more Trek
Since the last batch contained two episodes I really adored, I guess it's only fair that this one has two episodes that skeeve me mightily. Preserves the balance of the universe or something.
Spoilers for "The Gamesters of Triskelion," "A Piece of the Action," "The Immunity Syndrome," and "A Private Little War."
"The Gamesters of Triskelion"
I would've expected less sexist fail than usual in an episode written by a woman; instead, there's more. Silly me.
The major fail, of course, is the incredibly disturbing rape scene. I think we're supposed to assume that Uhura managed to fight the guy off, but this is by no means entirely clear, and since he's a lot bigger than her, I'm having trouble believing it. Ick, ick, ick. Especially since there's absolutely no interest in how Uhura copes with being attacked; as usual, the focus is on Kirk's jolly adventures. This trivializes the (attempted) rape, and in fact the whole episode feels like a lightly disguised enslavement-and-rape fantasy; if it were fanfic there'd have been a warning and I'd have known to avoid it.
Other fail: Kirk seducing and using his trainer, but instead of paying for it, he ends up benefitting because she loves him too much to kill him. And the running "joke" with Chekov's trainer attracted to him, LOL SHE'S FAT AND UGLY ISN'T IT HILARIOUS. Also Kirk's speech about how on earth there's freedom and gender roles love. And also Shatner's acting, which is just dreadful throughout.
It was, however, funny to see Kirk forced to go jogging. I'm trying not to jump too much onto the fandom bandwagon of laughing at Kirk for being plump, as it's the sort of thing I hate when other characters are subjected to it. Somehow, though, it's funny when it's Kirk, because the whole show is about how Kirk is too sexy for his shirt (literally). His weight is the only thing saving him from being an unbearable Marty Stu; being laughed at a little is probably good for him.
"A Piece of the Action
98% pure delicious crack, and mostly just an excuse to put the guys into crazy pinstriped gangster suits. Spock manages to make that brown thing with the orange tie look elegant; there should've been a special Emmy.
The only thing funnier than Kirk's amazing line of improvisational bullshit (fizzbin! the Federation as the capo di tutti capi!) is watching him try to drive that car. (In the real world, though, he'd have been stalling it every five seconds like I did when a friend tried to teach me to drive a stick shift.) Spock obviously really enjoys being able to criticize Kirk's driving and suggest that it'd be faster to walk.
Actually, Spock obviously enjoys all the hijinks. By the end he's really getting into the spirt of it. Does the Enterprise have a holodeck at this stage? Because if so, I know Spock was in there every day for the next several weeks perfecting his slang and his tommy gun techniques.
My favorite moment, though, is Spock saying to Okmyx, in tones of great disappointment, "Sir, you are employing a double negative."
The 2% that was not delicious crack was a bit WTF. As in, WTF, Kirk, did you really just make a gangster the ruler of the planet? The writer was clever enough to lampshade this, but not clever enough to give Kirk a sensible reply to the questions. Instead, he tries to charm his way out of it, which apparently works on Spock at least.
"The Immunity Syndrome"
A.k.a. the episode the convinced me that McCoy is hopelessly in love with Spock. I adored the scene when Spock asks McCoy to wish him luck, but McCoy doesn't answer. And then once Spock's well out of earshot, McCoy says "Good luck, Spock" in this broken little voice. Less woobie-tastic but equally lovely is "Shut up, Spock, we're rescuing you!" Awwww.
McCoy's very sweet when Spock is traumatized by psychically experiencing the deaths of all the Vulcans on Intrepid, too. And all he gets in return is Spock getting cranky (although from Spock's POV, I can understand how McCoy's constant harping on how human emotional expression is superior to Vulcan control gets old fast).
Later, Spock claims McCoy has a martyr complex. Um, Spock, have you met Captain Kirk? I'm half convinced that Kirk chose to send Spock on the suicide mission because it hurt him (Kirk) more. Spock and McCoy's bickering is unusually bitter after Kirk chooses, too. What an awkward, fraught little triangle of affection and rivalry the three of them make.
Speaking of bitter, Spock's "Tell Dr. McCoy he should have wished me luck," is just ouchy. Theirloveissodysfunctional. Seriously. Spock wants an acknowledgement of friendship from McCoy, but McCoy won't give it unless Spock gives one first, which of course Spock can't because loosening his self-control is hard enough without having to do so unprompted.
Clearly the only solution is for Kirk, Spock, and McCoy to visit a planet with Alien Sex Pollen--there are a lot of them about, so that shouldn't be difficult--where they can all have their inhibitions nicely lowered, confess all those confusing feelings, and have sex in all four possible permutations. They could probably even bill any expenses to Starfleet by calling it an interdepartmental communication retreat.
Ahem. Anyway, this episode had a giant space amoeba. And a joke about Kirk vacationing on a "lovely . . . planet" that was sort of tolerable the first time when Spock was in the foreground of the shot, but less so when we had to hear it again at the end, directed at a young female yeoman. Oh, Kirk, I'll bet Starfleet's expenses for sexual harassment lawsuit payouts have tripled since you became captain.
"A Private Little War"
The second of the episodes I disliked, what with the evil!seductive!witch and all. She literally pushes herself into "men's business" (when Tyree is talking with Kirk about the weapons and stuff, the scene is blocked in such a way that she has to physically insert herself into the conversation). And in the end she's punished for her wicked ways by being symbolically raped (when she's captured by the villagers she's passed from man to man, screaming). Her death reduces her to a woman's proper place, which is as a silent, passive motivation for men's actions--the only thing missing is a refrigerator to stuff her dead body into.
There was another level of sexist fail in poor Christine Chapel being made the butt of jokes because of her unrequited love for Spock. I don't hate the unrequited love storyline itself--it can be and sometimes has been handled well, as in "The Naked Time"--but I hated M'Benga laughing at her (with the tinkly comedy music in the background, no less). M'Benga's kind of a dick to her in general, what with his snarky "Yes, that's clear enough, isn't it?" comment when she double-checks a medical instruction. I'm annoyed that he was written that way, because he's a black doctor on a 1960s show and I wanted to like him. I wonder if his sexism was actually written in to make viewers (presumed to be white and male) like him by showing that he's just "one of the boys"?
It also bothered me that the more violent group of locals were dark-haired while the peaceful, good group all had blond/white hair: sketchy racial subtext is sketchy.
The Vietnam war allegory created a real problem in the episode, because the show shied away from actually criticizing the war. Instead, there's this claim that while a proxy war is grandly tragic because it ruins the innocence of noble savages, it's still the best solution because . . . um, it's better for the noble savages to kill each other than for Russians and Americans Klingons and the Federation to kill each other? Or something.
There was some nice slashy emotional stuff, what with Spock and Kirk both being wounded, but that didn't begin to compensate for the rest.
*****
Spoilers for "The Gamesters of Triskelion," "A Piece of the Action," "The Immunity Syndrome," and "A Private Little War."
"The Gamesters of Triskelion"
I would've expected less sexist fail than usual in an episode written by a woman; instead, there's more. Silly me.
The major fail, of course, is the incredibly disturbing rape scene. I think we're supposed to assume that Uhura managed to fight the guy off, but this is by no means entirely clear, and since he's a lot bigger than her, I'm having trouble believing it. Ick, ick, ick. Especially since there's absolutely no interest in how Uhura copes with being attacked; as usual, the focus is on Kirk's jolly adventures. This trivializes the (attempted) rape, and in fact the whole episode feels like a lightly disguised enslavement-and-rape fantasy; if it were fanfic there'd have been a warning and I'd have known to avoid it.
Other fail: Kirk seducing and using his trainer, but instead of paying for it, he ends up benefitting because she loves him too much to kill him. And the running "joke" with Chekov's trainer attracted to him, LOL SHE'S FAT AND UGLY ISN'T IT HILARIOUS. Also Kirk's speech about how on earth there's freedom and gender roles love. And also Shatner's acting, which is just dreadful throughout.
It was, however, funny to see Kirk forced to go jogging. I'm trying not to jump too much onto the fandom bandwagon of laughing at Kirk for being plump, as it's the sort of thing I hate when other characters are subjected to it. Somehow, though, it's funny when it's Kirk, because the whole show is about how Kirk is too sexy for his shirt (literally). His weight is the only thing saving him from being an unbearable Marty Stu; being laughed at a little is probably good for him.
"A Piece of the Action
98% pure delicious crack, and mostly just an excuse to put the guys into crazy pinstriped gangster suits. Spock manages to make that brown thing with the orange tie look elegant; there should've been a special Emmy.
The only thing funnier than Kirk's amazing line of improvisational bullshit (fizzbin! the Federation as the capo di tutti capi!) is watching him try to drive that car. (In the real world, though, he'd have been stalling it every five seconds like I did when a friend tried to teach me to drive a stick shift.) Spock obviously really enjoys being able to criticize Kirk's driving and suggest that it'd be faster to walk.
Actually, Spock obviously enjoys all the hijinks. By the end he's really getting into the spirt of it. Does the Enterprise have a holodeck at this stage? Because if so, I know Spock was in there every day for the next several weeks perfecting his slang and his tommy gun techniques.
My favorite moment, though, is Spock saying to Okmyx, in tones of great disappointment, "Sir, you are employing a double negative."
The 2% that was not delicious crack was a bit WTF. As in, WTF, Kirk, did you really just make a gangster the ruler of the planet? The writer was clever enough to lampshade this, but not clever enough to give Kirk a sensible reply to the questions. Instead, he tries to charm his way out of it, which apparently works on Spock at least.
"The Immunity Syndrome"
A.k.a. the episode the convinced me that McCoy is hopelessly in love with Spock. I adored the scene when Spock asks McCoy to wish him luck, but McCoy doesn't answer. And then once Spock's well out of earshot, McCoy says "Good luck, Spock" in this broken little voice. Less woobie-tastic but equally lovely is "Shut up, Spock, we're rescuing you!" Awwww.
McCoy's very sweet when Spock is traumatized by psychically experiencing the deaths of all the Vulcans on Intrepid, too. And all he gets in return is Spock getting cranky (although from Spock's POV, I can understand how McCoy's constant harping on how human emotional expression is superior to Vulcan control gets old fast).
Later, Spock claims McCoy has a martyr complex. Um, Spock, have you met Captain Kirk? I'm half convinced that Kirk chose to send Spock on the suicide mission because it hurt him (Kirk) more. Spock and McCoy's bickering is unusually bitter after Kirk chooses, too. What an awkward, fraught little triangle of affection and rivalry the three of them make.
Speaking of bitter, Spock's "Tell Dr. McCoy he should have wished me luck," is just ouchy. Theirloveissodysfunctional. Seriously. Spock wants an acknowledgement of friendship from McCoy, but McCoy won't give it unless Spock gives one first, which of course Spock can't because loosening his self-control is hard enough without having to do so unprompted.
Clearly the only solution is for Kirk, Spock, and McCoy to visit a planet with Alien Sex Pollen--there are a lot of them about, so that shouldn't be difficult--where they can all have their inhibitions nicely lowered, confess all those confusing feelings, and have sex in all four possible permutations. They could probably even bill any expenses to Starfleet by calling it an interdepartmental communication retreat.
Ahem. Anyway, this episode had a giant space amoeba. And a joke about Kirk vacationing on a "lovely . . . planet" that was sort of tolerable the first time when Spock was in the foreground of the shot, but less so when we had to hear it again at the end, directed at a young female yeoman. Oh, Kirk, I'll bet Starfleet's expenses for sexual harassment lawsuit payouts have tripled since you became captain.
"A Private Little War"
The second of the episodes I disliked, what with the evil!seductive!witch and all. She literally pushes herself into "men's business" (when Tyree is talking with Kirk about the weapons and stuff, the scene is blocked in such a way that she has to physically insert herself into the conversation). And in the end she's punished for her wicked ways by being symbolically raped (when she's captured by the villagers she's passed from man to man, screaming). Her death reduces her to a woman's proper place, which is as a silent, passive motivation for men's actions--the only thing missing is a refrigerator to stuff her dead body into.
There was another level of sexist fail in poor Christine Chapel being made the butt of jokes because of her unrequited love for Spock. I don't hate the unrequited love storyline itself--it can be and sometimes has been handled well, as in "The Naked Time"--but I hated M'Benga laughing at her (with the tinkly comedy music in the background, no less). M'Benga's kind of a dick to her in general, what with his snarky "Yes, that's clear enough, isn't it?" comment when she double-checks a medical instruction. I'm annoyed that he was written that way, because he's a black doctor on a 1960s show and I wanted to like him. I wonder if his sexism was actually written in to make viewers (presumed to be white and male) like him by showing that he's just "one of the boys"?
It also bothered me that the more violent group of locals were dark-haired while the peaceful, good group all had blond/white hair: sketchy racial subtext is sketchy.
The Vietnam war allegory created a real problem in the episode, because the show shied away from actually criticizing the war. Instead, there's this claim that while a proxy war is grandly tragic because it ruins the innocence of noble savages, it's still the best solution because . . . um, it's better for the noble savages to kill each other than for Russians and Americans Klingons and the Federation to kill each other? Or something.
There was some nice slashy emotional stuff, what with Spock and Kirk both being wounded, but that didn't begin to compensate for the rest.
*****