I'll be reviewing these six here, before moving onto the six episodes of Season 2 in another post.
11. The Terratin Incident
I must admit that when I saw the description of this one, I was expecting it to be a bit silly, but it actually worked very well indeed. It's a classic Trek concept - nasty thing happening to the Enterprise is in fact means of communication by a group with no other way of getting their message across. The concept is one that would fall over in live-action even today, but works very well in animation form. Mostly - sometimes the cheapness is still there. They definitely have some interesting lab animals too!
9/10
12. The Time Trap
Watching this Enemy Mine-style episode, where the Enterprise has to work with a Klingon vessel to get out of a space Bermuda Triangle, I had a distinct memory of reading a comic like this at primary school. Now that was many years ago. Indeed, I did - there's a similar, but not identical, plot from the Gold Key comics - published the year before! The episode in itself is pretty mediocre - the voice acting of the guest characters (Nichelle Nichols doing three of them!) is pretty poor, the twists unsurprising when they come and some logic issues that also turn up. One particular amusing moment is the sudden cut to the aftermath of an Orion dance we don't see - this was a U-rated show!
6/10
13. The Ambergris Element
Frankly, this one is rather silly. We've got rather quick mutations, the Enterprise being able to predict and influence quakes via phaser, documents holding up fine after centuries underwater, underwater creatures in silly outfits with more flat voice acting and a shuttle that can also be a submarine. Also, people taking a very long time to suffocate. Also, ambergris is basically whale laxative!
4/10
14. The Slaver Weapon
Now, I've most definitely heard of Larry Niven, but I hadn't known that he'd adapted a short story of his into an episode of this show. Only featuring Spock, Scotty and Sulu, this seems them investigating a "stasis box" and having to keep its contents out of the hands of the Kzinti, a cat-like alien race that Niven used extensively in his Known Space universe; although one also became a regular character in Lower Decks. A master of the genre, Niven's tale is far better than the sum of its parts (which include a pink spacecraft, possibly as Hal Sutherland was colour-blind) and his stuff here about AI is actually a good idea. One of the best of the run.
9/10
15. In the Eye of the Beholder
When I saw the description, I immediately thought of Moopsy, one of the most memorable creatures from Lower Decks. This is not that zoo; the owners are clearly smarter enough not to house that thing, although not smart enough to use writing or realise they're dealing with sapient life quite quickly. Then again, we had "human zoos" in the 20th century, so we can't exactly complain. A well-written tale with some interesting plot mechanics to get around the limited budget, which is obvious when you see Kirk speaking.
8/10
16. The Jihad
A high-concept affair involving the search for a missing religious artefact where Kirk and Spock have to work together with a variety of aliens - and a human woman with a thing for Kirk. However, this one is badly let down by the execution; the creatures are unconvincingly even in animation, there's some real logic holes here and the twist comes out of nowhere like a massive slam on anteaters. Would you have this title today?
6/10
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