04 October 2023

In which Kirk and McCoy get Dalek-zapped (Review: 'Star Trek' 3.8, "For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky")

  • Straight into the action here, that's good. Although it's odd that there aren't further attacks on the ship after the initial missile barrage.
  • That's an exceedingly long episode title!
  • I believe this was still a time when cancer was a very taboo subject. However, any tension is lost because I've seen the TOS movies and know McCoy survives. He also doesn't show any physical deterioration, which would have added to the peril.
  • I am sure those rocks have turned up already. Definitely some props were reused. Unfortunately, the fact this is clearly a studio is obvious on modern screens. They should have a 1960s mode on streaming platforms.
  • Some pretty decent camerawork in some scenes, especially when they come down the staircase.
  • The zapping effect reminds me very much of the one used for Dalek exterminations in Doctor Who at this time - with some modifications i.e. visible skeletons, it's still used today.
  • We get another William Ware Theiss skimpy outfit - and a female lead with a ridiculous hairdo. It's 1960s Star Trek, I should really expect that.
  • A romance plot for McCoy is an interesting one. It would have worked better had Natira been better acted; it's a very stilted performance and I wrote "Show me more of this Earth thing called kissing" in my notes before crossing it out. At least she survives, unlike some of Kirk's previous love interests.
  • How does Spock know the language of a species dead for 10,000 years and where the planet was destroyed?
  • The ending is a bit rushed; this might have worked a lot better as a two-parter, to be frank.
  • Is that Jan-Michael Vincent as an extra in this? IMDB doesn't list it as one of his early credits, but he was acting at this time.
  • The whole concept could make for an interesting mini-series; I'm reminded of Silo myself.
  • I noticed the IATSE logo at the end - they've been around since 1893, but I hadn't realised their logo has been around on TV credits for that long. The AMPTP logo is also there.

Conclusion

There's a lot of interesting ideas here, but they're bogged down in a rather sappy romance plot with a poorly acted female lead.

6/10



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