Scott Atwell Star Trek Discussion thread (Series and Films) (8 Viewers)

[Josh Steinberg]

Yeah, but it’s possible to be involved in more than one show these days - particularly when a CBS All Access episode commitment would probably be something like a ten episode season that they were given 2-3 years to complete.

 

[Nelson Au]

Viacom and CBS has agreed to reunification.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cbs-viacom-strike-deal-recombine-1075545

 

[ScottRE]

At the very least the TV series and films will be under one roof again. Whether that leads to anything for people like us remains to be seen.

 

[John*Wells]

Does this mean Star Trek films and Tv shows will be under the same roof also?

 

[ScottRE]

Does this mean Star Trek films and Tv shows will be under the same roof also?

Yep all Star Trek will be in one house

 

[Sam Favate]

Yep all Star Trek will be in one house

More importantly, all of Star Trek will be overseen by one creative team.

 

[Nelson Au]

I hope the creative team and it’s leader will have the wisdom and vision to lead it well. If Abrams is still involved, he wanted to do TV and movies and theme parks as I recall.

The part that I’m curious about is that Paramount had to pay a fee to use the Star Trek characters in the films as CBS owns the rights. So ship and costume designs had to be slightly different as part of the licensing agreement. Now hopefully they can use the same ship and costume designs. Discovery would have benefited as the Enterprise could have looked more like the TOS Enterprise.

 

[Blimpoy06]

Is anyone watching "The Man Trap" tonight? It's the 53rd anniversary of the first airing.

 

[Osato]

Is anyone watching "The Man Trap" tonight? It's the 53rd anniversary of the first airing.

View attachment 62774

Nice!
Happy birthday Star Trek!

Love that artwork. I remembering seeing it for the first time in one of the blish novels?

 

[Blimpoy06]

Love that artwork. I remembering seeing it for the first time in one of the blish novels

 

[Osato]

View attachment 62775

There she is!!

 

[ScottRE]

I just finished watching my “commemorative anniversary edition.” It’s the laserdisc print with 1966 commercials and NBC network stuff put in the appropriate places. It’s not accurate, but it’s good enough.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Probably not this year, but I did for the 50th. I watched it on VHS earlier this year which was a fun throwback.

 

[Nelson Au]

I haven’t seen this episode in a while. It’s not one of my top 10. I watched it tonight though and some thoughts resurfaced I had about it.

Why did McCoy have to kill the creature at the end, why didn’t they just stun it and keep it in the brig or take it to a research center to care for it. It’s not very Star Trekkian. Of course the series was still developing.

One thing I totally missed in earlier viewings, Spock hitting Nancy to show McCoy it isn’t her. The Spock we know later would not do that as we know Leonard Nimoy tried to find ways to avoid physical violence.

I liked that Spock is suspicious of McCoy when they take Crater to the sickbay.

I always found it interesting that the physical “business” that the creature does, biting its nails or whatever that was, was done by every actor who plays the creature. That was a great bit. And Jeanne Bal was very good as Nancy. She plays it very well as someone hiding something.

I always liked the camaraderie between Sulu and Rand and Spock and Uhura. No doubt the Abrams writers liked that for their film. And Voyager’s 30th Anniversary reunited Sulu and Rand on the Excelsior.

There also a bigger sense of a large crew as we see all the extras in the corridors and the business of the two crew members flirting on Rand. I thought it was interesting that we see some crew members who wear a protective outfit as if they were in a dangerous part of the ship. They lost that later.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

While the series was probably right to focus on the leading three once the chemistry became apparent, I do miss the wider sense of the ship and crew that’s more apparent in those early episodes. Roddenberry clearly did too since TNG does a lot more of that.

 

[KPmusmag]

[QUOTE="Nelson Au, post: 4779640, member: 270824"
I always liked the camaraderie between Sulu and Rand and Spock and Uhura. No doubt the Abrams writers liked that for their film. And Voyager’s 30th Anniversary reunited Sulu and Rand on the Excelsior.

There also a bigger sense of a large crew as we see all the extras in the corridors and the business of the two crew members flirting on Rand. I thought it was interesting that we see some crew members who wear a protective outfit as if they were in a dangerous part of the ship. They lost that later.[/QUOTE]

Having been a member of a very closely-knit team at work for 5 years (ironically) I resonate to your comment.

 

[Jason_V]

Is anyone watching "The Man Trap" tonight? It's the 53rd anniversary of the first airing.

View attachment 62774

Ironically, I am kinda nuts about a guy who is also a Trek fan. He came over last night and, after dinner, we looked at each other and said "what should we watch?" It would have been a super duper easy sell to say The Man Trap...but we didn't. We watched the first episode of Carnival Row.

Now I'm kicking myself. I guess I'm in for The Man Trap tonight after dinner (even though I've been watching a ton of TNG when I can find the time).

 

[ScottRE]

I haven’t seen this episode in a while. It’s not one of my top 10. I watched it tonight though and some thoughts resurfaced I had about it.

Why did McCoy have to kill the creature at the end, why didn’t they just stun it and keep it in the brig or take it to a research center to care for it. It’s not very Star Trekkian. Of course the series was still developing.

One thing I totally missed in earlier viewings, Spock hitting Nancy to show McCoy it isn’t her. The Spock we know later would not do that as we know Leonard Nimoy tried to find ways to avoid physical violence.

I liked that Spock is suspicious of McCoy when they take Crater to the sickbay.

I always found it interesting that the physical “business” that the creature does, biting its nails or whatever that was, was done by every actor who plays the creature. That was a great bit. And Jeanne Bal was very good as Nancy. She plays it very well as someone hiding something.

I always liked the camaraderie between Sulu and Rand and Spock and Uhura. No doubt the Abrams writers liked that for their film. And Voyager’s 30th Anniversary reunited Sulu and Rand on the Excelsior.

There also a bigger sense of a large crew as we see all the extras in the corridors and the business of the two crew members flirting on Rand. I thought it was interesting that we see some crew members who wear a protective outfit as if they were in a dangerous part of the ship. They lost that later.

I always loved this episode. Even as a kid, when I saw in the TV Guide listings that it was coming up, I was excited. "This one is cool! It's creepy!" The music is a big part of that, also the almost total lack of humor and the really amazing design of the creature.

People like to slam this as a "monster" episode, but the "monster" has like 2 minutes of screen time and it's a far cry from the Irwin Allen style creatures that would stalk the Seaview.

The alien itself tries to bring up the idea of reasoning with it and "offering it salt without tricks." Once that suggestion is shot down, it has no choice. It's hungry at this point and goes for the only sources left to it: Crater and Spock.

To be honest, most of the ideals we associate with Star Trek - the respect for all alien life and so on - came with Gene Coon. They could have found it and beamed it back down with a supply of salt. Anyone watching this episode after seeing the series proper will be surprised at Kirk here. He's cold and uncaring throughout. As soon as Darnell is killed, Kirk goes into "f you" mode and becomes sharp and short tempered. He's actually pretty unlikable. Kirk's "she's a handsome woman, yes, but hardly 25" is an hilariously backhanded compliment.

I love, though, Proto Spock. Before he was humanized. Cold, distant, alien.

Certain things don't hold together on repeated viewings. Is the creature actually changing shape or projecting illusions and using telepathy to know how to approach people? Kirk keeps shouting for Crewman Green when a communicator would do the job faster. Apparently only Kirk carried one on this trip. A sensor sweep to find "the heat of a body" doesn't show the alien's body differences? Can't they just do that inside? Kirk shows up at McCoy's quarters instead of security. Or, worse, without any. Spock runs in later and his whaling on Nancy is wonderfully strange and a highlight.

Quick observations on repeat viewings: the use of footage from other episodes (the early episodes had a lot of this due to the time crunch) - Kirk's reaction shots in sickbay when talking to Spock on the monitor are from "The Naked Time." McCoy also has an insert from another episode (looks like "The Enemy Within"). The opening shots of the bridge are from "The Naked Time" and one of Spock is from "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" Kirk running to "the dispensary" is a shot from "The Naked Time." Scotty is not seen, but his "locked on to ya, Captain" from "The Enemy Within" is used. THis is also the only episode where Kirk beams down holding a tricorder.

The music is stark and desolate, like the planet. As much as Roddenberry hated the score, I love it. It absolutely fits the story and the creature itself. It's a tough listen on its own, but in the episode, it truly works.

An oddball episode and probably not the strongest choice to premiere, but it showcased McCoy right off and had a lot of Rand. Considering how strongly she was pushed in the promo stills, this was a good thing. I'm sure this episode and Charlie X are the reasons why Nichelle Nichols and George Takei though this was an ensemble series...

All around, a favorite with faults. I'm in the minority on this.

 

[BobO'Link]

Certain things don't hold together on repeated viewings. Is the creature actually changing shape or projecting illusions and using telepathy to know how to approach people?

I've always thought the salt creature is projecting illusions telepathically. If not, how could 3 people in the same room see a different image with all of them looking at the same time? That also implies use of telepathy to know what image a subject would find attractive and/or alluring. The creature is a predator so has to have those skills or die.

I've always liked this one. It's not a "Top 10 favorite" but is still up there.

Sandra Lee Gimpel - a dancer turned extra plays the "Salt Sucker" (or "Salt Vampire" or "M-113 Creature" - pick one). She also played aTalosian in "The Cage."

 

[Nelson Au]

Agreed that the salt vampire was written as more then just a mindless monster out to kill. It was intelligent and had feelings. So leaving it alone on M-113 would have been bad too. I think she had the ability to project into other minds what she wanted them to see. That way Kirk, McCoy and Darnell see different versions of Nancy at the same time since they were all in the room together.

The music does add to the atmosphere of the episode.

I think Kirk was in a bad mood in this episode. There’s some levity with the joke about the flowers, then the Prime Chili Peppers. And Kirk did apologize to McCoy, but got serious right away again.

I was enjoying watching The Man Trap that I carried on with Charlie X. That one is a favorite. I watched both with the original effects.