Balance is fan fave, people love Mark Lenard (played Sarek, Spock's dad as well)
and as first ever appearance of Romulans which immediately complicated what fans and the characters know/think of Vulcans and hence Spock looms large in the mythos
― H in Addis, Thursday, 2 March 2023 10:14 (one year ago) link
mark, that holodeck imagery is terrible
― H in Addis, Thursday, 2 March 2023 10:15 (one year ago) link
blame mccoy's urges not me!
― mark s, Thursday, 2 March 2023 10:20 (one year ago) link
"finding a needle in a haystack would be child's play!"
(adding: as often in this series the colour is rich and amazing, they are investigating a bright poison-green quasar)
― mark s, Saturday, 4 March 2023 19:57 (one year ago) link
Only just now opening this thraed to see why it has been so recently bumped, right in the midst of my own mini TOS-thon. A few eps ahead of mark s in my slooooow rewatch. 'Tomorrow is Yesterday' and 'Court Martial' (totally forgot Elisha Cook was ever on the show!) so far this afternoon, just started 'Return of the Archons'. Very comforting way to pour one out for my recently deceased Trek-loving uncle. Wasn't exactly planning to make a day of it but 'Space Seed' is next up so
― Beautiful Bean Footage Fetishist (Old Lunch), Saturday, 4 March 2023 21:16 (one year ago) link
ep (the galileo seven) was much of it abt the limitations of logic (you may be able to guess whose) and so it ends with kirk and bones smugly bullying and laughing at you-know-who abt having to rely in the end on emotion -- this annoyed me when i was a kid and it annoys me now, it's workplace harassment!
― mark s, Saturday, 4 March 2023 21:36 (one year ago) link
Let's face it, McCoy wouldn't last a minute in any workplace these days.
― Maggot Bairn (Tom D.), Saturday, 4 March 2023 21:39 (one year ago) link
what if the most irritating lifeform in all space-time but even more irritating (the squire of gothos)
― mark s, Saturday, 4 March 2023 22:07 (one year ago) link
i think spock can more than hold his own in a smug-off
― mookieproof, Saturday, 4 March 2023 22:12 (one year ago) link
it's two against one!
― mark s, Saturday, 4 March 2023 22:14 (one year ago) link
ok it's GORN time
― mark s, Monday, 17 April 2023 17:07 (one year ago) link
Gorn with you.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 17 April 2023 17:13 (one year ago) link
gorn has on a v cute frock imo
― mark s, Monday, 17 April 2023 17:52 (one year ago) link
"whiplash propelled us into a timewarp, captain -- backwards"
(s1e20: "tomorrow is yesterday")
― mark s, Monday, 17 April 2023 18:13 (one year ago) link
comedy music for the time-paradox problem
― mark s, Monday, 17 April 2023 18:38 (one year ago) link
anyway my real question is: were there ever any viewers whose favourite character was mccoy?
(any other regular character i can entirely accept as favourite but maybe i'm just the worst kind of h8a)
― mark s, Monday, 17 April 2023 18:40 (one year ago) link
McCoy is not a favourite but McCoy/Spock partnership certainly is
I can understand Scottie as a favourite, and he looks like a Frankenstin of every one of my childhood friends' dads, but I've never quite worked out the appeal. Doohan himself seems like a mensch though.
― Chuck_Tatum, Monday, 17 April 2023 19:42 (one year ago) link
I fully hated McCoy after my TOS watchhe’s an unprovoked dick to Spock 24/7 yells about situations that are easily explained by uh chain of command and why the fuck is a doctor hanging out on the bridge always?
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 17 April 2023 20:27 (one year ago) link
like he’s funny but i would punch him if he was my fellow crewmate
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 17 April 2023 20:28 (one year ago) link
McCoy is awesome. He's like the frozen caveman doctor of the 24th C.
― This machine bores fascism (PBKR), Monday, 17 April 2023 20:33 (one year ago) link
Bones is a bit of a dick, but I still like him. Wait to you get to Scotty in the episode about the Greek god, he is the biggest, most annoying dumbass in the universe in that one.
― Maggot Bairn (Tom D.), Monday, 17 April 2023 22:49 (one year ago) link
oh yeah that is very truelove that ep!
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 17 April 2023 23:18 (one year ago) link
Scotty’s best episode is the Trouble with Tribbles.
― The Artist formerly known as Earlnash, Tuesday, 18 April 2023 01:24 (one year ago) link
Was almost going to say “is he even in that one?” but then D’oh! Wonder how many times I’ve mentioned William Campbell’s ex-wife in this thread.
― The Titus Andromedon Strain (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 18 April 2023 03:48 (one year ago) link
when ppl deploy the phrase "no true scotsman" i think immediately of scotty and find myself saying "this phrase could never be used of him"
actually i saw the greek god one quite recently on the legend! channel but it's also up shortly in this watch-em-all-in-the-correct-order (s2e2) so i will def be rewatching again
― mark s, Tuesday, 18 April 2023 09:05 (one year ago) link
Bones classic for "I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer" alone
― Vast Halo, Tuesday, 18 April 2023 11:48 (one year ago) link
"the court martial" is a p weedy ep (including seriously underusing elisha cook jr as kirk's defence attorney)
the computer says kirk did something bad to someone who had a grudge against him (who we never encountered till now)! except what if the only three ppl who can re-programme the computer to lie are kirk spock and the same someone who had a grudge against him (who we never encountered till now) also let's check to see who's hiding away on the ship O! M! G!
― mark s, Tuesday, 18 April 2023 12:43 (one year ago) link
I've been watching through TOS for the first time recently, myself. I thought Tomorrow is Yesterday was a huge, noticeable jump in quality from previous episodes. The actors all felt like they'd settled well into their characters, the fight choreography really leveled up, and there were a lot of fun little lived-in details. My favorite was when Kirk and Sulu snuck through the military base, and Kirk silently pointed out a piece of paper posted to a bulletin board with this air of cool interest, like, "look at this neat historical artifact, real paper," and Sulu got super excited about it. Great ep!
― OneSecondBefore, Tuesday, 18 April 2023 16:06 (one year ago) link
Meantime, winning an Oscar will do that (streaming-only, though)
https://gizmodo.com/star-trek-michelle-yeoh-section-31-movie-1850347783
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 18 April 2023 16:37 (one year ago) link
Of all things DS9 created that stuck with the rest of Trek, I wish it weren't S31.
― Shartreuse (Leee), Tuesday, 18 April 2023 16:43 (one year ago) link
Scotty’s best episode is the Trouble with Tribbles.Have just rewatched that one as got to the DS9 episode in S5 that heavily references it. As alluded to by Worf in the DS9 episode, what's up with Klingons looking like humans in TOS? Is it something that was retconned later in the movies/TNG when they had the budget for special effects?
― groovypanda, Tuesday, 18 April 2023 16:46 (one year ago) link
they caught their faces from their itchy jumpers
― mark s, Tuesday, 18 April 2023 16:48 (one year ago) link
the canonical answer is bad
A canonical explanation for the change was given in a two-part storyline on Star Trek: Enterprise, in the episodes "Affliction" and "Divergence" that aired in February 2005. Attempting to replicate experiments by humans to create augmented soldiers, Klingon scientists used genetic material from human test subjects on their own people, which resulted in a viral pandemic which caused Klingons to develop human-like physical characteristics. Dr. Phlox of the Enterprise formulated a cure for the virus, but the physical alterations remained in the populace and were inherited by offspring. Phlox indicated that "some day" the physical alterations could be reversed. The head scientist finally mentioned he would go into cranial reconstructive surgery, another nod to "restoration" of the ridges for some Klingons.
― mh, Tuesday, 18 April 2023 17:12 (one year ago) link
what's up with Klingons looking like humans in TOS?
the TOS portrayal of klingons was often very close to blackface
honestly the only good answer for the change is 'because it's a fictional tv show' (ie, worf otm in 'tribblations')
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 18 April 2023 19:16 (one year ago) link
definitely
i'm in favor of making klingons looking wilder in every iteration
― mh, Tuesday, 18 April 2023 19:25 (one year ago) link
It was categorically and unambiguously brownface in TOS, and throughout all Trek (e.g. Gowron, who was played by a white actor).
― Shartreuse (Leee), Tuesday, 18 April 2023 20:28 (one year ago) link
KHAN!
more itchy string vests also
― mark s, Wednesday, 19 April 2023 17:37 (one year ago) link
excellent headgear in "a taste of armageddon"
https://i.imgur.com/dbuvNkb.jpg
― mark s, Wednesday, 19 April 2023 18:45 (one year ago) link
hats are how you know they're not very advanced (committed to war)
― mark s, Wednesday, 19 April 2023 18:46 (one year ago) link
omg yeah the hats are A+also the main hat lady is Grace from Hill Street Blues, aka Sgt Phil Esterhaus’s longtime girlfriend
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 19 April 2023 20:40 (one year ago) link
my fave "tortured cold war metaphor" ep by far; also a classic example of no-Directive trek, where the moment kirk figures out what this planet's deal is he starts yelling at them about it. (but he's right cuz they practice mass human sacrifice for the propitiation of a decentralized machine-god that only understands conflict: what a shitty planet that would be.) don't quite remember the ending but assume they send federation ambassadors or something to make sure these heathens stay straightened out; don't remember it having the platonic kirkian abruptness of return of the archons where he simply blows up the computer that's been organizing society for millennia and then beams up smirking.
spock giving v good "let me just briefly explain to you the illogicality of your entire culture's way of seeing" face there.
― difficult listening hour, Thursday, 20 April 2023 01:26 (one year ago) link
^booming post
― The Titus Andromedon Strain (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 20 April 2023 14:26 (one year ago) link
"you should be squatting on a mushroom… right next to the dog-faced boy!"
― mark s, Thursday, 20 April 2023 17:59 (one year ago) link
klingon leader: "you of the federation, you are much like us"kirk (hotly): "we are nothing like you!"
― mark s, Friday, 21 April 2023 18:40 (one year ago) link
We Trekkies are nothing like you Trekkers
― Ward Fowler, Friday, 21 April 2023 18:54 (one year ago) link
joan collins klaxon!
(it is fun rewatching this show after 50 years)
― mark s, Monday, 24 April 2023 17:06 (one year ago) link
Oh that's a good episode, McCoy goes totally batshit crazy on drugs, right?
― Maggot Bairn (Tom D.), Monday, 24 April 2023 17:14 (one year ago) link
and his face goes all blotchy!
― mark s, Monday, 24 April 2023 17:17 (one year ago) link
I saw that episode again recently. It is quite good and Joan Collins is stunning. It has some of the fish out of water humor they ended up using in Star Trek IV.
― This machine bores fascism (PBKR), Monday, 24 April 2023 17:31 (one year ago) link
it's by harlan ellison AND dc fontana
(tho not dj fontana as i first wrote)
― mark s, Monday, 24 April 2023 17:46 (one year ago) link