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

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

MR. SPOCK LEARNS IMPORTANT LESSONS ON COMMAND, WHICH IS GOOD SEEING AS HE IS ALREADY THE FIRST OFFICER

Episode Title:  The Galileo Seven

Air Date: 1/5/1967

Written by Oliver Crawford and Shimon Wincelberg (under the pen name "S. Bar-David")

Directed by Robert Gist

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          Don Marshall as  Lieutenant Boma            Peter Marko as Lieutenant Gaetano            Rees Vaughn as Lieutenant Latimer                 Grant Woods as Lieutenant Kelowitz          Eddie Paskey as Lieutenant Leslie                 Bill Blackburn as Lieutenant Hadley     Frank Da Vinci as Lieutenant Brent                      Phyllis Douglas as Yeoman Second Class Mears       David Ross as the Transporter Chief         Ron Veto as Crewman          John Crawford as High Commissioner Ferris           Robert ‘Big Buck’ Maffei as the Creature of Taurus II          Majel Barrett as Enterprise Computer

  

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, Galileo NCC-1701/7, Columbus NCC-1701/2

Planets:  Taurus II

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The episode begins with the Enterprise on a mission to deliver much-needed medical supplies to Makus III.  However on their way there they discover a quasar-like formation identified as Murasaki 312.  Kirk, with standing orders to study such a phenomenon, decides to stop by and check it out.   This is extremely irritating to the Enterprise’s guest High Commissioner Ferris, who dresses like he just came out of one of the more modern Star Trek shows that take place in the past.  He does not like this delay and feels the primary mission should be more important.  Kirk explains they have five days to get there in the rendezvous point is only three days away therefore they have two days to study Murasaki 312.

Wants Captain Kirk to share his priorities. 

I have to say right from the start I actually agree with High Commissioner Ferris.  I mean shouldn’t the medical supplies receive top priority?  The quasar -like formation doesn’t look like is going anywhere and it also looks like they could spend a lot more time than just two days studying it.  So instead of doing a rushed research job why don’t they drop off the High Commissioner and the supplies then had back and take their sweet time looking over the formation?  I think I would be a great senior officer for Captain Kirk with my advice he can avoid all sorts of plot driven irrational decisions that might cause problems for him his crew.  Of course that might make for more boring TV show.

Crash landing everyone out of the boat!  Why aren't shuttlecraft called star boats?

Given that the formation would interfere with transporter signals they decide to use the shuttlecraft, which Lt. Sulu should remind them about the time they forgot about those helpful shuttles while he was stuck on a freezing planet waiting for Captain Kirk to put himself back together.  They send a team of seven led by Mr. Spock in the shuttlecraft Galileo to explore the Murasaki 312.  Mr. Spock’s team consists of Dr. McCoy, Mr. Scott, three lieutenants, and a yeoman.  How much must it stink to have to be that poor little Yeoman?  You’re the only enlisted personnel with three lieutenant commanders, and three lieutenants.  Talk about being a low person the totem pole.  I hope the ship doesn’t crash somewhere and she has a spend time as everyone’s personal servant seeing as everyone outranks her by several levels.

Crashing unfortunately is what they do as the Murasaki 312 causes them to lose control the shuttle and they end up crashing on the planet Taurus II.  On the ship High Commissioner Ferris is furious at the situation he reminds Captain Kirk that he is on a deadline that medical supplies need to be delivered.  Kirk understands that he is on a deadline but he swears he will use his full two days to try to find his missing crewmembers.  Kirk has his crew work double time to try to restore the ships functions so they can be adapted to be used in the quasar -like formation.  He sends out a second shuttlecraft, this one Columbus, to help search for their missing companions.  Throughout the rest of this episode we get cutbacks of the ship where High Commissioner Ferris is pointing at the clock to Kirk telling him that he needs to get a move on.

In between a rock and a hard place for Captain Kirk

On the planet surface the crew the shuttlecraft recovers from the crash.  Spock of has the two lieutenants in gold grab phasers and secure the area.  While he has the lieutenants searching he and Mr. Scott set about fixing the shuttle.  Unfortunately Scotty discovers that in order to lift off the shuttle is going to have to lose some weight about 500 pounds.  This means that three grown men will have to stay behind.  Lt. Boma wonders if they’re going to draw lots, to which Spock says that the final decision will be up to him.  I wonder if Mr. Spock now feels as judgmental as he did on our last adventure about Kodos the Executioner.

The two lieutenants are attacked by natives and one of them is killed.  In addition to that problem many in the shuttlecraft crew are starting to take issue with Mr. Spock’s rather cold handling of the matter.  Dr. McCoy at the start of this mission tried to give Spock a pep talk encouraging him about his first command, and tried to advise him on dealing with humans.  Spock at first is not intimidated by the situation of being in command he explains the McCoy that it just is. Spock is under the mistaken impression that he’s dealing professional Starfleet officers who can set aside emotion, follow their orders, and perform their duty with pure professionalism all the time.  Spock fails to appreciate that some people crack under pressure in fact in this case is everyone who is not a series star or a yeoman seems to break whenever the pressure gets tough.

When the times get tough break under pressure.

Spock in order to keep the natives away comes up with a more nonviolent plan of simply scaring the natives with their superior weapons, as opposed to more violent situation that his subordinates want him to do.  Spock’s plan doesn’t really work and the names will eventually come back and try to harm them.  In the fighting the other yellow shirted lieutenant is killed.  His death makes one thing a little easier: they no longer have to leave anyone behind.  They started needing to strain three but by ditching some equipment on the shuttle they could spare one.  With the death of two crew members it eliminates the problem of having to leave anyone behind.  They could have escaped sooner but the overly sentimental crew member, Lt. Boma, keeps insisting they need to risk their life in order to properly bury their comrades.

In attempting to repair the shuttle Scotty discovered that their fuel was completely drained when they accidentally tried to bypass it.  Later Scotty working his normal miracle skills of engineering is able to use the phasers’ energy recharge the engines.  The natives almost prevent them from escaping by climbing on to the shuttle but Scotty is able to electrify the surface of their shuttle causing them to back away without permanently hurting them.  The shuttle takes off and is heading into orbit.  Unfortunately the Enterprise has run out of time and High Commissioner Ferris has ordered Kirk to leave.  Kirk showing some passive aggressiveness decides to leave at the slow speed legally possible.

Repairing the shuttle

Spock now realizing the situation is desperate ignites the fuel which will light a flare he hopes the Enterprise will see.  This will speed up their deaths if it doesn’t work but to be fair they probably would die anyway if left to their own devices.  The gamble works and Kirk sees the flare he turns the Enterprise around to rescue his comrades.  The engineers who work under Scotty have done their jobs well and adjusted the ship’s equipment so that transporters will work even of the conditions of the phenomenon.  At the last moment the survivors of the party of the Galileo are beamed back aboard the Enterprise.

As the Enterprise is heading towards Makus III to deliver the medical supplies, the bridge crew led by Kirk confronts Spock about his decision to ignite the fuel.  Kirk asked Spock if this was a decision that was of the result of emotion.  Mr. Spock said it was not in fact he had simply carefully and analyzed the problem from all directions and concluded that the situation was hopeless.  Kirk then says that he logically concluded that it was time for an act of desperation.  The bridge crew has a laugh at the expense of the First Officer. 

Additional thoughts: The theme of this episode was supposed to be about Mr. Spock learning how to command amongst us illogical humans.  Unfortunately this is something that Mr. Spock should’ve learned of before now.  Mr. Spock is the first officer as such he should already have plenty of experience commanding others.  In fact in Mr. Spock’s very first appearance in “The Cage” he is giving orders to members of the bridge crew.  If you’re watching the series in air date order the first scene of “The Man Trap” has Mr. Spock sitting in the command chair.  I think a story such as this would work better if were presented in a series of flashbacks in an episode where Mr. Spock was recalling an early point in his career.

McCoy trying to talk with Spock

                Another place where this episode loses its point is the people in the shuttlecraft, or should I say primarily the lieutenants, come off as complete jerks.  They’re always hampering on Spock for the littlest of things.  Spock breathes incorrectly and they are ready to be down his throat about it. They’re always watching him to see if he screws up to so they can use it as an excuse to pounce on him.  The other three members are fine; Dr. McCoy picks on Spock a bit but Dr. McCoy’s always doing it from a good place.  McCoy is trying to help Spock lead the crew better with his goal being an improved situation for everyone, where the three lieutenants almost seem to take some particular joy in harassing him.
 

No, will not get away!

                This is not to say that Mr. Spock does not make some mistakes.  For example critiquing a weapon’s efficiency after it just killed a member of your crew is not exactly very tactful.  However the excessive second-guessing and questioning of loyalty from some of the shuttlecraft crew carries far beyond reason. When Mr. Spock says that three men may have to be left behind is there really a doubt on any of our minds that Mr. Spock would’ve chose himself as one of three? I knowledge my own personal bias after all I like Mr. Spock and I don’t like these one-off characters who won’t be here next episode.  Nevertheless the level of insubordination that is distributed by them seems to be way off base for Starfleet officers.  They’re constantly questioning his decisions; they often seem to forget that in these military type environments decisions aren’t made in a democratic fashion.  

The problem doesn’t seem to be Mr. Spock the problem seems to be these lieutenants.  It reminds me of the real life adventures of John Paul Jones he probably would’ve been much more successful if only had a crew that was equally committed to the tasks that he was.  Captain Jones had to deal with the crew were closer to pirates than they were the officers and men of the U.S. Navy.  Yet Mr. Spock is serving with Starfleet officers whose character should be of a higher ideal than what we saw.  Often they are more concerned about how they were burying their dead than they were with surviving.  Which I guess would’ve ultimately led to quite the conundrum when the last one died after all who is good to give him a proper burial?  Yet the episode shows this to be a problem of Mr. Spock failing to take the cause of corpses over living breathing people.

The Flare!

Another place the episode tried to critique Mr. Spock is a decision to try to be as gentle with the natives as he most possibly could.  It should be pointed out that the crew shuttlecraft Galileo crashed into their home and the strange creatures popped out of it.  Why shouldn’t they be scared?  Why shouldn’t they try to defend themselves?  Because Mr. Spock chose to try to scare them is implied that he made the wrong decision because they didn’t scare away so easily.  There is no guarantee that had Mr. Spock responded more violently then they would have stayed away.  Who knows, they may have come back with even greater numbers and more quickly if Mr. Spock a chosen to draw blood.  That point is never brought up, is simply implied that Mr. Spock for not listening to his crew caused people to die.  That is a load of crap.

On a brighter note, I did enjoy seeing Mr. Scott’s engineering skills given a chance to shine.  Mr. Scott had been missing from a number of episodes and to be fair there wasn’t much on those episodes for him to do anyway, no engineering miracles were needed.  The last time those skills were needed credit might’ve gotten more to Captain Kirk or Mr. Spock than Scotty.  It’s great that we get see Mr. Scott be the miracle worker.

FINAL GRADE 3 of 5