A RUDE GUEST AND A GODDESS

 

Episode Title:  BEM

Air Date: 9/14/1974

Written by David Gerrold

Directed by Bill Reed

Cast: William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk       Leonard Nimoy as Commander Spock        James Doohan as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”, Lieutenant Arex, and Honorary Commander Ari bn Bem                          Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura and Goddess of Delta Theta III             

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets: Delta Theta III

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The episode begins with the Enterprise getting set to explore the planet, Delta Theta III.  For the past few weeks, the ship has been hosting a guest from the planet Pandro.  The guest’s name is Ari bn Bem.  He has been sent by his people to observe the Enterprise and its crew in action.  For some mystery reason Starfleet has given their guest the honorary rank of Commander, which means he outranks everyone on the ship with exception to Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.

Commander Bem has decided he wishes to go with the landing party on their assignment.  This seriously annoys Captain Kirk, who is apparently already frustrated with Bem as the so-called observer has done nothing but stay in his quarters the entire time refusing to interact with anyone on the ship and now, he wants to go on a highly sensitive mission.  Kirk relents however because he has two missions and one of them is helping the Federation establish a relationship with Bem’s people. 

Bem trying to work a transporter!

Bem was so eager to go on this assignment that he took the initiative and set up the transporter already.  Scotty overlooks it and determines it was set up alright.  Scotty should have checked a little closer because when they beam down Kirk and Spock’s standing placements were in the air with no ground beneath them.  The two men fall into the water below and now Kirk is really ticked off with his guest.  Bem jumps into the water with them.  This is where things start to get weird.  Bem then splits in two with his lower half detaching.  Since this occurs below the water no one sees it.  His lower half then goes and with some extra arms he had tucked swaps out Kirk and Spock’s phasers and communicators. 

He is sneaky splitting into parts. 

The three get out of the water and Kirk makes it clear that only Enterprise crew members are going to be operating the transporter for now on.  As they begin to explore the planet Bem decides to run away.  He goes into some thick brush but it appears that Bem can separate himself into multiple units, not just two.  Independent parts of a lower half, arms, torso, and a separate head makes Bem both a strange creature and one that can move through thick brush very easily.  So even though Kirk and Spock are in quick pursuit they quickly lose track of him.  The Enterprise starts to read a strange energy signature and due to Captain Kirk’s prior orders, Lt. Uhura beams up the rest of the landing party, over the objections of Mr. Scott.

As Kirk and Spock try to communicate with the Enterprise, they discover that their phasers and communicators have been swapped for fakes.  They quickly figure out that it was Bem that did it and as much as Kirk has grown to hate the guy, they can’t leave him on this planet.  It appears that their troubles have grown however as Bem was captured by the primitive locals.  They decide to wait to nightfall and rescue him.  When they do this Bem starts to argue saying that he is studying but Kirk and Spock try to get him out.  However, all three are caught and Kirk and Spock join their rude guest in captivity.

Moving through the brush in parts!

With all three captured, Kirk demands to Bem he explain what he was been doing.  Bem says he is here to observe and Kirk has developed such a reputation in this side of the galaxy that the Pandroians requested to post Bem on the Enterprise to see him first hand.  However now that Bem has seen him, he is very unimpressed.  He thinks Kirk is an utter disappointment and failure.  Bem continues to explain how much he despises him in detail.  Despite this Kirk still convinces him to give back the phasers and communicators that he took from the two of them.  In doing so Bem revels to the two Starfleet officers that he can take himself apart at will.  Spock concludes that the “Bem” personal is combination of a number of creatures.

Now that they have their weapons Kirk and Spock decide it is time for the three to leave.  Kirk orders the phasers on low stun.  This comes to nothing because at the very moment the interference that had been blocking communication and transporters from the ship turns out to be a living goddess.  This goddess demands to know what they are doing on her planet and when Kirk gives her a crap answer she shuts down their phasers allowing the two to be recaptured.

Bem captured!

Once again locked up, Bem determines that Kirk is a failure, tells Kirk this, and then takes himself apart so he can get out of his cage and walks away.  Although the goddess’s interference prevents them from contacting the ship, Spock reasons they could rig their communicators to allow them to communicate with the deity that they have been imprisoned by.  This works and this time Kirk speaks to the goddess with a little more wit and lets her know that he has no desire to harm her “children” (the inhabitants of the planet).  Kirk convinces her to let them once more communicate with Enterprise and they will voluntarily leave.  The goddess allows this and Kirk then beams down a security team.   

 

The goddess at this point starts to wonder why there are so many more intruders on her planet.  The good news is this time Captain Kirk is able to think more quickly on his feet and explains that they need to find their last crew member so he does not interfere with her “children.” The goddess accepts that explanation and allows them to continue.  They find Bem who is so impressed that Captain Kirk found a way out and proved his own analysis to be flawed.  Because he failed, Bem becomes suicidal.  It takes both Captain Kirk and the goddess to talk him out of it.

Showing Kirk he can leave whenever!

The Enterprise is now set to leave and go on its next adventure.  Bem is, although not suicidal, now filled with a low opinion of himself.  The goddess contacts them and wishes the crew farewell.       

Additional thoughts: Okay so why did Starfleet give Bem and honorary rank?  We have never seen them do that before, so what was the deal with it here?  At no point in the episode does his rank even matter. The story would have been exactly the same if he had been “Ambassador Bem.”  In fact, Bem as an ambassador would have made more sense in the opening scene in the transporter room, as Kirk would naturally want to please the diplomat as opposed to a commander who he could just order into compliance.

I do believe that this is the first time we have heard Kirk’s middle name “Tiberius” said allowed.  He had been known as James T. Kirk since the first regular episode made: “The Corbomite Maneuver.” However, what the “T” had stood for was anybody’s guess.  From this point on Star Trek fans could say it with confidence.

Kirk was really lucky with this one, as it turns out the goddess was very understanding of their situation.  When the first time the goddess demands their motives instead of breaking out his classical “We are explores seeking knowledge peacefully” he goes for “It’s our job to classify.” No wonder he ended up back in the cage.  When she agrees to let him contact his ship, Kirk goes back on his word to leave and beams down a security team.  He was lucky that she let him explain and plead his case. Otherwise, they all would have ended up in cages.

Talking to the Goddess!

Bem starts out as one of those characters you are supposed to initially dislike but gets redeemed in the end.  The bad part is he is never redeemed at all.  He starts off as an annoying loser and he is still an annoying loser at the end of it.  The only development he made was that he totally lost his confidence and is now aware of what a giant loser he is. 

I am surprised they didn’t try to learn from this goddess and what her designs for the planet were.  It is odd that Kirk never thinks of trying to free the natives from her control.  He does this in “The Return of the Archons” and “The Apple.”  However, it could be because Kirk doesn’t feel the goddess is holding “her children” back that he doesn’t want to interfere.

I do feel now that we are into the second season that the animation has actually improved. It just looks shaper like they are putting more work into it. 

FINAL GRADE 5 of 5