Star Trek

Great documentary on the Animated series DVD.

Regarding the EMPATH........that was one of my favorite episodes -- a little 'gem' heh heh, of a story. 

Kudos to Kathryn Hays for doing the best she could with an underwritten part.  Bigger kudos to Nimoy for showing what a great actor can do with few lines and using very small facial expressions. 

I always found Gem's kind of empath infinitely more appealing than Troi.  And I thought there were aspects of her character that could make her a potential match for Spock.  And was I the only one who thought she looked like Spock's Mom?

Yeah SF!

Agreed with all your observations,  and an excellent point about being play-like.  It was a real change from other episodes.

As to Spock there's a very small scene when he is tending to McCoy where Gem approaches and there's a very brief form of communion between the two of them.  Didn't mean that Gem herself would be a good match, but that attributes of her character were admirable and might be complementary to Spock's character.

ENSIGN'S LOG: Earth Date: 13 May 2012; In viewing Star Trek The Original Series, Mister Spock stated that a tri-chorder can record live history at a rapid pace. He then used the tri-chorder to slow down the history to find an approximate time to review the history. Star Trek: The Original Series - The City on the Edge of Forever

ENSIGN'S LOG: Earth Date: Monday, 14 May 2012; In viewing the Original Series, when confronted with cold, Lieutenant Sulu proved it possible to heat rocks with a phaser. Star Trek: The Original Series - The Enemy Within

ENSIGN'S LOG: Earth Date: Wednesday, 16 May 2012; Praising God all day long!

Probably the shakiest science ever seen in Trek, which is one of the reasons why that episode is so over-rated 

ENSIGN'S LOG: Earth Date: Tuesday, 22 May 2012; First Engineer Scott proved that a Star Ship has the ability to disrupt every power source on a planet that has not yet atomic power resources.

Star Trek: The Original Series - Bread and Circuses

This is a nice idea.  :-)

Also, I wish I had a memory as good as you!

I recently watched 'City on the Edge of Forever' again. Quite good. The speech that Edith Keller gave, when Kirk and Spock first got there, was still rather relevant now. I was wondering what happened in that one scene where that tramp takes a device (probably a communicator) out of McCoy's pocket, then disappears in a blue flash.

'Patterns of Force' and 'Bread and Circuses' have similar stories. 'A Piece of the Action' also, to an extent.

I sat down to read your reviews today and was astonished by some of the trivia that you've given about the airing schedule on the BBC, banned eps, and your take on what is decidedly an American-based. American-driven series. 

While some of your reviews were elightened and interesting, others showed a lack of understanding of the writers, shooting schedule and effects...But I don't hold that against you.  

I think it all depends upon your interests in the characters, character development, and information which might not be available to you int the UK. 

There are so many back stories, case and point: 

Harlan Ellison's refusal to have his name put in the credits because they'd done such a hatchet-job on his script for "City On The Edge of Forever". Try reading Ellison's original screenplay, which should make your hair stand on end: 

http://www.fastcopyinc.com/orionpress/articles/city.htm

"The Devil in The Dark" not being a true classic - because there were cutting problems and because the Horta wasn't fleshed out right: 

Shooting for this ep was interrupted by the death of Shatner's father, so during the scenes with the Horta, Shatner was played by a body double from behind, with only front shots done on the same day that Shatner had to fly up for his father's burial. As a result, pay attention to Nimoy, who seems to be hovering just a little closer to Shatner during the whole ep. 

The Horta itself was a sublime work of budget amazingness, from it's capacity to breath to the realization that there's actually a guy under there, working it. Imagine being told to make a rock-creature, finding the parts for it in a dumpster, and bringing it to life? 

Even the Horta eggs were cool, knowing that they were merely a kid's rubber ball, cut up and spray-painted. 

I won't go on and on, but I do think that before you cut the eps down, you should look a little closer at the story behind them. Most of it can be found on Wikipedia - in great detail. 

Still, you've made a great effort, and for that I'm sure many fans are greatful. 

I wonder how your opinion of some of these episodes will be in a few years time...when you've grown into them a little more? 

I occassionally come back to see if anyone has posted any new comments on this thread, and i was very pleased to see your post, many thanks for commenting, and for the kind words. Your comments have inspired me to check out my reviews again, as its been a while since i did them and in some cases, ive forgotten what i wrote! I tried to do the reviews in a `bottom line' sort of style rather than lengthy ones which would be unsuitable on a thread of this type i think. I was also interested to get across the perspective of an English fan, and how the BBC treated the series, cuts and all.

Despite the cuts, and the 4 banned episodes, the BBC actually treated TOS very well - it was screened every year on the BBC from 1969 to 1976, and then after a short gap, from 1978 to 1982, then 1984 to 1986 - not bad considering the BBC didnt really repeat shows that much.

Once again, thanks for the comments. Im reviewing TNG and Voyager at the moment and will get onto the Animated show, the films, DSN and Enterprise eventually. Id also like to review all the ST comics that have appeared over the years, all of which should keep me going into the 23rd century

Its a poor continuity error, especially when Spock later on in the episode makes mention of the fact that Jackson collapsed in the Transporter Room.