I'd make a "four score" joke, but this is actually episode 77 of 79; TOS not quite reaching the 80 episode mark.
In any event, I got a feeling this was going to be a weird one just from the description on Netflix...
Surveying a new volcanic planet, the Enterprise sees part of it turn into something far more Earth-like... then Abraham Lincoln turns up floating in front of the ship. I wonder what sort of drugs were involved in coming up with this one, which was a concept that Roddenberry submitted right in the pitching stage for the show. It did get rather heavily changed in terms of who the main characters were, though - Hitler was originally in there, but he wasn't ever a great physical fighter.
Lincoln is beamed on board with full honours, although none of the crew believe he is the real "Honest Abe"; there is some mystery as to how he has turned up here.
To get to the gist of this episode, a lava creature called Yarnek forces Kirk, Spock, Lincoln and a Vulcan of legend named Surak have to fight four of history's greatest villains so his people can study good and evil. One of whom is Genghis Khan and another is an American conducted a genocidal war in the 21st Century. No comment.
For all the "No Kings" protests they had recently, some American Presidents are very much venerated like some of our monarchs are and Abraham Lincoln is most definitely one of them. However, his portrayal here makes clear that he was just as much a man of his time as he was the Great Emancipator, referring to Uhura as a certain term for an African-American woman that would not be acceptable today. I suppose that you might appreciate this story a bit more if you're American and knew more of his life story. I am not sure he was that brown personally.
Speaking of brown, we get rather a lot of the skin-darkening make-up used on three of the four villains that we see in this episode, which is badly distracting. Even if we get the first appearance of Kahless the Unforgettable, a key figure in Klingon lore, although here he is presented as a typical sneaky Klingon of the TOS era. Fortunately, the episode gives us an explanation that can be used for the differences between here and his later portrayals, though I doubt anyone working on TNG could have seen the Fornication Helmet coming.
One definitely memorable character from this is Yarnek, who appears as a giant lava creature who is literally smoking. It's a good demonstration as to why these sort of creatures are today generally CGI even if a prosthetic or model is used for the filming; his movement is very limited in the episode and you would have real problems walking in that suit without falling over.
Overall this isn't a great one. The story drags somewhat; the fight scenes look iffy (especially with the rocks flying, which definitely don't look right) and the story ends in a manner that's basically, "right that's it, we're leaving now". Most of the regulars turn in good performances, with Scotty in dress uniform being a highlight, being even grumpier than normal.
As a final comment, how did the people on Enterprise get to see camera shots like that?
Conclusion
Another one of these good ideas, let down by the execution.
6/10
No comments:
Post a Comment