ANDROIDS UNDERNETH THE ICE AND THE ORIGIN OF NURSE CHAPEL

Episode Title:  What Are Little Girls Made Of?

Air Date: 10/20/1966

Written by Robert Bloch

Directed by James Goldstone

Cast: William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk    Leonard Nimoy as Lieutenant Commander Spock             Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura             Eddie Paskey as Lieutenant Leslie             Majel Barrett as Nurse Christine Chapel             Vince Deadrick Sr. as Crewman Matthews               Budd Albright as Crewman Rayburn            Michael Strong as Dr. Roger Korby         Sherry Jackson as Andrea      Ted Cassidy as Ruk    Harry Basch as Dr. Brown 

   

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets:  Exo-III

My Spoiler filled summary and review:  *Special Notice in addition to Star Trek spoilers this review will also contain spoilers for the film The Sixth Sense (1999)* The Enterprise is heading towards the planet Exo-III an ice world whose star has been going dim. If history is any guide that will mean trouble.  They are trying to find a Dr. Roger Korby a famous scientist whose expertise is researching planets that are home to dead civilizations and discovering their medical knowledge for use in the Federation.  Dr. Korby hasn’t been heard from in the five years since he went to this planet.  Nurse Chapel had been engaged to Dr. Korby before he left on his mission and his disappearance is part of the reason she joined Star Fleet.

                The Enterprise gets a surprise communication from Dr. Korby, they are all happy to hear he is alive but surprised by his request.  He asks that Captain Kirk beam down alone because there is sensitive material that must not be shared with just anyone.  Korby relents however when he learns that Chapel is aboard the Enterprise and allows her to come down as well.

Enterprise crew happy to hear Dr. Korby is alive.

                When Kirk and Chapel beam down however they find no one to great them, Kirk tells Chapel not to be too concerned but he nevertheless calls up to the ship and orders two security personnel to come down.  Two red shirts beam down as we Star Trek fans know that means we have to get two coffins ready.  Kirk has one of the men stay behind and has the other come with him and Nurse Chapel exploring the underground tunnel, which has a steep and dangerous cliff. 

Kirk loses one of his red shirts!

They then run into Dr. Brown, Dr. Korby’s assistant, who for some reason doesn’t recognize Chapel.  He accepts who she is when they tell him but Chapel still feels there is something odd about him that she cannot quite figure out.  As one of the security officers falls down the cliff. Captain Kirk and Nurse Chapel run up to the ledge looking over to see if perhaps it there was a lower ledge that he could’ve fallen on.  Brown insists that the security man who fell over the ledge is now dead.  What Kirk and Chapel don’t realize at this point is that the man did not fall he was pushed by a rather strange looking fellow.  Kirk communicates with his remaining security personnel and tells him to contact the Enterprise routinely.  After they go off communicator however the same strange man kills that member of Kirk’s security team.

Ruk, red shirt hunter!

The two officers finally meet with Korby and Nurse Chapel embraces her lost fiancé.  Korby is very energetic and friendly he is generally excited to see them and of course very excited to see Nurse Chapel.   Korby also introduces them to an assistant of his name Andrea, a beautiful and scantily clad woman.  Kirk insists he needs to get in contact with his security man and reestablish contact with his ship; however Korby is unwilling to let Kirk do that.  He explains that he has work here that cannot be seen by just anyone.  With that Brown pulls his phaser on Captain Kirk.  Kirk grabs his phaser and takes Andrea as a hostage as he tries to escape.  Brown moves in on him and Kirk fires blasting Brown both killing him revealing him to be an android. Ruk arrives and subdues Kirk.  

Korby explains that Ruk is a sophisticated alien android built by the world’s original inhabitants.  He found Ruk and has now programmed the android to protect his work at all costs.  It was then that Korby had to explain to Kirk that with that mandate he had killed both of Kirk’s security officers.  In addition to Ruk, Korby also built other androids to use as his assistants.  One of these was Brown, a copy of a real assistant he once had, and the other is Andrea.  Korby goes in length explain how wonderful Andrea is showing that her skin is soft and that she is warm even has a pulse. 

Isn't my creation so sexy!?!

Nurse Chapel was not too happy to hear Korby go on about Andrea’s traits.  It made her think that he had designed himself a lover robot while he was down here the caverns.  Korby understanding her distress decides to demonstrate something, he has Andrea kiss Captain Kirk and then he orders her to strike him both of which she does.  He then turns to Chapel and says, “You see Christine she doesn’t have any emotion she just obeys orders.”  The funny thing is he is not denying that he had sex with her; he is just insisting that it’s okay because Andrea doesn’t feel anything.

Korby showing Andrea's skills on Captain Kirk for Nurse Chapel

Later Korby decides to show Nurse Chapel how they make androids by making a duplicate of Captain Kirk.  He brings Chapel into the android making room and we see Kirk strapped into the device completely naked with the exception of his bounds covering his private areas.  This makes one wonder how exactly they got Kirk into this contraption I am assuming that Ruk put him in their off-camera, which is to be had probably would’ve been hilarious to watch.  As he’s being duplicated Kirk focuses his mind on an insult targeting Mr. Spock.  When the process is complete there is a duplicate Captain Kirk.

Android making time!

To show his android’s effectiveness Korby uses the duplicate of Captain Kirk to have a conversation with Christine Chapel, when Chapel asked the android, thinking he is Captain Kirk, not to ask her to betray Korby the android Kirk reveals himself by pointing out that androids do not eat.  Then Korby enters with the real Captain Kirk so that Kirk can both see the uselessness of trying to get Chapel to join him and how effective the android is.  It is clear now what Korby’s long-term plan is he plans to go to a small Federation colony and eventually use androids to replace all leaders with duplicates loyal to him and allowing the government to run according to his vision.  He thinks if he is running everything he has better priorities and will make the universe a better place.

Kirk pulling up a plate engages with his android duplicate.  Kirk, having already dealt with a double of himself, doesn’t seem the least bit phased by the presence of his doppelgänger.    In fact it was probably something of a relief to see a duplicate of himself who was not made out of parts of his actual being that pulled out of him by transporter.  This time Kirk faces a duplicate while in full command of his own facilities and mind.  During the conversation it is clear that the android does possess his memory.  The android can recall details of his life, journey, and even recall details of Captain Kirk’s brother.  The details he recalls on Kirk’s brother include his full name, how many children he has, and his present work assignment.  The conversation did to have about a brief spat about food that was interesting, but I also think could’ve been a tad bit funnier.

Kirk: Unlike androids I do need to eat.

Android Kirk: You’re weakness sir, not mine.

Kirk: Food is one of life’s pleasures.  It is a shame you’ll never enjoy it, sir.

Android Kirk: Ah, but I will never starve, sir.  More importantly I will never have to waste my time pooping.

Kirk: To drop a big load can be both an immense relief and another one of life’s great pleasures.

Android Kirk: Yes sir, but I will never be stuck on a broken turbo lift with a case of diarrhea. 

Kirk: Okay that’s a good point.  But I would argue that you may have the better body but I do better mind.

Android Kirk: Do you have any idea how many calculations I can make it a single second?

Kirk: Can you calculate how quickly I’m going to talk you and your friends in the killing each other?  For you have forgotten that I, Captain Kirk, am the bane of all artificial intelligence as you will soon see.

"I have faced off against me before!"

Korby uses the android Kirk to go aboard the Enterprise and gather information on the planet they can use.  While there the artificial Kirk encounters Mr. Spock.  Fake Kirk insults Mr. Spock with Kirk’s last thought before duplication.  This is enough to trigger Mr. Spock to realize that this is not the real Captain Kirk, and he orders the formation of a security team to go down to the planet.

The Bane of All AI, begins his work on Ruk! 

The scene with android Kirk and Mr. Spock helps emphasize how the crew the Enterprise is not both competent but also would’ve been a foil for Korby and his androids if they had actually made it that far. Fortunately they are unnecessary because Kirk unleashes his plan to destroy the androids before Mr. Spock and company can get down.

After his encounter with his own duplicate Kirk notices the androids are not as unemotional as Korby seems to think.  He notices that Ruk is not pleased with Korby’s way of doing things.  Kirk speaks with him long enough to get him to realize that he had once betrayed his original makers in the he can do the same thing again with Korby.  This sets Ruk against Korby and Korby has to vaporize Ruk with the phaser.   Kirk then manages to seduce the love robot Andrea.  This leads her to approach the android Kirk with the same intention and when she is rejected she vaporizes him just like Korby did with Ruk.  With that two of the androids have been destroyed.

Kirk goes to confront Korby during the scuffle Korby is damaged it is revealed that he himself is an android.  He tries explained that although he is an android body he is in fact the real Korby, and tries to prove it but realize every time he tries to answer a question he processes it in the way that android would think.  As he tries to tell Christine Chapel that he still the same person and not an android, Andrea shows up and kisses him and uses her phaser to vaporize them both simultaneously.

The not real Dr. Korby 

The episode ends with Mr. Spock and his security team to the rescue where they find Captain Kirk and Nurse Chapel.  When Mr. Spock asked about Dr. Korby Kirk responds with a statement “Korby was never here.”

Additional thoughts:  In 1999 I was in a movie theater with my father and two sisters watching the film The Sixth Sense.  At the scene where Oliva Williams drops Bruce Willis’s wedding ring my father yelled out in the middle of the theater, “He’s dead! He’s been dead this whole #$%%$# time!”  The funny thing was no one else in the theater objected they just nodded their heads in agreement.  The whole theater was equally shocked and my father was voicing the collective opinion of the audience.  In the words of President Theodore Roosevelt he was saying what everyone was thinking and he was saying of the loudest.

                What makes a good twist? To me it has to be something that most people won’t see coming but when you watch it again it seems so obvious that you feel like a fool for not having seen it.  So what about this twist in the revelation of Korby?  When viewing these episodes for this blog I tried my best to clear my head of all my vast Star Trek knowledge.  I tried to consider each of these episodes fresh as if I were watching them for the first time and not to take any element from later in the series or franchise into the review.  (I do allow myself to take previous episodes already reviewed and apply the knowledge of them to the episode being reviewed.)  Now this doesn’t always work in the end of the day I’m a diehard Star Trek fan who has these episodes many times.  For example when this episode starts and Nurse Chapel asked Mr. Spock if he’s ever been engaged I want to raise an eyebrow with Mr. Spock seeing as I already know the answer to that question.  Or when reviewing The Corobmite Maneuver I couldn’t help but wonder where the First Federation had gone to in the Star Trek franchise.  However, I think the Korby reveal was an excellent plot twist.

                When the viewer first meets Korby the character is animate.  He is very lively, smiles a lot, and he can be very charming.  These characteristics are stark contrast to the characters we introduced to and who we know are androids such as Ruk, Brown, Andrea, and ultimately the android Kirk.  There are also some great red herrings to throw us off.  When we first meet the character of Brown he’s introduced to us as somebody who Christine Chapel knows from her past but immediately she realizes something wrong with him.  When it’s android status is revealed we now have an android based on a real human who as a consequence of it being an android can’t fully imitate its human model.  In addition to that when the android Kirk is created we see an android that has a completely different identity of the person it was created from.  Android Kirk is aware he’s not the real Kirk and only pretends to be to fool the crew.  Korby always acts as the real Korby.  Then there is how Korby’s always describes the androids as not having willpower, emotions, or any thought of their own.

                However as one continues to watch the episode there are some cracks that start to show that after the reveal you feel silly for not picking up on.  The major clue is how Korby’s wrong about the androids.  He speaks of them having no minds and emotions.  He often talks about how they have no choice but to obey him.  Yet we see this is not true.  Rok clearly feels frustration at the direction of Korby’s leadership and annoyance at his mercy; Andrea the lover bot android is clearly hurt by Korby's now rejection of her in his embrace of Nurse Christine Chapel; and finally there is android Kirk who feels “at home” on the Enterprise.  The android Kirk also develops some of the mannerisms of the man he’s based on, unlike Brown. 

                Even though it’s not directly stated it becomes clear to the viewer what happened to the real Korby.  After losing his assistant he did manage to survive and find the underground cavern with the android making facility.  He was able to reawaken Rok and re-program the android to help him activate the machines.  In order to continue his legacy Korby arranges to make his android duplicate but dies during the duplication process.  When the android Korby awakes he comes to the conclusion that his mind had just entered a new body.  He thinks he is the real Korby with an android body and he continues to think himself as a separate thing from the androids he creates.  His assistant Brown was already dead during the duplication process so there was no mind for that android to copy.  Since there was a still living Captain Kirk during his duplication process his android always knew he was a copy and never presumed he was the genuine article.  Korby learning he was fake was an incredible dramatic moment.

                The best part the episode for me is this was the first episode where they introduce one of my favorite traits of Captain James T Kirk: the bane of all artificial intelligence.  Right now I’m violating my rule of clearing my head of what I know of the franchise but this is something we will see again from the good Captain.  When encountering forms of artificial intelligence Kirk will simply outsmart them by playing divide and conquer as he does here or simply talk the artificial intelligence into committing suicide.  This is an actual trait of Captain Kirk has as much as slow speaking lines, making out/having sex with beautiful and sometimes alien women, or rule breaking.  Except the difference between this and those other things is this is not an exaggeration this is an actual demonstrated trait that he will use again and again.  What is amazing is not only that Kirk does it but he will often do it easily.  In this particular episode was almost like he had a tolerance of how much he would let the androids annoy him and them he decided to let loose and turn them against each other destroying all of them.

                When I first began this blog I looked ahead at some of the episodes that I would see in the first season and got excited when it came to seeing some of my favorites.  For example I really enjoyed writing the last review and I had looked forward to viewing that episode for the review.  This episode and the next two coming up were on the list of episodes that did not really excite me too much, however I found myself really enjoying this episode as I watched it and that was a great and pleasant surprise.  I am hoping that trend will continue.

FINAL GRADE 4 of 5

THE “FIRST” STAR TREK EPISODE, TAKE TWO

Episode Title:  Where No Man Has Gone Before

Air Date: 9/22/1966

Written by Samuel A. Peeples

Directed by James Goldstone

Cast: William Shatner as Captain James T. KIrk    Leonard Nimoy as Lieutenant Commander Spock             Paul Fix as Dr. Mark Piper       James Doohan  as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”   George Takei  as Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu    Gary Lockwood as Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell     Sally Kellerman as Dr. Elizabeth Dehner    Paul Carr as Lieutenant Lee Kelso      Lloyd Haynes as Lieutenant Alden       Andrea Dromm as Yeoman Second Class Smith       Bill Blackburn  as Lieutenant Hadley     Eddie Paskey as Lieutenant Leslie

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets:  Delta Vega 

My Spoiler filled summary and review:  USS Enterprise is out exploring the edge of the galaxy, an area of space unexplored by any people from Earth since SS Valiant.  Kirk gets done beating Spock at chess just as they are called away to discover they have found the Valiant’s “black box.”  On a funny note Spock mentions to Kirk that one of his ancestors was a human female.  This is funny because it is own mother, who I suppose is one’s most immediate ancestor; it just shows how Mr. Spock does like to talk about his past in vague terms.   

Kirk getting to know his First Officer

                Done with their game they head to the turbo lift.  Where they run into the star of this episode Gary Mitchell, who asks how their game went and easily picks up on Spock’s sour grapes about Kirk’s illogical game play.  Which to be frank anyone would pick up if they were in the room.  When they reach the transporter room Scotty brings the black box of the Valiant on to the ship.  Fortunately the Enterprise’s computer systems are so awesome they can work with two hundred year old computers without any interface problems what so ever.  

                On the bridge Kirk calls a meeting of the senior staff so he can stress with them the importance of their mission before announcing it to the whole crew.  On a side note, this also makes it plan to the viewer that with exception of Lt. Sulu and Lt. Cmdr. Mitchell, Kirk is visible younger than most his senior staff.  The Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Mark Piper, introduces Dr. Elizabeth Dehner who specialty is to study starship crews in stressful situations, which means if you’re on a crew and Dr. Dehner shows up it is not a good thing.  Mitchell tries to talk with Dehner but she shuts him down leading Mitchell to under his breath remark “walking freezer unit.”

                Spock downloads the Valiant’s records they discover that the Valiant at the galaxy’s edge encountered a force field.  This damaged the ship’s systems and a number of the crew were knocked unconscious.  Most of the passed our crew died but those that did not changed, Spock thought it was strange that the crew became obsessed about researching ESP.  The records end with the Captain of the Valiant given the order for the ship to self-destruct. 

Enterprise crew heading into danger and loving it!

                In the real world ESP is fake and those who claim to have it are all complete frauds but it world of Star Trek’s 23^rd century ESP is real and even documented.  Which leads me to wonder who won the million in James Randi’s famous challenge?  Kirk asked Dehner about ESP and she says she scores quite high, Kirk points out he wasn’t asking about her personally just what she knew about the subject in general, showing Dehner’s ESP skills to be somewhat lacking when put to the test.  She thinks ESP is harmless but Spock is not so sure pointing to cases where bad things could happen.  Nevertheless Captain Kirk makes the decision to go ahead as there are going to be more ships out this way and it’s their job to explore the dangers.

                As the Enterprise enters the barrier we learn that 200 more years of advance technology still can’t beat the barrier as the ship is rocked back in fourth.  They take server damage and the warp drive is shot beyond their ability to repair in space.  Several crew members, all with high esper scores, collapse.  Most die but two, Gary Mitchell and Elizabeth Dehner survive, Dehner is fine but Mitchell’s eyes have been changed to sliver.  

Mitchell is starting to like his new abilities.

                His eyes are not the only thing that has changed in sickbay Mitchell starts to experience strange sensations.   He can now read with at lighting speed photographic memory, he can tell who has come to visit him without looking , then he can see all over the ship, he can control his body functions, and he can move objects at will.  Kirk comes to see Mitchell and they talk and Kirk is pleased to see that Gary is still Gary.  However as time goes on Mitchell does seem to change.  At one point he talks down to Lt. Kelso, the helmsman who works by his side on the bridge, for failing to do his job right.  That wasn’t too bad because Mitchell was correct, but later many ship’s systems start to go haywire whenever Mitchell smiles and laughs from sickbay.

Mitchell is now becoming a growing concern!

                In the briefing room Lt. Sulu, one of the science officers, compares Mitchell’s growing power to the penny that doubles every day making a person a millionaire in month.  Kirk doesn’t want to give up on his friend and can’t bring himself to kill him.  Spock offers him another solution, the planet Delta Vega is in range of their impulse engines.  It is a fully automated mine for dilithium crystals[1] they were already headed there to salvage the crystals and equipment to repair the Enterprise once completed they can just leave Mitchell there.  Kirk doesn’t like this option either but comes realize he has no choice.

                In sickbay they manage to tranquilize Mitchell to get him unconscious long enough to get him to the transporter room and somehow gets him to stand on a transporter pad unconscious.   They beam to the surface where Mitchell is contained in a brig with a force field preventing him from escaping.  Mitchell attempts to break the force field only to be driven back.  For a moment his eyes turn back to normal before the power overtakes him again.  As a precaution Kirk has Lt. Kelso rig a self-destruct for the station as a last minute attempt if Mitchell were to escape.  Mitchell uses his telekinesis to strangle Kelso so he can’t use it.  Mitchell was now powerful enough to bring down the force field.  Tormenting Kirk with the statement “command and compassion is a fool’s mixture” and with a new electro blast power he knocks everyone out, except Dr. Dehner who now joins him with her eyes as silver as his.

Two for the price of one!

                When Kirk is awakened by Dr. Piper, he might have chosen to cut his losses.   The Enterprise was repaired and ready to go.  Mitchell had now apparently accepted exile and Dr. Dehner who had already expressed a desire to stay was with him.  However that is not what makes Captain Kirk Captain Kirk.   He now realized how wrong he had been.  Exile wasn’t going to stop Mitchell it was just going to help him build more power.  Not knowing the Dehner was equally affected, he feels he can still save her.  Ordering Piper back to the ship with orders for Mr. Spock to leave if they don’t hear from him in twelve hours and request Starfleet subject the planet to a lethal dose of radiation.  In the previous episode Number One used a laser cannon against entities who were masters of illusion, Kirk grabs a phaser rifle and heads after an entity who can alter matter with thought for real.

                Altering matter is just what Mitchell is doing, with Dr. Dehner at his side; he makes planets and water appear from dessert.  As they eat and drink from Gary’s new environment the two sense Captain Kirk coming.  Dehner goes out to confront Kirk, who is horrified at her new condition.  Nevertheless Kirk tries to reach her explaining the Mitchell’s mind has become warped reminding her how he mocked compassion, something that even a god needs.

                Mitchell, sensing that Kirk is actually getting to Dehner appears before them to confront his captain.  Kirk proves helpless before Mitchell’s power.   Mitchell torments the man who was once his best friend even going so far to make a grave for him that gets his middle initial wrong.  While this is happening Kirk continues to appeal to Dehner asking if she likes what she sees.  She doesn’t and turns on Mitchell and the two blast each other with their power.  Dehner passes out but Mitchell is drained.

                With his opponent’s power down Kirk lashes into Mitchell with his fierce fighting skills.  Attacking with grace and speed that must have made Muhammad Ali green with envy as he watched this as it came on air; Kirk starts a beat down on Mitchell.   Mitchell recovers and with fighting skills of equal grace fights Kirk to a standstill long enough for his power to restore.  Kirk is knocked back to where his phaser rifle is.  This is no big deal to Mitchell for he has involved beyond phaser fire.  Kirk however bets he hasn’t evolved beyond giant rocks falling on him and blasts the rock formation behind him.  Kirk is right and a giant rock falls down and crushes the would-be-god.  Kirk goes to check on Dehner but she dies of her injuries.

                On the bridge of the Enterprise Kirk notes that Dehner and Mitchell died in the performance of their duty, pointing out that Mitchell didn’t ask for what happened to him.  Spock in solidarity with Kirk says he felt for him to which gives Kirk hope for Mr. Spock.

Additional thoughts:  Where The Cage failed is Where No Man Has Gone Before succeeded.   The second pilot was the one that made studio heads want to climb on board.   Both had compelling stories but was the second pilot that brought the exciting action of Captain Kirk phaser blasting a mountain down on top of Gary Mitchell. 

It was also an unfortunate small win for bigotry; the studio was satisfied that there was no “annoying” female First Officer to take command of men while the Captain was off fighting for his life.  Fortunately, it was professional woman Dr. Dehner, who resists the temptation of power, turns of Mitchell opening a window for Captain Kirk to seize victory. 

"If you're going to kill me can you at least spell my name right?"

This episode is one of the primary reasons I prefer production order to air dates for the original series.  As most know the original series aired out of order.   Most Star Trek episodes are self-contained reducing the importance of what order the episodes are seen in.  However it doesn’t always work and Where No Man Has Gone Before is one of those examples.   The main reason is the relationship between Captain Kirk and Lt. Cmdr. Mitchell.

In the episode it is explained that Kirk first met Mitchell when he was a lieutenant and instructor at Starfleet Academy and Mitchell was his top student.  Mitchell would follow Kirk for the rest of his career finally ending up with Kirk as Captain of the Enterprise with Mitchell as a lieutenant commander, chief navigator, and I also suspect Second Officer after Spock.  Traditionally in Star Trek the Enterprise chain of command goes Kirk, Spock, and then Scotty.  But with Mitchell having an equal rank as Spock and Scotty and serving on the bridge, it would more sense for Mitchell to be after Spock.  Also given the relationship between Mitchell and Kirk, the Captain might have wanted for Mitchell to be the next in line.  Scotty replace Mitchell in that spot after the later's death. 

The friendship between Kirk and Mitchell helped the two men cancel each other’s weaknesses.   Kirk taught Mitchell to be a great Starfleet officer and to fly up the ranks of the service.  Mitchell helped turn Kirk from a “stack of books with legs” to a social charmer and ladies’ man.  Traits that are traditionally associated with Captain Kirk.  This works because the audience is never to have seen Kirk before, or if they have they go in knowing, as I did, that this episode was his first appearance.  Knowing this was first time William Shatner ever performed the role makes it easier to accept the information that is fed to you about Kirk and Mitchell’s relationship.  If you see this as the third episode it creates the question of: if Mitchell was so important where was he the first two episodes?  It is generally considered cheap to create a character in already established show make it seem important just to kill him off.  And I don’t think Gary Mitchell was cheap.

FINAL GRADE 4 of 5     

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[1] Still known by their old nickname of ‘lithium’.