HEAD IN THE CLOUDS

 

Episode Title:  The Cloud Minders

Air Date: 2/28/1969

Written by Margaret Armen, David Gerrold, and Oliver Crawford

Directed by Jud Taylor

Cast: William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk    Leonard Nimoy as 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          Bill Blackburn as Lieutenant Hadley        Jeff Corey as Plasus         Diana Ewing as Droxine                        Charlene Polite as Vanna          Kirk Raymond as Cloud Guard #1      Jimmy Fields as Cloud Guard #2                Ed Long as Midro       Fred Williamson as Anka      Garth Pillsbury as Prisoner     Harv Selsby as Guard          Louie Elias as Troglyte #1          Dick Geary as Cloud City Sentinel #1       Jay D. Jones as Prisoner #2        Bob Miles as Cloud City Sentinel #2          Marvin Walters as Troglyte #2

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets:  Ardana

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The episode begins with the Enterprise on a desperate mission.  The planet Merak II has been infested with a botanical plague.  The lives of millions are at stake.  Fortunately, there is a substance called zenite that can save them and wipe out the plague.  The Federation world Ardana, is zenite rich and regularly produces it.  The Enterprise is heading there in order to pick up a shipment and bring it to Merak II.

Kirk and Spock looking up at Stratos

The leaders of Ardana want to welcome Kirk, but the Captain instructs Lt. Uhura to apologize for he will be going down to personally oversee the delivery.  Kirk beams down with Mr. Spock only to find no shipment or any people who would normally be there.  Then the two officers are jumped by a group of miners being led by a woman. The would-be-kidnapers start to learn that Captain Kirk is the greatest fighter in the known universe and Mr. Spock isn’t so bad either.  They successfully fight them off but don’t need to finish, because men from Stratos beam down and use weapons to make the attackers retreat. 

Their leader identifies himself as Plasus, the High Adviser of the Council, and he goes on to explain that these were a group of individuals known as the “Distributors.”  With that Plasus takes his two guests to the cloud city of Stratos.  When they get there, they are introduced to Plasus’s daughter Droxine.  Plasus describes his daughter as a work of art.  Spock and Droxine seem to hit it off really well.  However, after having a good time with the nice work of art Spock reflects on the conditions of the planet.  There are two classes of people on Ardana.  The Troglytes who perform all the labor of society but get little to no benefit.  Then there are the Stratos city dwellers who do none of the work but receive all of societies benefits and sit around making art all day.  When this is pointed out to them, they explain how the Troglytes are mentally inferior to themselves and our only good for manual labor.

These people will try to kidnap Kirk and Spock! They will fail!

The Disruptors, a group of Troglytes upset with the situation, are behind the lost shipment.  They are in revolt against the society imposed by Stratos.  One of them, a woman named Vanna, led the group that tried to kidnap Kirk and Spock at the beginning.  She returns to Stratos in an attempt to kidnap Kirk again.  This fails just like the last time, except this time she herself is captured by Kirk.  Plasus recognizes her as one of his former servants and has her tortured.  Just when it seems the episode is going the way of bondage torture porn, Kirk shows up and demands that such treatment stop.  Plasus responds by kicking Kirk out of Stratos, forcing him to wait on his ship.  If Kirk doesn’t like it, he will complain to Starfleet about Kirk’s internal interference.

Spock was excited to meet this work of art!

 Back on the Enterprise, McCoy has some news.  It turns out that it is true that the Stratos city dwellers are mentally superior to the Troglytes in every measurable sense, however it is artificially induced.  In the caves the Troglytes are exposed to an odorless gas that dulls their mental capacity.  The reason household servants like Vanna rise to become leaders of the Disruptors is they are removed from the gas’s influence and regain all of their abilities.  McCoy has already come up with a mask to be used as safety equipment to protect against the gas’s effects.  

Spock in a spot normally reserved for Captain Kirk

When attempts to get Plasus to do the right thing fail due to the Advisor’s long-held prejudice, Kirk decides to go down in violation of Plasus’s wishes and break Vanna out.  Kirk does this and explains to Vanna about the mines and the gas.  He shows her the mask McCoy designed.  This turns out to be for nothing as she betrays him the moment they are amongst her people.  They take away his mask and force him to work.  This lasts only for a brief period of time before Kirk shows off his supreme fighting skills and gets the upper hand once more.  He contacts the Enterprise and has them kidnap-by-transporter Plasus.  Kirk orders him beamed straight there.  Once he has both of the two under his control, he forces both of them to work.  As Kirk and Plasus start to be affected by the gas, Vanna realizes the truth and takes Kirk’s communicator and pleas for the Enterprise to beam them out.  Spock orders follows through and once on the ship Kirk starts to recover.

The Enterprise gets their shipment of zenite to bring to Merak II and Troglytes get their masks to protect them from the gas.  There are negotiations between the Troglytes and the city-dwellers.  From the body language of Vanna and Plasus this looks to be more of a good time for the Troglytes than the city dwellers.  Droxine says her good-byes to Mr. Spock.

Bondage photos this episode moved in odd direction

Additional thoughts: I really enjoy this more than I thought I would.  When I was younger, I found this episode boring. To be fair there is not a lot of action in this one, it is one of their cerebral episodes.  I felt that this was a great analogy to real-life oppression and bigotry.  In fact, I think it is far superior to “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.”  Why the previous episode has a more visual hook, it gets lost in the confusion and direction of that episode.  Where this episode’s message is far clearer. 

point clear execution not so much!

                In this episode you have the elite dwellers of the cloud city who live in a paradise where they get to make art all day and the Troglytes who work hard labor getting nothing but basic food and shelter.  By every measurable test the city dwellers are intellectually superior to the Troglytes and in their minds this justifies the social relationship.  The Troglytes do the labor because that is what their mental skills are good for while the citizens of the cloud city peruse their natural talents in intellectual purists.  However, Dr. McCoy pulls the plug on that idea by proving it is the environment this society created that creates the disparity.   

Kirk forced to work the mines

This is reflective of some many real-life situations in our own society.  Such as the rich/poor divide.  When someone grows up in a secure home with a good education complete with tutors if necessary, of course they will seem intellectually ahead of someone whose parents had to work three jobs to keep barely afloat.  The second kid’s parents can’t find the time to make sure they are hitting their bench marks before their first day of school.  The school funded by local property taxes has a lot less resources than one from a more influent community.  Another example is the situation between White and Black people in the United States.  When one group is segregated and deprived of equal opportunity to resources and education it should come as no surprise when they don’t perform as well on standardized test as the other.  In both cases the beneficiaries of society then see the difference not in terms of their own privilege but instead they are given confirmation of their prejudice.

Kirk showing of his supreme fighting skills

The thing that has me the most concerned is the Federation.  If the Ardana has such an apartheid society then why in the galaxy were they invited to join the Federation?  When Kirk, a Federation official, confronts Plasus about what he is doing, Plasus shoots back by declaring he will report Kirk for interfering with intra-planetary affairs.  He says that with the firmness of a Southern slave-holder or segregationist arguing about his “states’ rights.” Granted the government of the Federation is poorly developed throughout the Star Trek franchise but this is a galling case.

Well, this episode became the answer to the—at this point—year long question that Star Trek fans have had after “Amok Time.” The question was, “are Vulcans restricted to mating during the pon farr or can they engage in sexual activity at any time?”  Now you might have said we already answered that because of Spock’s actions during “This Side of Paradise.”  However, Spock may have broken off his relationship with Leila because of that issue and who knows how the spores were really affecting him.  Spock has no problem getting to know Droxine really well and telling her that he can “always appreciate art.”

Spock can always appreciate a work of art

Speaking of Spock, what was up with the internal monologue bit?  I didn't like it in "The Paradise Syndrome" and I don't like it now.  It makes less sense now, before Kirk was marooned with no memory, there is no reason for Spock not to just be making a log entry.  

If I lived on Ardana I don’t know where I would want to live.  I mean I don’t want to work in mines exposed to gas that makes you stupid, but I really hate heights.  I didn’t like the views from over the edge, and I don’t know why anyone would.  I felt bad for the guy who jumped.  Cities do not belong on clouds.

FINAL GRADE 4 of 5

I WILL DO ANYTHING FOR PRIVACY, BUT I WON’T DO THAT

Episode Title:  The Mark of Gideon

Air Date: 1/17/1969

Written by George F. Slavin and Stanley Adams

Directed by Jud Taylor

Cast: William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk    Leonard Nimoy as 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          Frank da Vinci as Lieutenant Brent     Walter Koenig as Ensign Pavel Chekov                 Richard Derr as Admiral Fitzgerald          Sharon Acker as Odona         David Hurst as Hodin         Gene Dynarski as Krodak         Bill Blackburn as Gideon Inhabitant     Jay D. Jones as Gideon Guard

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets:  Gideon

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The episode begins with the Enterprise settling into orbit around Gideon.  The planet is looking to join the Federation but it nevertheless has some odd ball requests to make.  First, they don’t want to much contamination of their planet’s culture so they will permit only one representative.  Second, that representative must be Captain Kirk.  

Kirk is talking things over with Spock who will handle the transporter controls personally.  Kirk beams down only to rematerialize in the transporter room.  However, Spock is missing!  He looks for Spock but cannot find him or anyone for that matter.  The entire crew has disappeared and Kirk is the only one on the ship!

Or has the crew disappeared?  For we the audience see the crew of the Enterprise still on the Enterprise.  They are wondering where Captain Kirk had disappeared to because he isn’t reporting from where he was meant to be.  They contract the Gideon High Council and they claim that they have no idea where Kirk is.  They don’t however want anyone searching for him.  That would invite contamination on their poor planet.  Spock has Sulu search space slowly. 

Some times negotiations don't go well!

As Kirk wonders around the empty starship, he finds a young woman.  She demands to know why he brought her here.  She thinks the Enterprise is wonderful for having so much space.  Kirk doesn’t really know what to make of this woman at first.  Her name is Odona but she doesn’t remember where she is from.  The audience can clearly see that she is this episode’s love interest.

Girlfriend of the week!

Spock has Uhura try both Starfleet and the Federation bureaucracy itself, and all they get is the run around.  Each department tries to point the Enterprise crew to each other in an attempt to resolve the issue.  Spock, the son of a diplomat, has a funny response to the usefulness of both diplomats and bureaucrats.

Uhura is not having much luck!

Odona still insists she has no idea where she is from.  Kirk tries to tell her she is from Gideon.  He tries to show her that they are in orbit around the planet.  However, when they get to the bridge, they discover that the ship is no longer in orbit.  Instead, they are in warp drive toward deep space.  Kirk manages to get the ship out of warp and he was surprised when they didn’t feel any different.  The screen shows the ship is stopped however.  Odona confides to Captain Kirk that where she comes from the planet is over populated.  There is nowhere anyone can go to that is already crowded with people.  Privacy is a desire that many of her people would kill for.  As Kirk comforts her the stars on the view screen change to faces of people, but the hugging couple don’t see this.

These aren't stars!

Spock once again tries to get the Gideon High Council to allow them to go down and form a search.  As the two bicker back and forth the Council finally agrees to allow the Enterprise to test their transporter by beaming one of the Council members to the ship.  They give their coordinates and Spock has one of the council members beam aboard.  They send him back but notice the coordinates that they gave for the Council Chamber were different for Captain Kirk.

And Kirk thought the monster on the airplane was bad!

As Kirk and Odona wonder the halls all of the sudden they hear a strange noise.  It sounds like something outside the ship.  That should be impossible seeing as they are in space.  They go to a view port where they have a window to the literal outside.  When Kirk opens the port, he is greeted with a room full of creepy people staring at the two of them. Then they are gone and there are stars again.  Kirk turns to Odona for an explanation but she seems to be just as confused.  Then she seems ill and collapses.

Kirk then brings her to sickbay he has a strong suspicion that she has Vegan choriomeningitis a condition that he once had that can be fatal but it is easily treated.  However, Kirk is interrupted on his way to sickbay when Ambassador Hodin appears.  He claims that he is Odona’s father and they brought him her so her could infect her and allow her to die.

Spock to the rescue!

Back on the Enterprise, Spock is in communication with Admiral Fitzgerald at Starfleet Command.  The Admiral makes it clear that even through the Gideons in their request are beyond weird, they are to take no further action.  The Admiral thinks Spock will just forget about Captain Kirk so he probably doesn’t remember what happened in “Amok Time.”

 Back on the planet and its fake Enterprise, Kirk and Hodin are arguing about the situation and the fate of Odona. Hodin explains their population problem and rejects any common-sense approach to the problem that Captain Kirk offers.  (I have more to say about this in my additional thoughts section.) The only way, according to Hodin, is to have a young person die of a curable disease so that those on Gideon can see that it is possible for young people to die. This is a very bad plan but it does show us that the Gideons are not the greatest of thinkers.

Kirk clearly annoyed at having argue with idiots!

Spock decides to disobey the Admiral’s order and head down to Gideon anyway.  McCoy wants to go with him but Spock, forgetting the lessons that he learned in “Amok Time” but also the ones from the second part of “The Menagerie,” Spock tells the Doctor that he will go alone.  Spock sends himself down to the same coordinates as Captain Kirk, and like Kirk ends up in the fake transporter room. After making a log entry, Spock completes his search of the ship and finds Kirk, Hodin, and Odona in sickbay.  Spock contacts the ship and the two Starfleet officers take Odona with them.  On the ship she is treated and cured of her condition. However, since she had been infected with Vegan choriomeningitis her blood can be used to infect others so she goes back to her insane planet. 

All cured and ready to infect others!

Additional thoughts: This story has two really interesting ideas.  The first is the Captain stepping into the transporter and when he steps out his entire crew is missing.  The second is a planet where both disease and war have disappeared but they now have an extreme population control problem.  Either story would be worth exploring, but they try to do both and as a result do justice to neither.  I don’t think that this episode is bad but it is just okay.  It could have been much better.

                Try as I might I can’t feel sorry for the Gideons.  This premise might have worked better if they were a pre-warp species that our crew were exploring and having ended war and disease were in danger of being wiped out as their oversized population consumed all their resources.  Too many people yet headed for extinction would have made for a fascinating episode.  Instead, we have a planet Gideon whose people are the source of all their own problems.

                You could almost say this episode is supposed to be a warning about the dangers of extreme pro-life anti-abortion politics and almost could have been if it had been executed well, but it isn’t.  When discussing the problem with Captain Kirk the first thing Kirk suggests is sterilization, Hodin points out that this won’t work their bodies will just repair the damaged part.  After that Kirk suggests that there are alternative as contraception methods.  This is when Hodin revels their truth, they can’t use such methods because that would interfere with their cultural beliefs.  All life is to be valued from fetus to old person.  Since they have no privacy that has ceased to be a cultural requirement for sex, and with their love of life they can’t stop fornicating.  They refuse to take preventive measures or give women access to abortion.  You can almost hear Meat Loaf sing “I would do anything for some privacy but I won’t do that, and that, and that thing too!"  Who can feel sorry for these people? 

It gets worse they make contact with the Federation and instead of saying “hey can we’re over populated could you help us find some planets to relocate a great deal of our population?”  No, instead they hide their planet like a hoarder hides their house and try to kidnap the Captain.  Why do they do this?  Because they think if they can reintroduce this disease, they can convince enough people to agree to commit suicide by voluntarily infecting themselves with it, that their planet will return to a normal sized population.  For some reason they don’t see their “love of life” belief interfering with this as it has every other possible solution.  Now if they make Hodin and his council more like a Kodos the Executioner-type of characters then the episode could have been interesting.  In a desperate attempt to do something about the population problem with a society whose culture makes it impossible to democratically fix, they decide to introduce some foreign plague and virgin-soil epidemics will take route and drive their population down to manageable levels.  Seeing how the crew of the Enterprise would handle that would be an episode worth watching.  Instead, we have Kirk running around a fake empty Enterprise for a good deal of the episode.   

All by myself...

I do like that the Gideons found the space to build their very own underground duplicate interior of the Enterprise. However, I think this feat has been replicated by Star Trek fans in real life. I wonder what the crowed and self-centered Gideons thought when their government sealed off all that space?  Also how did the Gideons get the specs for the Enterprise to begin with?

One too many people

Gideon was applying to join the Federation but why would the Federation even want these people?  They want to join the Federation but won’t allow anyone to even see their planet?  The Federation should have taken that as a red flag right there.  They don’t even want you to see their planet then they are clearly people hoarders. 

Mr. Spock has seemed to have picked up on Captain Kirk’s habit of bizarrely timed log entries.  Spock beams down to a fake Enterprise and his first instinct is to make an entry into that ship’s log!?! I wondered what the Gideon’s make of it when they got to listen to it.  Were they proud that they were able to replicate the ship to impress even Mr. Spock?

There is one part of the episode I really did enjoy.  When negotiating with the High Council, Spock would turn to the crew for advice.  Yet, he didn't turn the sound off.  So every time Spock turned to the crew and they, especially Scotty, went on rant about how nasty they thought the High Council was the High Council heard the whole thing.  I got a good laugh out of that.  

One thing is sure he got to hear what the crew really thought of him!

In closing given his family history it may not be so surprising to see Spock lose faith in diplomats. "Diplomats and bureaucrats may function differently, but they achieve exactly the same results."

FINAL GRADE 3 of 5  

THE RACISM EPISODE

 

Episode Title:  Let That Be Your Last Battlefield

Air Date: 1/10/1969

Written by Oliver Crawford and Gene L. Coon

Directed by Jud Taylor

Cast: William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk    Leonard Nimoy as 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          Bill Blackburn as Lieutenant Hadley     Frank da Vinci as Lieutenant Brent     Roger Holloway as Lieutenant Lemli   Walter Koenig as Ensign Pavel Chekov             Majel Barrett as Nurse Christine Chapel      Jeannie Malone as unnamed Yeoman         Frank Gorshin as Commissioner Bele          Lou Antonio as Lokai      

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, da Vinci SB4-0314/2, invisible Cheronian ship

Planets:  Cheron, Ariannus

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The Enterprise is heading the planet Ariannus that has had a horrible accident and needs the resources of a Starfleet starship to decontaminate their planet.  However, while they are on their way the sensors pick up a Starfleet shuttlecraft.  Its markings show it to be the stolen shuttlecraft from Starbase 4.  They also show the occupant to be injured and almost dying.  The crew performs a recapture/rescue operation and brings the shuttlecraft aboard.

In sickbay Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are all taken a bit aback by the stranger’s complexion.  He is half-white and half-black down the middle.  They did not think such a look was possible and concluded it was a genetic mutation and he must be one of kind.  Why they think is beyond me.  I mean they run into duplicate Earths all the time.  Strangely colored people are somehow outside the realm of possibly.

"Have you ever seen something so strange?"  "Yes, this doesn't make the top ten!"

When the man wakes up, he identifies himself as Lokai.  He claims he didn’t steal the shuttlecraft but instead he just borrowed it.  He has the right, according to him, because he needed it.  Kirk is not impressed with that logic.  We later learn that he is a member of an oppressed people, he probably should have started with that as Starfleet would be more understanding.  Since he had hung around long enough to steal a shuttlecraft, he should have figured that out.  Kirk lets him know they will be returning him to Starbase 4 where he stole the shuttlecraft from.

Lokai

 Kirk is called to the bridge and according to Chekov there is a ship that is pursing the Enterprise.  The ship that is trailing them is on a collision course.  It is also apparently invisible.  Kirk wonders if it could be a Romulan ship as the audience wonders if the season 3 budget means they will never see an alien ship again.  The invisible ship seems determined to catch the Enterprise, but then it suddenly disintegrates.

It seems the threat is over but then they see a man has appeared on the bridge.  It is the Riddler, just last week the crew had to deal with Catwoman, now the Riddler has shown up to menace them. It appears Lokai is not so unique because the Riddler is also half white/half black.  The Riddler identifies himself as Bele.  He is a commissioner of Cheron charged with seeking out traitors.  He blames his tactics on the necessity of capturing such a dangerous criminal.  

The Rid--I mean Bele!

Bele is permitted to see the prisoner and soon as he does, he and Lokai start yelling accusations of each other.  Lokai accuses Bele’s people of enslaving his, that even when the slavery ended Lokai’s people were given “rights” but made into second-class citizens.  Bele doesn’t really deny this but tries to put a different spin on it.  He also counter accuses Bele of terrorism and says he kills people.  He demands he be turned over.  Kirk reminds them that Lokai is his prisoner for stealing a shuttlecraft, and Federation has no extradition treaties with Cheron.  So, they are to resume the ship’s original mission to help the colony of Ariannus.  After that they are going back to Starbase 4 where Lokai will be arrested and will be allowed to plead his case, and Bele can try to negotiate with the Federation in his attempts to have Lokai returned to Cheron. 

Clearly not friends!

Using his natural inborn abilities Bele manages to take control of the Enterprise’s navigation system and helm control.  He sends the ship on a straight course to Cheron.  It turns out Cheronians are immune to phaser fire with self-generating shields.  Kirk demands he restore control to him.  When Bele predictably refuses, Kirk says that he will destroy the ship before he lets Bele have it.  With that Kirk with Spock and Scotty set up the self-destruct system on the Enterprise.  As the self-destruct device counts down Bele surrenders and control returns to Captain Kirk.  Kirk ends the self-destruct program.  Bele tries to get Kirk to at least consider going to Cheron but Kirk refuses saying he will have to take it up with those on Starbase 4. 

While the Enterprise preforms disaster relief on the colony of Ariannus, both Cheronians begin a propaganda campaign aboard the ship.  Lokai goes around speaking with the crew telling the about the discrimination his people suffer on Cheron for simply having a different appearance.  To the crew this reminds them of Earth history.  As his opponent converses with the crew Bele tries to convince Kirk and Spock of his case.  Kirk promises Bele he can take his case to the Federation but no promises after that.  It is during their conversation that Bele revels something about himself that he probably should have keep secret.  That his hatred of Lokai is fueled by racism.  He mentions that his people are superior and when Kirk and Spock state they can see no difference Bele becomes enraged. He points out that their colors appear on the opposite sides. 

Lokai talking to the crew!

With the situation on Ariannus taken care of Kirk prepares his ship to head to Starbase 4. However, Bele has once again uses his powers to take control of the ship and he has also deactivated the self-destruct device.  The Enterprise is then forced to go on this journey.  When they get to Cheron both Bele and Lokai are horrified to discover that racial hatred had engulfed their civilization to such a degree that their people had successfully wiped out all intelligent life on their planet.  Their civilization is gone and all their people are dead.  Bele blames Lokai and attacks him.  Bele chases him all around the ship, and Kirk orders his men not to interfere for they have nowhere to go.  The two mortal enemies beam down to their planet to continue their final battle.  The Enterprise files away.

All that is left of Cheron!

Additional thoughts: January 10, 1969 the Civil Rights Act has not even had its fifth birthday.  There were also a lot of people openly hostile to it and wished they hadn’t lost this culture war.  Still their rage powered politicians such as Jesse Helms and J. Strom Thurmond for decades and still powers right-wing politicians today.  From the point of view of the late 1960s these individuals were still going to be a political force for years to come. 

Then Star Trek aired this episode.  In the episode a scene contained this bit of dialogue:

Bele: "It is obvious to the most simple-minded that Lokai is of an inferior breed."

Spock: "The obvious visual evidence, Commissioner, is that he is of the same breed as yourself."

Bele: "Are you blind, Commander Spock? Well, look at me! Look at me!"

Kirk: "You're black on one side and white on the other."

Bele: "I am black on the right side."

Kirk: "I fail to see the significant difference."

Bele: "Lokai is white on the right side. All of his people are white on the right side."

              The message is striking and bold.  It is telling every single George Wallace-loving segregationist, every single white supremacist whether they wear white hoods or not that their views are not only morally wrong they are in fact intellectually stupid.  You’re a stoned moron if you have these beliefs. An utter fool whose opinions on this subject, and frankly any subject, is not worthy of consideration.  There may have been a time where intelligent people had your views but there was once a time where intelligent people thought the world was flat.  Every time you utter your stupid racist opinions you look just like this guy.  And he is a guy that you don’t want to be.

Not the smartest person in the universe!

With that said there are some definite holes in the plot that kind of undermine the message.  When we first meet Lokai he has stolen a shuttlecraft, when we meet Bele he accuses Lokai of murdering thousands.  However, it becomes very apparent that Lokai is a part of an oppressed people and it is Bele’s group that are the oppressors.  The flaw is the timeline or timelines we are given.

In one version Lokai’s people were enslaved thousands of years ago.  One thousand years ago exactly they were granted or won their freedom, but have been forced to live as second-class citizens in their society.  Lokai’s position is sympathetic except he is an alleged terrorist who has been accused of killing thousands of people.  We can sympathize with someone from an oppressed group living under systematic racism.  However, we would not condone said individual murdering people. (In reality, Americans tend to freak out even if the only thing they see Black person doing is taking a knee at a football game.) 

However, they also say that Bele has been chasing Lokai for over 50,000 years.  If these men are so long lived and they only abolished slavery 1,000 years ago, then Lokai is not a person whose ancestors had horrific crimes committed against them and is now living in a world of systematic oppression.  He is the direct victim to forced kidnapping, slavery, and forced cultural assimilation.  In which he would have every right to use any means necessary to resist Bele and his people.  So, what was supposed to be introduced as a type of dilemma is not much of a dilemma at all.  

Where your hatred got you!

Kirk has seemed to have grown as a character.  If this had been an earlier episode Kirk might have wanted to fly to straight Cheron so he could ignore the Prime Directive and try to single-handedly, with help from Spock and McCoy, fix their society in sixty minutes with commercials.  Yet this Kirk seems to have his priority’s straight he needs to help the colony on Ariannus, Bele and Lokai can wait.  If he had been like this all along Mr. Spock might have avoided at lot of trouble in "The Gallio Seven."

FINAL GRADE 3 of 5

AS FAST AS THE FLASH!

Episode Title:  Wink of an Eye

Air Date: 11/29/1968

Written by Arthur Heinemann and Gene L. Coon

Directed by Jud Taylor

Cast: William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk    Leonard Nimoy as 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          Bill Blackburn as Lieutenant Hadley     Roger Holloway as Lieutenant Lemli   David L. Ross as Lieutenant Johnson         Walter Koenig as Ensign Pavel Chekov                 Majel Barrett as Nurse Christine Chapel      Geoffrey Binney as     Crewman Compton              Jeannie Malone as unnamed Yeoman          Dick Geary as unnamed Security Guard         Eddie Hice as unnamed Security Guard        Dick Geary as unnamed Security Guard/ Scalosian          Jay D. Jones as unnamed Engineer            Kathie Browne as Deela      Jason Evers as Rael          Erik Holland as Ekor          

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets:  Scalos

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The episode begins with Scotty, not Kirk, making the opening entry into the ship’s log.  We are told that the Enterprise received a distress call from the planet Scalos.  The ship has arrived and a landing party is sent down but there doesn’t seem to be anybody on the entire planet.  In fact, the tricorders and ship’s sensors seem to indicate that there are no life signs on the planet at all.  However, Kirk notices annoying buzzing noise that insects typically make.  Some of the structures seem recently occupied while others haven’t been in centuries.  As they are getting ready to go Crewman Compton disappears in front of McCoy’s eyes.

Well that is the fastest red-shirt to get lost on a landing party!

The remaining landing party returns to the Enterprise and that is when a number of malfunctions on the ship seem to crop up all at once.  The ship’s medical supplies have been tampered with, and a strange device was found connected to the Enterprise’s environmental controls.  The device is protected by a force field that selectively allowed Kirk and Spock to view the device but no one else.  Kirk keeps hearing that strange insect sound.

Only Kirk and Spock are allowed to pass!

Spock feeds the information to the ship’s computer and it comes the conclusion that the ship has been invaded, there is nothing they can to stop this adversary, and they need to negotiate a surrender. Kirk isn’t willing to do that instead he just thinks they should wait for their opponents to make the next move and hope they make a mistake that the crew can take advantage of.

Their next move comes sooner than expected.  At that moment a yeoman was handing out coffee to the bridge crew something happens to Kirk’s cup.  As he drinks, he begins to notice that everyone is slowing down around him to the point everyone seems frozen.  Kirk then comes face to face with Deela, the Queen of the Scalosians.  She informs him that he has been pulled into flash time (Okay, she doesn’t use that word.  She uses the word “accelerated.” However, we all know what is going on and Kirk is clearly in Flash time.)  Kirk tries to stun her with a phaser to which she just steps out of the way. 

Like the very first Star Trek adventure Deela explains that her motive is reproductive.  Scalosians are dying out due to industrial damage to their planet.  The men all became sterile so now they have to reproduce with any passing aliens.  So how aliens match with Scalosian women better than their own men is never really explained but okay.  Deela wants Kirk to be her baby daddy.  They have been doing this for generations to the point they can even predict what will happen to the men who they turn.  First, they resist, then they accept, then they mate, and then they die because someone scratches them. 

Kirk not happy to have been changed.

Kirk learns about this die-by-scratching when he runs into Crewman Compton whose earlier disappearance was also caused by acceleration to flash time.  Compton is now all about helping the Scalosians.  However, when Kirk is confronted by the one who is a total jerk, a man named Rael, and is attacked, Compton comes to his defense.  Compton is scratched in the fight.  He quickly ages and dies. Kirk is then warned that unless he wants to be prematurely age again and be killed, he better toe the line as they ask him to.

Scalosians happy to be invincible 

Kirk however continues to try to contact his crew.  The Scalosians don’t even try to stop him.  Deela finds his attempts amusing particularly when he tries to record himself for his crew.  It appears as if Kirk has lost and he gives in to Deela, to the continued annoyance of Rael.  However, Deela underestimates our Mr. Spock.  In trying to determine the origin of the buzzing insect like sound, he discovers that it is sound sped up.  Then when McCoy finds a tape in the computer that wasn’t supposed to be there full of buzzing, he sends to Spock.  Spock is able to come up with a way to slow it down so they get Kirk’s entire message. 

Now that they know what they are looking for McCoy can isolate the compound in Kirk’s left-over cold coffee and both duplicate and come up with an antidote.  Spock takes the compound in order to join Kirk in flash time. 

He places a lot of trust in Dr. McCoy

Except for a moment when Rael nearly destroys Kirk, Kirk seems to be doing good with the Scalosians.  He even goes to bed with Deela.  Unfortunately for Deela, Kirk who was only sleeping with her to get her weapon finds Spock and together they destroy the machine. 

Deela is disappointed but understands.  Kirk explains that the Federation is willing to help if they would let them.  Despite the fact that Dr. McCoy was able to come up with a human antidote in the span of minutes, still doesn’t seem to fill her with any hope.  The Scalosians accept their fate and head back to their planet.  Kirk takes McCoy’s cure but Spock holds off so he can fix the starship in record time.  When complete he returns to his normal speed  They leave as Kirk looks at the image of Deela and her people one last time.

Additional thoughts: Okay I think anyone who watches the Flash can really enjoy this episode, as Kirk spends most of it in flash time.  I wish they had only used the speed to more practical affects, such as vibrating or creating a speed vortex.  The one thing I wondered through the episode is how they move from deck to deck.  Whenever we see them, the doors are always open.  However, since this is not always the case are they just plot lucky?  If the transporter was a slow process imagine a turbolift ride.  Speaking of the transporters, how did they work on them anyway, shouldn’t they have detected extra patterns in the buffer?

                How come no one noticed a phaser blast randomly going off on the bridge right after Kirk disappeared.  Wouldn’t even the stun setting have damaged the wall?  That seems to be a pretty big plot hole.  Maybe the Scalosians cleaned up the damage before anyone noticed anything.

So here the door is open for Scotty!

Of course, the real interesting revel in this episode is they allow drinks on the bridge.  Not just the Captain, but anyone.  Coffees for everyone.  You would think considering how often the ship shakes the seems to be a heck of a risk.  What if it spills on something? Since the ship has never heard of surge protectors having coffee flying around really can’t be that good.  So why does Captain Kirk allow it?

Not the case here!

I would have hated to be in Kirk’s position.  To have to go all that time and make sure you are never even scratched.  I would find that impossible as I am too much of a klutz.  Deela did say they don’t live very long.  Although I am still at loss to explain why alien would somehow be able to reproduce with the Scalosians better with their own.  Over time would they even be the Scalosians anymore?  Also, could it be possible that Deela may have been pregnant and not have told Kirk? Kirk may have a speedster son or daughter.

Oh and happy Star Trek Day! 55 years!

FINAL GRADE 4 of 5