the star to Rigel VII where Captain Pike had his little misadventure right before the events in the “The Cage.”

“Mudd’s Women” is one of those episodes that are made on the format that Roddenberry sold to the television producers.  With westerns being the king of the day Roddenberry sold his Star Trek project as a “wagon train the stars.” Often with the original series there would be these Western themes.  “Go west young man” was a common statement in early America.  Europeans moved to the United States and stopped in the east coast and then Americans living on the east coast started to move to the old northwest then people there moved even further west.  If you want to make your fortune you had to go where the opportunity was there was the most opportunity in the areas where the country was developing.  Many people moved west to mine gold, to start farms, and look for any opportunities available. 

Since men in our society had greater access to the money and power they had more freedom of movement.  Often however as the dove into the wilderness they would find themselves in places short on women.  As time went on women would arrive but only in small numbers and so began the process of the mail order bride.  The way for women to escape their lives east and go west to live with a man who was already there.  Mail order brides continue to this day and surprising enough is not bad as you might think either now or historically.

So we have this as a theme in a Star Trek episode.  In colonizing other worlds the humans who do most of colonizing are seemingly men just like in the old West and women are not as available so they have their own their own mail order bride service.  Although how legitimate this is in the Federation is somewhat questionable considering it is run by the con artist Harry Mudd. 

Episodes like this fly in the face of later Star Trek which would try to promote a philosophy that presented human society as one where no one uses money.  The economics of Star Trek can cause quite a debate among Star Trek fans.  If money is not important why do men like Childress risk their lives in order to become billionaires?

On a side note what do the Venus drugs actually do?  Mudd describes is a type of steroid where gives people more of what they already have.  Yet the crew the Enterprise will lose their heads around these women despite the fact that they see beautiful women all the time.  So I assume it must’ve had some sort of biochemical effect in order to get the men of the Enterprise to notice them like that.  However it only gives them what they already have so in order for the women to appear so unworldly beautiful they have to be beautiful to begin with. 

I noted in the summary that when the women went to the ugly phase they weren’t even really ugly; it was just like their makeup seemed messed up.  When it is revealed at the end that the women were naturally beautiful just needed a confidence boost their ugly scene when they were not really ugly made a lot more sense.  This is a case of bad graphics telling a better story than good graphics would.  If they were to do a modern telling of they would have CGI effects in order to alter the women’s appearances to make them unnaturally ugly.  This would then undermine the main point that all they had to be was confident.  The point that they look normal when not on the drugs reinforces the story’s conclusion.

“Mudd’s Women” is not the greatest of Star Trek stories.  It is however entertaining tale in an interesting early look into their universe and what the United Federation of Planets may be like outside the corridors of the Enterprise.

FINAL GRADE 3 of 5

POKER IS A BETTER GAME THAN CHESS (and it’s more fun too!)

Episode Title:  The Corbomite Maneuver

Air Date: 11/10/1966

Written by Jerry Sohl

Directed by Joseph Sargent

Cast: William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk    Leonard Nimoy as Lieutenant Commander Spock             DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard H. McCoy  AKA "Bones"            James Doohan  as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”   George Takei  as Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu    Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura     Anthony Call as Lieutenant Bailey       Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman First Class Janice Rand       Bill Blackburn  as Lieutenant Hadley     Eddie Paskey as Lieutenant Leslie            Frank da Vinci as  Crewman          Ron Veto as Crewman           Sean Morgan as Crewman    Mittie Lawrence as Crew Woman        Ena Hartman as Crew Woman No. 2          Gloria Calomee as Crew Woman          Bruce Mars as Crewman No. 1     John Gabriel as Crewman             Clint Howard as Balok           Walker Edmiston as Voice of Balok      Ted Cassidy as Voice of Balok Puppet

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, Fesarius of the First Federation

Planets:  None

My Spoiler filled summary and review:  The episode begins on the bridge of the Enterprise, where Mr. Spock is leading the bridge crew in the picture taking of stars for the creation of star charts.  Lt. Bailey is bored out of his mind and lets the whole bridge know how useless he finds star chart making.  I have to admit there is part of me that agrees with him.  When your ship can move faster than light what is the point of stopping in a random place and take pictures?  I am sure it serves some purpose but I just can’t figure it out.

Ah...what can that hurt? It's just a cube!

                While the chart making is going on a mysterious cube appears in space and positions itself in front of the Enterprise.  When the Enterprise tries to move the cube blocks the ship in whatever direction it tries to leave.  If I want to put a cheap dad joke in here, I would say that the block keeps blocking their way.  Mr. Spock puts the ship on red alert.

                At the time all this is going on Captain Kirk is in sick bay getting his physical from Dr. McCoy.  Dr. McCoy sees the red alert but concludes the physical of his Captain is far more important to complete than for the Captain of the ship to be informed of the ship’s emergency.   This tells us two possible things either Dr. McCoy has a messed up set of priorities or the crew of the Enterprise pulls the red alert switch a little too often unnecessarily.  Captain Kirk checked the bridge when he sees the red alert is on and determines the threat is not that important so he will be able to stop by his quarters to change his clothes.

Besides firing phasers does anyone have any other ideas?

                Later in the conference room the bridge crew and senior staff are trying to figure out the best way to deal with this growing problem of being trapped by a shiny cube.  Mr. Spock makes a suggestion that what the cube could be is a type of flypaper and the ship might be in danger.  Lt. Bailey, who earlier tried to suggest the Captain to destroy the cube with phasers by telling him that’s how he would vote, starts readying the phaser crew without receiving the actual order to do so from the Captain.  Kirk, who earlier had to remind Bailey that the ship wasn’t a democracy, now has to chastise him for acting before he gave an order.

                Captain Kirk decides to try another escape but this time the cube comes closer and starts to emit a deadly radiation.  Spock informs the Captain that the radiation is about to become terminal to them in a few more seconds.  Kirk orders Bailey to fire the phasers and Bailey nearly freezes and has to be told by Kirk twice. This of course makes Bailey look bad however is not very helpful for Mr. Spock either was clearly wrong about the “we’ll be dead in a matter of seconds” statement he made because with Bailey’s hesitation destroying the cube clearly took more than a few seconds.  After the danger has passed Kirk chastises Bailey for his sluggish response.  This captures the attention of Dr. McCoy.

                Dr. McCoy believes that Kirk is putting too much pressure on Lt. Bailey and that he promoted him to the position of Chief Navigator too soon.  Dr. McCoy also thinks that Kirk sees little bit of himself in Lt. Bailey.  I think that Captain Kirk just misses Gary Mitchell and holds his present navigator to the same standards as the old one.  Which probably what McCoy feels is so unfair.  Later in Kirk’s quarters the two men continue talking about this over a couple of drinks.   Now I don’t really think is a responsible thing for the two of them to be drinking during a period of time when the ship could still potentially be in serious danger, but I suppose the two of them have been at it long enough that they understand with their own limits are. 

While continuing their conversation about Lt. Bailey, Yeoman Rand shows up to try to fix the Captain up with a bit of dinner.   Kirk is curious to why Starfleet keeps assigning him female yeomen, McCoy suggests that perhaps he and Yeoman Rand would make a good couple, which Kirk deflects by saying he already has one lady and her name is Enterprise.  It appears in the 23^rd century of Star Trek that dating one’s subordinates is considered okay.  Maybe there is some logical sense in that in the world of Star Trek the idea of using one’s powers a superior to harm or coerce someone you have romantic feelings for is considered so inconceivable that regulations against it have completely lapsed. 

The danger has not yet passed it is in fact just beginning.  For an extremely large ship arrives before the Enterprise.  The ship is a giant sphere that is so large it fills the entire viewscreen. An image so terrifying it causes Lt. Bailey to figuratively crap himself so bad that he needs Lt. Sulu to do some of his job for him such as adjust the viewscreen.  Kirk tries to communicate to the alien ship and extend greetings however his offers are rebuffed by a Cmdr. Balok who is the captain of this giant vessel that he calls the Fesarius. Balok tells the crew the Enterprise that they are trespassers and as such they will be destroyed.  He points to the destruction of the cube as evidence of their harmful intentions.  They are given ten minutes to make any religious preparations they make for death.  Kirk tries to plead with Balok but to no avail.  They try to escape but they are prevented.  Spock is able to download an image of their opponent through their communication system.  Bailey has had it, with death’s door close at hand he is the only Starfleet officer who fails to keep his cool.  He goes on a rather entertaining rant  in which he yells at his fellow crew members and Kirk has to dismiss him from bridge.

Wow! That is kind of big!

Big?  Yeah we didn't know the half of it!

Kirk, becoming desperate, turns to Spock and asks if he thought there’s anything he’s overlooked but Spock simply responds that sometimes in chess you find yourself in checkmate in the game is over.  At this point Dr. McCoy decides it is good time to tell the Captain that he seemed to be a creep with Bailey, and he should be concerned because he’s going to put that in his report. This seems utterly hilarious and it really tells you something about Dr. McCoy.  He is either so dense and so self-absorbed by his own concerns that the entire world disappears around him and he is completely oblivious to the dangers and to the fact he’s probably going to be dead in four minutes; or he is so confident in Captain Kirk’s abilities to save them from this horrible situation that not only does he believe that he will survive he also is of the belief that it is no problem for him to try to save time and distract Kirk with this argument about Bailey while the Captain is directly facing the threat!  I like to think it’s the latter option.

McCoy does one good thing and that is he plants an idea in Kirk’s head when he tells him he’s not bluffing.   It makes Kirk think of the game poker and how it is very different from Mr. Spock's favorite game of chess.  He orders Uhura to open communication with Balok and says that regulations require that he inform Balok that one of Starfleet’s great secrets that they keep out of their database is their weapon they call Corbomite.  A weapon that is so powerful that any enemy who destroys one of their vessels gets in turn blasted with this energy that destroys the attackers' vessel.  Kirk mentions that death has very little meaning for them and he would rather Balok attack them now because he is growing bored. 

Balok doesn’t respond and as the minutes tick away Bailey returns to duty and Mr. Spock reminisces that he regrets not getting to meet Balok for he reminded him of his own father.  Scotty says that it makes him feel sorry for his mother and Spock responds by saying his mother considered herself to be a fortunate Earth woman.  In the face of death Mr. Spock and finally admitted he was half human and not just a Vulcan with a distant human ancestor as he said in the previous episode.

Time lapses and nothing happens.  Balok then asked to see proof the Corobomite device to which Kirk tells him to go pound sand.   The Fesarius retreats but a smaller scout vessel detaches and Balok tells the crew of the Enterprise that the smaller vessel is still capable destroying them and it will tow the Enterprise to a planet where the crew will be imprisoned and their ship will be destroyed.  But the little vessel lacking the power that its two predecessors had is unable to hold the Enterprise.  The strain on trying to hold on one of Starfleet's finest vessels causes the little ship to be drained of all its power allowing the Enterprise to break free and condemns itself to spiral out of control to its doom.  Despite everything that Balok had done to them Kirk decides that a great first impression would be for them to rescue their former opponent. 

Bend down so we don't beam your head into a cement block or something worse!

Kirk, McCoy, and Bailey form rescue party and board the enemy ship by way of their ship’s transporter.  They hunch down because Scotty told them that the other ship was cramped and he didn’t want to beam their heads into a wall, he didn't actually say that last part but that’s really what he meant.  When the trio arrived they find what they thought was Balok was indeed a dummy.  They find a small alien that almost resembles a human child who introduces himself as the real Balok the commander and in fact only crew of the Fesarius.  Balok goes on to explain that he was merely testing the crew of the Enterprise to see what type of people they were.  The scary looking dummy is something Balok uses in order to intimidate people because he doesn’t imagine that anyone would be intimidated with the sight of himself.  He goes on to call the dummy’s old version of a “Mr. Hyde.”

Will the real Balok please stand up?

We learn a lot about Balok in this exchange.  The first thing we learn is that he has no idea what the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story is all about.  Mr. Hyde was not in a dummy but rather a dangerous alternative personality, induced by a formula, who does evil things against the main personality's wishes and is whose goal is to usurp the main personality.  The second thing we learn is Balok is so insecure about his physical appearance that he employs a dummy to intimidate people because apparently his gigantic plant size starship that can most likely destroy any other starship it encounters isn’t enough to intimidate people.

Balok is lonely in his automated starship and he asked for some companionship.  He wants one of the crew of the Enterprise to stay with him to keep him company and participate in cultural exchange.  Lt. Bailey volunteers and Captain Kirk agrees to let him as he thinks it is a wonderful idea.  

First contact Captain Kirk and Commander Balok

Additional thoughts:  With the pilots over the first season has truly begun.  We see that the Enterprise has had a small refit and you can see the change on the bridge as the small mini scanners that used to stick out all the time are gone replaced with ones that stay tucked away until their needed and pulled up.  The uniforms are also now up to par, although Lt. Uhura is sporting command gold, everyone else is wearing the uniform that they will wear primarily throughout the season.  We also see the arrival of the classic Star Trek miniskirt that was apparently the brainchild of Grace Lee Whitney, who thought that the women would still be allowed to look like women.  I don’t know that story’s true it is a rumor I’ve heard on the Internet.

                With the exception of Pavel Chekov and Christine Chapel who will show up later in the series, the classical crew has been almost completely assembled.  Dr. McCoy the third and permanent doctor has his first appearance set to become one of the big three of the series.  Granted his actions in this episode made me question his sanity.  We see that Lt. Sulu has moved over to the helm replacing the poor strangled Lt. Kelso.   I think that was a great career move for him and right away we see how good he is because not only does he do his job sometimes he also has to do Bailey’s.

                Speaking of Bailey, I know this episode was supposed to end on a feel-good note but am I the only one who thinks Bailey might be some sort of pedophile?  He was real eager to join the ship with the childlike Balok as his only companion.  And all this time since we’ve never heard from Balok’s First Federation.   They were so powerful that you thought our Federation would try to make them allies.  I wonder why we never heard from them again?   I think Mr. Bailey, who is no relation to George, may not be the good old American kid that we all thought he was.  So much for first contact, we could have used the First Federation against the Dominion or the Borg. 

FINAL GRADE 3 of 5