{"id":2813,"date":"2022-02-24T12:00:39","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T12:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tomsalinsky.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2813"},"modified":"2023-03-06T11:09:21","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T11:09:21","slug":"trekaday-010-patterns-of-force-by-any-other-name-the-omega-glory-the-ultimate-computer-bread-and-circuses-assignment-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tomsalinsky.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/24\/trekaday-010-patterns-of-force-by-any-other-name-the-omega-glory-the-ultimate-computer-bread-and-circuses-assignment-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"Trekaday 010: Patterns of Force, By Any Other Name, The Omega Glory, The Ultimate Computer, Bread and Circuses, Assignment: Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

TOS S02E21 Patterns of Force <\/strong>(\"2) takes us into the home stretch for season two, and alas, the strain is starting to show, as familiar ideas get remixed and repurposed. Once again, an old mate of Kirk\u2019s turns out to have made some pretty poor decisions off-screen. Yet again, a primitive race has nastier weapons than they are supposed to (see also A Private Little War<\/em> and A Piece of the Action<\/em>). One new wrinkle is the subcutaneous transponder which gets air-hissed into Spock and Kirk. Seems like that should be a standard piece of kit. It\u2019s used here not to locate the captain and first officer, but to facilitate their escape from jail, following about the feeblest lashing I think I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a whole run of episodes now which dick around with the Prime Directive. People do at least remember that it exists this week (unlike A Private Little War<\/em>) but it doesn\u2019t seem to hold Kirk and Spock back a whole hell of a lot. Among the supporting cast, Richard Evans and Valora Noland stands out. Noland in particular manages to play a young female character who isn\u2019t the object of lust of any man at any time, which is a turn-up. It is odd in this tale of warring races that both the Ekosians and Zeons look identically human. TNG<\/strong> would definitely have given them forehead ridges or freckles or something.<\/p>\n

Sadly, this has nothing like enough plot for the running time. The mystery is thin and the resolution is trite. And I\u2019m not absolutely sure, but I think<\/em> this was supposed to be some sort of very subtle allegory about the evils of Nazism.<\/p>\n

TOS S02E22 By Any Other Name <\/strong>(\"4) starts with a bang. In less than three minutes of teaser, Kirk and co. are captured and helpless. In less than six minutes, the Kelvans have the Enterprise<\/em> secured (and the actors do a very decent job of standing stock still). Kirk\u2019s obedience is secured by a brutal method. He is \u201cpunished\u201d for disobedience when they off a red-shirt and a red-skirt (although the justification for the captain\u2019s plot armour isn\u2019t bad \u2013 at least they\u2019re trying). Compared to other red shirt deaths, this is really grim. They both look absolutely shit-scared before it happens. And it\u2019s the dude who gets reconstituted. The young woman is dead and gone. Christ.<\/p>\n

With the Enterprise <\/em>under their control, and the crew reduced to a collection of paperweights which Gene Roddenberry had picked up on holiday (really!), the Kelvans set off for Andromeda \u2013 a journey which will take several centuries (vast distances actually mean something this week, which is very refreshing). Spock and Scotty work out a horrifying solution. They\u2019ll mess with the intruders’ gizmos and blow up the Enterprise<\/em> \u2013 and Kirk can\u2019t bring himself to do it. He doesn\u2019t believe in the no-win situation.<\/p>\n

So, the stage is set for another grim, tense, battle of wits to rival Oh Crikey We\u2019re In A Giant Virus<\/em> (why can\u2019t I remember these episode names?). What happens next is\u2026 not that. One Kelvan asks \u201cCaptain, what is this thing you humans call \u2018food\u2019?\u201d. Another learns snogging from Kirk (of course). Scotty manages to get one of them drunk. It\u2019s not always clear why they\u2019re doing this, but it is often terribly funny, especially watching James Doohan go through his liquor cabinet, and the whole thing does kind of work in a Yojimbo<\/em> sort of way.<\/p>\n

In the end, the Kelvans discover that the human forms they\u2019ve taken give them human frailties like drunkenness, jealousy, lust. And while I love that compassionate Kirk is still willing to help them work things out with the Federation, the solution \u2013 put them back on the planet they started on \u2013 is a bit pat and very hasty. For a while, I thought this one might get the full five stars, but the rapid tonal shift and trite ending take off some of the lustre.<\/p>\n

TOS S02E23 The Omega Glory <\/strong>(\"1.5). The back half of season two seems very interested in what happens when Star Fleet interferes in the development of pre-warp planets \u2013 this is the fourth time in seven episodes. It\u2019s also the second time in two episodes that crew members are reduced to their base chemicals. Another mysterious space plague requires the Enterprise crew to quarantine on the surface of the planet, where what look like mongol hordes turn out to be led by the missing and undessicated Star Fleet captain.<\/p>\n

\u201cA star captain\u2019s most solemn oath is that he will give his life, even his entire crew, rather than violate the Prime Directive,\u201d hams out Captain Kirk, before continuing \u201cI was saying that just the other day as I handed out modern weapons to one side and not the other on the planet Neural.\u201d<\/p>\n

Captain Tracey thinks he\u2019s found the fountain of youth and tries to get the Enterprise <\/em>to back off. Scotty would never <\/em>be fooled by Tracey\u2019s cock-and-bull story over the radio, but sadly, Sulu is in temporary command. Once again, Kirk and Spock are locked up and Kirk earns the trust of his \u201csavage\u201d cell mate \u2013 who then betrays him in a way which doesn\u2019t feel very Star Trek<\/strong>. Then, while Kirk\u2019s out, there\u2019s a very expensive massacre which happens off camera. Turns out old Tracey is an anti-vaxxer. Kirk, rightly, is furious at him. But the fountain of youth doesn\u2019t exist and McCoy\u2019s assessment of the bitter irony of Tracey\u2019s poor decision making is nice \u2013 but after that, Tracey is the only real threat, so the tension evaporates.<\/p>\n

The backstory here is that the two tribes fought a war and \u201cThe Asiatics won\u201d \u2013 horror of horrors. Kirk and the white savages bond over the Pledge of Allegiance. At one point Kirk casually refers to the \u201cyellow civilisation\u201d, which I could really have done without. Somehow it all ends in a fight to the death between Kirk and Tracey, with the added wrinkle that they\u2019re bound together at the wrist. That same damn music cue plays in this episode every time someone clenches a fist. I\u2019m over it.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a moment when Spock puts the whammy on the sexpot savage. This apparently was a holdover from an earlier conception of Spock in which he could control females. A better version would surely be that she\u2019s drawn to him, and they build up a relationship over the course of the episode, but this script isn\u2019t really concerned with characters and their relationships. Play the fight music again!<\/p>\n

At the episode\u2019s conclusion, The captain Shats out the US Constitution as music swells. \u2019Murica! Ugh.<\/p>\n

TOS S02E24 The Ultimate Computer <\/strong>(\"4.5) starts pretty poorly with more dated anti-computer rhetoric. The M5 can do everything a captain can do and never needs food or sleep. Kirk is aghast \u201cI can\u2019t run a starship with twenty crewmen.\u201d (Until I need to steal one to get Spock’s body off the Genesis planet and then I can do it with a doctor, an engineer, a navigator and a Russian guy. I won\u2019t even bring the comms chick. Hold my beer.)<\/p>\n

But, as it becomes ever clearer that Daystrom\u2019s (that\u2019s another name we\u2019ll keep hearing) machine is going to put him in mothballs, the script zeros on exactly what this means to Kirk. \u201cAm I that petty?\u201d he asks McCoy, in one of the episode\u2019s best scenes. In fact, all the character stuff here is first rate \u2013 Kirk\u2019s rueful acceptance of his situation, Spock\u2019s rather touching declaration of loyalty, McCoy making him food like a mother hen. Kirk\u2019s even sympathetic to Daystrom\u2019s dilemma.<\/p>\n

When the time comes, M5, like the computer in Superman III<\/em>, won\u2019t allow itself to be turned off. TNG<\/strong> would have explored whether M5 had a right to its life. Here they\u2019re just try to find a way of turning it off \/ blowing it up \/ confusing it to death. Daystrom (a much richer character than most misguided-villains-of-the-week) has to talk M5 down personally. On the edge of a breakdown, he has made a digital copy of himself and it\u2019s just as paranoid as he is.<\/p>\n

So, on the one end, this is essentially the same solution as The Changeling<\/em>, but with the added wrinkle that Federations ships are preparing to fire on the Enterprise<\/em>. And, in contrast to Oh No The Crew Have All Been Turned Into Paperweights, <\/em>Kirk preparing to sacrifice his ship and the skeleton crew is something I almost believe in. This is very classy stuff all round.<\/p>\n

TOS S02E25 Bread and Circuses <\/strong>(\"3) is another example of something never really seen after TOS<\/strong>, the planet where \u201cparallel development\u201d has dolloped bits of Earth history onto another planet for no reason. This is due to something called Hodgkin\u2019s Law of cheap episodes and cultural touchpoints, and on this alien planet, even extends to everybody talking English.<\/p>\n

So, it\u2019s another episode, another alien planet which has developed along Earth-fascist lines, but with a big scoop of the Roman Empire thrown in as well, so we end up with a very weird mash-up of Network<\/em>, Gamesters of Triskelion<\/em>, Arena<\/em>, A Piece of the Action<\/em> and The Omega Glory<\/em>. This episode seems confident that it\u2019s satirising something but I\u2019m really not sure what that might be, or why I should care.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, there\u2019s really, really good stuff between Spock and McCoy this week (even if Kirk gets to have it off with a slave girl, just cos) and you can\u2019t deny this thing has energy. Once again, Scotty is the MVP of the senior staff, so this feels a bit desperate and clearly doesn\u2019t have the focus of the show at its best, but it passes 50 minutes relatively painlessly.<\/p>\n

TOS S02E26 Assignment: Earth <\/strong>gets off to a bad start because the TARDIS, I mean the Enterprise<\/em>, has popped back in time for a quick shufti before the teaser has even begun<\/em>!?<\/p>\n

Very quickly, this becomes the Robert Lansing and Terri Garr show \u2013 it was a \u201cback door\u201d pilot for a new series which was going to get Roddenberry off Star Trek<\/strong>. Lansing isn\u2019t bad, with his Diet Coke Steve McQueen intensity, and Terri Garr is as charming as ever, but this sci-fi Get Smart<\/em> isn\u2019t what I tuned in to watch. Lansing barks orders at his computer which prissily responds \u201cIdentification not verified. Please supply exposition.\u201d Spock weirdly falls in love with his cat. Terri Garr does her thing. And so on, and so on.<\/p>\n

The problem is that after this many episodes with the regular crew, it\u2019s hard to get invested in whatever it is that Gary Seven is trying to do, and even harder when we don\u2019t know whether his purpose is noble or not. If it\u2019s ignoble, then I\u2019d rather spend more time with Kirk and Spock as they track him down. If it\u2019s noble, then why am I interested in watching Kirk and Spock try and stop him? Kirk at one point tell us \u201cI have never felt so helpless.\u201d Uh-huh. Not great for the supposed hero of the show to be so completely denied his agency, is it?<\/p>\n

And I genuinely couldn\u2019t give a shit about this rocket and whether it stays on course or not. There is nothing human, compelling, interesting, engaging or edifying about it. It\u2019s just people reciting numbers at each other, intercut with model shots. Make it stop. The spin-off series went no further, so let’s be thankful for that at least.<\/p>\n

Season Two wrap-up<\/strong><\/p>\n