Posts Tagged ‘season three’

Disowning “Plato’s Stepchildren”

We’re back, Trek fans! Alas, it’s to bring you our Star Trek Re-watch recap and commentary on one of those episodes that most acolytes of The Great Bird of the Galaxy like to pretend didn’t happen: “Plato’s Stepchildren.” Yes, the one where a dwarf rides Kirk like a horse and Spock sings “Maiden Wine.” I think Kirk’s expression in the photo below sums up our reaction perfectly:

Aw, go on, click the link and read the recap and analysis. You know you wanna. And in case you haven’t been keeping up, here’s the quick list of the weekly third-season recaps and analyses written by Dayton Ward and yours truly for the fine folks at TOR.COM —

  1. Spock’s Brain
  2. The Enterprise Incident
  3. The Paradise Syndrome
  4. And the Children Shall Lead
  5. Is There in Truth No Beauty?
  6. Spectre of the Gun
  7. Day of the Dove
  8. For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
  9. The Tholian Web

Read, laugh, enjoy — and remember to leave a comment over on TOR.COM so we know you’re out there. (We can hear you breathing, but that doesn’t impress our masters at Tor.)

Until next week, may all your meals be laced with kironide.

Catching up with Star Trek Re-watch

Another turn of the page-a-day calendar brings us once more to Thor’s day (or Thursday, for those of a more modern persuasion), and that can mean only one thing: a new installment of Tor.com‘s weekly feature Star Trek Re-watch, by Dayton Ward and yours truly.

A combination of illness, travel, and a holiday kept me from promoting last week’s Re-watch column, so this week you get a double feature — and what an “odd couple” of episodes this is. Back to back, we find one of the original series’ most laughable entries followed by one of its most laudable.

First up is “For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky.” If you just couldn’t get enough of “The Paradise Syndrome” five weeks ago, then you’re in luck—most of that episode’s tropes (and effects shots) are recycled here for your viewing pleasure.

Then get ready to grab something heavy, because the next episode will blow you away: “The Tholian Web“ is far away one of the finest hours in the 40-plus years of the Star Trek saga.

For you completists, here’s the list of my and Dayton’s contributions to the Star Trek Re-watch:

  1. Spock’s Brain
  2. The Enterprise Incident
  3. The Paradise Syndrome
  4. And the Children Shall Lead
  5. Is There in Truth No Beauty?
  6. Spectre of the Gun
  7. Day of the Dove
  8. For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
  9. The Tholian Web

Go check ’em out, and leave a comment over there to let us know you’re paying attention!

A wee bout of “The Paradise Syndrome”

The wait is over! (Okay, it’s only been seven days, but it was still a wait. Kind of.) The latest installment of the Tor.com Star Trek Re-watch, by myself and Dayton Ward, is now live. See what we think of the third-season TOS episode “The Paradise Syndrome.” (You know, the one where Kirk goes and lives with the Indians? “Dances with Obelisks”? Yeah, that one.)

In a new feature, I will present here two uncensored versions of paragraphs from our column that were expurgated by the eminently tasteful folks over at Tor, with the censored bits in boldface type:

#1:

The trio seeks out the nearest group of life-forms, who appear to be Native Americans—a colony comprising traits of the Navajo, Mohican, and Delaware tribes, according to Spock’s expert eye (and online subscription to Naughty Squaws magazine).

#2:

On the planet, Kirk—excuse me, Kirok—gets cut in a knife fight with Salish, who growls, “Behold a god who bleeds!” Never mind that—behold a grown man who can’t get over a bad breakup. Someone get this jackass a mug of fire water and send him on a vision quest before he hurts himself.

Good cuts or bad cuts? I’ll leave that call to the readers. Go read the full article and decide for yourself!