64. The Tholian Web. Possibly the weirdest episode I’ve seen so far. Weird-good, though. Weird, 1960s TV, classic Trek good. If you want people going crazy, I mean SPACE CRAZY, this is a fine example. Mostly I think I will remember this episode for two things: space suits, and a really grumpy Spock. The Enterprise finds a missing ship and beams aboard to check it out. But there are some weird issues with this area of space. Namely, that the ships sensors don’t actually think the ship is there. Everyone can see it but it’s fading in and out and it generally seems like a bad idea to go aboard. However, they figure as long as they are wearing awkward ’60s space suits, all will be good. Nope! The ship disappears, taking Kirk with it. Seems like he must be dead, but Spock doesn’t give up, even though there’s a lot going wrong. This whole area of space is screwy. Everyone’s snapping at each other and the Enterprise is running out of energy. Everyone’s ripping Spock for his bad decisions, and Spock seems genuinely irritated the entire time. Sometimes in the past he’s seemed cold or awkward, but his personality is now going more towards curmudgeonly. And who can blame him? YOU come up with some brilliant plan to understand what the heck’s going on, entire rest of crew. Anyway, if things weren’t edgy enough, some dudes called Tholians show up and after a period of blustery threats, begin constructing an elaborate energy web around the Enterprise in an effort to contain the ship. Of course, this takes quite a long time, plenty of time for the Enterprise to figure out how to find Kirk and escape. I guess the bottom line here is that I feel like for all the directions this episode tried to go, nothing really hung together, and it all took just long enough to pad out the content until the end. Plus it was filled with weird stuff I couldn’t really relax about. For example, the Tholians laid the slowest trap ever. Was that supposed to be threatening? Basically, they say that they will kill you in one hour. And if you leave, then you get to go free. So, uh, you leave. Sure, it was complicated by the ship being disabled at the beginning of that hour, but we all knew they were going to fix it. All the other problems add up to a very difficult episode for Spock, who has to deal with crewmembers continually approaching him and barking angrily until they wear themselves out trying to get a rise out of him. Killer Spock line: none. He was not in the mood. Overall: a rich episode for sure, but too much awkward for me. 3 out of 5.
Trek tropes:
- Lighthearted banter to close episode (though in the running for the least funny instance of it – I think this is my clue the show is losing steam)
65. Plato’s Stepchildren. Mostly this episode is painful. Painful themes, painful for the cast, painful to watch. Not painful, like, bad. Painful, like, people are put through really humiliating things and you get to suffer along with them. It’s effective, but trying as an episode. The Enterprise crew is held hostage by a race of telekinetic people who use their powers to force them to perform humiliating acts for their amusement. It forces the cast to do a lot of pretending to be forced to do these things, which borders on cheesy but I don’t think quite crosses the line. It ends up being effective and a testament to the acting chops of the regulars. That said, the episode is thin on an actual plot. After a while, Kirk and company figure out the source of the telekinetic powers and are able to replicate them and fight back. But until that point we’re just watching an array of bizarre things, like Kirk and Spock doing Riverdance or Kirk being ridden by a dwarf like a horse. These are not things I really want to be watching. I think it might have been more interesting to get some character depth from any of the villains, though we do get to know Alexander, dwarf who has been enslaved as a court jester, and he ends up being very a very sympathetic character, giving the whole thing an even more serious tone. Killer Spock line, in reply to a woman’s question about how old she looks, posed to Spock, Kirk, and McCoy, and said with absolutely no compunction: “35.” Overall: it was well-done but very little fun to watch. 2 out of 5.
Trek tropes (number of instances encountered in series so far in parentheses):
- Earth history will always be relevant (not recent Earth history, though, escaping the trope of the importance of the 20th century, but still, Greeks in space)
- Shatner showcase
- Invisible Space Powers
- Highly experimental plan with low probability of success somehow works anyway
66. Wink of an Eye. I don’t think there’s been any good mucking about with time episodes in TOS to this point. TNG was filled with them. Maybe because they looked at this one and realized how interesting it was and needed lots more like this. I dug this episode a lot. It’s got a great TNG-like strong sci-fi story combined with the swashbuckling, alien-babe loving TOS aesthetic. A race of hyper-accelerated aliens take over the Enterprise and wreak havoc on the crew by basically being a whole bunch of The Flash-es, moving so fast that the crew can’t see them or do anything about it. Eventually they shift Kirk into their time frame (the science is a little wonky–they drug Kirk’s coffee which somehow changes his temporal frame of reference–but, uh, okay) and of course that’s the wrong thing to do because we know Kirk isn’t going to stand for any of this nonsense, seductive alien babe aside. Anyway, there are a bunch of problems to solve and lots of good Kirk-Spock-McCoy-Scotty stuff. And for a series that really doesn’t put a lot of science in its sci-fi, it’s a nice change. Tor.com’s review points out about a billion plot holes, but I didn’t find myself thinking about them all that much. Killer Spock line, describing his transition to the higher-speed dimension of the aliens: “I found it an accelerating experience.” (har, har) Overall: Maybe the best 3rd season episode so far, 5 out of 5.
Trek tropes (number of instances encountered in series so far in parentheses):
- Highly experimental plan with low probability of success somehow works anyway
- Invisible Space Powers
- Anonymous redshirt killed (But then he comes back. But then they kill him for reals.)
- In the future, computers are magic, but still make teletype sounds
- Kirk hits it off with alien babe
67. The Empath. I only a little to say about this episode, and they are related to the tropes. First off, this was the third episode in a row where some sort of invisible space power was able to control Kirk and Company. I know we’re making these shows on the cheap, fellas, but man. Enough with the telekinetic rays already. Second, this is another instance of lighthearted show-closing banter that was decidedly unfunny. I think it just goes along with other problems with this third season: lots of things just aren’t as fun or as well done as in the first two years. Anyway, the rest of the episode is mostly a blur with a few bits and pieces clearly remembered. This is my fault. I probably didn’t give this one a fair watch because I was ungodly tired when I saw it. I was probably legally asleep, even though my eyes were open. When someone wants to start paying me for writing these, I promise to only watch when alert (and organize my thoughts better, proofread, not publish zero drafts, etc.). I think my biggest impression from this one is that it’s only a thin variation on the superior “The Cage”. Telepathic aliens are messing with the humans and there’s a sympathetic fellow prisoner to help them out and is actually the most interesting character. Mostly I remember that it’s a good character relationship episode between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Killer Spock line: “The sandbats of Menard IV appear to be inanimate rock crystals, Doctor. Until they attack.” Overall: I think it was good. 4 out of 5.
Trek tropes (number of instances encountered in series so far in parentheses):
- The indomitable human spirit conquers all
- Invisible Space Powers
- Lighthearted banter to close episode
