ST:TOS - The Enemy Within

[Broomstick]

A local TV station is showing the first/original Star Trek series remastered. It's been a little odd for me. The last time I saw ST:TOS on a regular basis there actually was a space program to be proud of in the US and people walking on the moon (which tells you it was after the initial run, which was over before Armstrong took his famous footstep, but not too long after, because we stopped with the moon visits in the early 1970's) Now, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back then all the family had was a black and white TV set, pretty small by today's standards, and no video/TiVO or anything like that.

And there the episodes resided in my memory for close to 4 decades. (Gosh, it's been that long?)

Aside from having a remarkable ability to figure out which episode we're seeing in the first 30 seconds of the teaser, being able to name it correctly, it's been a revelation seeing these in COLOR! Wow! Anyhow, aside from guessing which effects have been remastered and how, being older and wiser I've been noticing stuff that really did escape me the first time around.

For example, last night's episode was the "The Enemy Within" which I'm not going to summarize, which is why I linked to the Wiki on it. The premise - that a person could be split into two halves is dorky at best (and can be offensive in some circumstances - Mike Wong covered some of this in one of his essays) but I'll forgive the writer a bit because it was clearly being used to say something about the qualities that make up a leader and/or effective person.

No, what got me was this: they have a landing party on the planet they can't beam up because of a fucked up transporter and the guys are freezing to death.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SHUTTLES????

The Other Half was getting a bit irritated because every time the landing party called up to the ship to complain their asses were freezing I'd jump up and yell "WHAT ABOUT THE FREAKIN' SHUTTLECRAFT?"

(Won't even touch on the the problem of surviving temps of -117. C or F doesn't matter, that's incompatible with life, I don't care how good their little blankets they wrapped up in might have been. Carbon dioxide is a solid at -110 F. If they were talking about C it's even worse, 'cause CO2 is a solid at -78 C. The show often left measurements fuzzy - given we're talking about the US in 1966-69 it's rather remarkable they mention metric at all)

Now, to be somewhat fair, this was #5 in the series, and there were a few things that were different from later in the series, such as utility belts for holding phasers (that always screams FIRST SEASON) and the Spock/Kirk relationship wasn't developed and so forth, but I seem to recall that the shuttles had been mentioned by that point. Maybe not. But it was a glaring and simple solution to a life-threatening problem. SEND A SHUTTLE!

"The Enemy Within" was never on my list of Star Trek Great Episodes, but seeing it as a fully sapient adult it really slid down a few notches. Which falls in line with my theory that people mostly just remember the actually good episodes of TOS and not the equal number of total schlock bullshit episodes.

Um... was I supposed to have a question or something in this post? Um... er... Oh! I know - !

1) Anyone else have a long, long gap between the first time you saw ST:TOS and a subsequent viewing?

2) If you can answer "yes" to number 1, do you also have moments when you thump your head against something and go "You guys are so STUPID!" due to some glaring bullshit like not sending shuttles to rescue people when the transporter isn't working?

[Junghalli]

Funny, when I was watching the episode I don't remember the idea of just sending down the shuttle occurring to me. It's stupidly obvious in retrospect.

[Patrick Degan]

Real world explanation would be that neither the shuttlecraft model or mockup were built at that point and so could not be featured.

In-universe speculation: the weather conditions on Alpha 177 might have made shuttlecraft operations very hazardous. Also, it looked like the transport zone on the planet where Sulu's landing party was located was too rocky for shuttlecraft to land in.

[Broomstick]

They actually don't need to show the shuttle pick up at all - just say that it happened, with it happening off-stage as it were. You could still have the captain dithering about sending the shuttle, and still have the men picked up suffering from the effects of cold, which would serve the dramatic purposes at hand without the glaring stupidity.

[Stofsk]

It seems to me that you're inventing excuses not to like this episode. Patrick gave several good in-universe reasons why a shuttlecraft operation might not have been feasible. Here's another one: they might not even have had any operational shuttlecraft embarked aboard the Enterprise at that time, for whatever reason (maintenance issues, prior destruction, supply issues forcing the Enterprise to carry on its mission without any shuttlecraft at all until they can be resupplied at a Starbase, whatever). At this point, we can only speculate - however, the out of universe explanation satisfies me, and the episode is otherwise solid enough for enjoyment.

[Broomstick]

If the shuttles were inoperative or unavailable it seems to me that mention should have been made of it: "It would logical to send a shuttle down to the landing party, captain, but we can't because of X" It just seems a very glaring plothole to me.

[Stofsk]

It is a glaring plot hole in the sense that we're looking for in-universe explanations for why they didn't use the shuttlecraft. Unfortunately, no explanation was made in the episode so all we can do is speculate.

[Gandalf]

My favourite part of that episode was always when Evil Kirk was in Rand's quarters. When a crewman passes by, she doesn't get him to call security. She gets him to call Spock. He's one awesome science officer. When I got all of TOS on DVD and just watched it right through, I just fell in love with the character.

That said, it's still a pretty good episode. It's got some TOS wackiness, and a really interesting idea underneath.

[Stofsk]

I liked Rand's character. I wished she'd stayed on throughout the show. Yeah she was a hot blonde and didn't seem to do much, but you could see the potential there for a character and a potential love interest for Kirk to emerge.

[Swindle1984]

It is a glaring plot hole in the sense that we're looking for in-universe explanations for why they didn't use the shuttlecraft. Unfortunately, no explanation was made in the episode so all we can do is speculate.

Actually, no explanation being made in the episode if the shuttles are unavailable isn't really an issue.

If everyone knows the shuttles can't be used for whatever reason, why would they even mention them? The characters already know they can't use the shuttles. The only thing that's going to be useable is the transporter, so there you go.

[Bounty]

If the shuttles were inoperative or unavailable it seems to me that mention should have been made of it: "It would logical to send a shuttle down to the landing party, captain, but we can't because of X" It just seems a very glaring plothole to me.

This is one of those plotholes that only exist in retrospect.

At the time the episode was aired - and remember, this was only the fifth Star Trek episode ever - the audience wouldn't even know what a shuttle was. The only transport option show in the show up to that point was the transporter. Saying that the shuttles were inoperative/unusable/whatever would have been entirely superfluous at the time.

[Broomstick]

I suppose that brings up the question of when in the series the shuttle craft actually were introduced.

[Bounty]

The shuttlecraft first appeared on TV in the episode The Menagerie, halfway through the first series, but it was built for the episode The Galileo Seven (filmed earlier, but due to a quirk of scheduling aired later). All the shots of the spaceship model are from that episode.

Interestingly, the production couldn't really afford to build the full-scale shuttlecraft prop, so they made a deal with AMT, which agreed to fund the prop in exchange for the rights to sell a model kit version later

[Ted C]

It seems to me that you're inventing excuses not to like this episode. Patrick gave several good in-universe reasons why a shuttlecraft operation might not have been feasible. Here's another one: they might not even have had any operational shuttlecraft embarked aboard the Enterprise at that time, for whatever reason (maintenance issues, prior destruction, supply issues forcing the Enterprise to carry on its mission without any shuttlecraft at all until they can be resupplied at a Starbase, whatever). At this point, we can only speculate - however, the out of universe explanation satisfies me, and the episode is otherwise solid enough for enjoyment.

While I have no major complaints about the episode, the shuttle question did occur to me long ago. It's a minor annoyance, since they don't bother to concoct a reason why a shuttle wouldn't work: the idea just never comes up. If there were an explanation, there would be no problem at all, but as it happens, it seems like the writer just didn't realize the ship was supposed to have shuttles.

Of course, you get this sort of thing in Star Trek all the time, so I'm largely desensitized.

[Bounty]

If there were an explanation, there would be no problem at all, but as it happens, it seems like the writer just didn't realize the ship was supposed to have shuttles.

I'm not sure they were in the final writers' brief on the ship's capabilities. At any rate, the technology was being made up on an episode-by-episode basis in the first season, so oversights like this one are to be expected.

[Themightytom]

Interestingly, the production couldn't really afford to build the full-scale shuttlecraft prop, so they made a deal with AMT, which agreed to fund the prop in exchange for the rights to sell a model kit version later

Oh yeah I bet all the fans were LINING up to build a model shuttle.

I thinki my biggest problem with this episode is that they didn't duct tape Good Kirk to Spock's side the instant they realize there are two of them OR that "Kirk" has committed a crime. he's stillw andering around inviting Shenanigans. Also why did they all SPRINT out of the transporter room so quickly after GoodKirk beamed in, they shouldd ahve let a duty officer on, especially if there was a landing party below.

[DesertFly]

Also why did they all SPRINT out of the transporter room so quickly after GoodKirk beamed in, they shouldd ahve let a duty officer on, especially if there was a landing party below.

This is one of those common sense things that pops up all the time in Star Trek (most or all series). It seems to me that a real ship would have someone on duty there all the time, as well as places like engineering and sick bay. It is sometimes really glaring that things are set up like that just to ease the plot.

[Themightytom]

Also why did they all SPRINT out of the transporter room so quickly after GoodKirk beamed in, they shouldd ahve let a duty officer on, especially if there was a landing party below.

This is one of those common sense things that pops up all the time in Star Trek (most or all series). It seems to me that a real ship would have someone on duty there all the time, as well as places like engineering and sick bay. It is sometimes really glaring that things are set up like that just to ease the plot.

Or a security cam... or an alarm that goes off when the transporter is activated... maybe a chime or perhaps a gong?