Is There In Truth No Beauty?
The Plot:
Only a jealous scientist (Diana Muldaur) can save Spock when he
goes mad after seeing a hideous Medusan. (Tivo.)
Ah, the hardest Original Series title to ever get right. It's
such a distinctly late 60s plot focus, too: the alien that's very good
yet so ugly it makes you go mad to look at them, but are they really
ugly or just more beautiful than we mere humans can understand?
David Gerrold called this episode 'soap opera', and I'm not sure
whether or not that's a fair characterization. The episode has a
relatively unusual tension curve for the Original Series: in many
episodes there's the Introduction of the problem, a Build, a False
Solution, a Real Solution. In this case there's not much of an obvious
problem to start with (compare to episodes like 'The Doomsday Machine'
where we have the crisis before the opening credits come in), and then
when one is introduced -- Marvick going mad and sending the Enterprise
off to some weird thing -- and then the spacetime warp crisis is turned
into a Spock In Jeopardy plot with roughly the same tension. I suppose
that makes it more soap operatic than the average Trek plot: for most of
the story there's just one crisis at a time, and they're resolved in
succession rather than coming together in one big crisis.
In some ways this is another Original Series episode which seems
to foreshadow the plot structure of Voyager: we get introduced to a
situation and the characters and plot points are shuffled around until
we reach the necessary number of screen minutes. There's not really
much dramatic requirement that the story go on after they get out of the
spacetime void effect thingy, except that it fills some of the camera
time. Similarly there's not much reason that Spock couldn't heal
himself or that Jones might not end up in jeopardy after the mind-meld
thingy of thingies at the end except that they ran out of time to do
more stuff. That the spacetime warp seems to come from nowhere and go
nowhere reinforces this effect -- it's there to keep the episode from
running short, and not much else.
When I'm in a good mood this all works enough, although when I'm
in a bad mood it feels like a slog of waiting for all of the revelations
and counter-revelations to finally unwind themselves already.
Another year, another voyage to the Galactic Barrier, and now we
have another different effect from previous visits. The first time
through left the ship crippled; the second time they were just flying
through and seemed to barely notice; this time, it's just a way to get
trapped for an act or so.
Thoughts While Watching:
- Medusans are formless, yet hideous, yet really beautiful
inside. This is *such* a late 60s alien.
- Here, we get proof against the occasional fandom notion that
Scott invented the Enterprise. It's understandable why people want to
build up Our Heroes, but it does sometimes run a little silly, eg, in
the notion that Spock was the first Vulcan ever in Star Fleet.
- There's a little pause before ``Kirk out'' which makes me
suspect Shatner was expected someone to dub in an ``aye, sir''
afterwards.
- ``The ambassador is most pleased to meet you, Mister Spock.''
TOM: Hey, shouldn't Quark's burnished head be stuck into that
thing?
- Spock's voice is odd this episode. I mean, it's odd most
Third Season episodes, but this was particularly odd. Was Nimoy
suffering a cold that week of filming?
- We get the antigravity hand-holds again. And Kirk apparently
hasn't heard how you can't go to warp inside star systems.
- You suppose that's a ceremonial pedestal used just for
visiting formless ambassadors in the Medusan's quarters?
- The ``maddening'' illusion of the Medusan is quite nicely
done. I do naturally wonder if it was ever alleged to trigger epileptic
fits.
- Kirk's serving Romulan Ale again. It worked so very well with
Khan's dinner.
- ``I was just noticing your Vulcan IDIC, Mister Spock.''
TOM: Are replicas of it available for a reasonable price with
shipping and handling from Lincoln Enterprises?
- See, it's easy to snark about what navigational problems
starships have that sensors can't handle, but they're going to ram it
down our throats this episode anyway.
- Spock gets obnoxious to McCoy about what seems like a
reasonable question, is it wise to work long-term when a glimpse of it
will induce madness, calling it an example of an old human prejudice.
Incidentally, this indicates that at this point McCoy must not have
known about Jones's blindness, or he could have avoided the whole issue.
However, McCoy then asks Jones about finding her way alone, which seems
like it's meant to indicate that he knows.
- The Enterprise has a lovely collection of old Astounding
Science Fiction covers hung on the walls.
- Kirk calls Jones the most beautiful girl in the galaxy; he's
hoping she hasn't read his thoughts too bluntly.
- ``We're all ... vulnerable, in one way or another.'' It's
small touches like this which establish Kirk as not the daring and
dashing space operatic hero he's caricatured as being. I've argued
sometimes that Kirk is borderline depressed; an aside like that and his
overplayed glance at the rose are support for that.
- ``I thought dinner was never going to end.'' And yet again we
see a scene where none of the real cast members are on stage. We also
see how engineers of the 23rd century fail to reproduce. And we learn
there are such things as restaurants then still.
- ``So it's you! I didn't know it was you before!''
CROW: But there wasn't anyone else in the cast unaccounted for!
- Kirk comes charging in with a security team although by the
WOR/New York City cut there wasn't any sort of intruder alert to justify
it.
- Scott had a work shift after the formal dinner?
- Kirk sure took his time in warning about Marvick. Maybe he
wanted to make sure he had everyone's attention.
- TOM: Marvick is so frantic just the air of his kicks nearby
them is knocking people over!
- A short of the bridge taken from the turbolift alcove! What
do they think this is, the first season?
- Again fast cuts are used to suggest speed. This was probably
essential for the original series, which didn't have the budget to do
new speed effects, but it also works really well.
- They go racing into the Galactic Barrier and find some sort of
time warp thingy tucked inside. In the Remastered Effects his space
warp is a cloudy blue puddle of some kind. It's alien, although I think
I liked the original scheme of a pink fluid better even if that did mean
it wasn't obvious where the Galactic Barrier ended and the weird space
warp thing began.
- Once again, someone dies, and McCoy doesn't stir himself to
try any sort of, oh, treatment.
- ``When we exceeded warp 9.5 we evidently entered some kind of
space-time continuum.''
CROW: Very good, Spock. Now would you mind saying something
that makes actual sense?
- ``In some ways she is still most human, particularly in the
depths of her jealousy.'' Another great moment for femininity on the
Original Trek.
- Miranda Jones has never been to Earth, although she has lived
on Vulcan.
- So how do you suppose Kirk brought up a date when Marvick
killed himself and they were trapped in some space-time continuum?
- ``You're going to yearn for someone who looks like yourself.''
I suppose that Kirk has to be trying to keep Jones distracted, but this
does seem hard to reconcile with his advice to Zephram Cochrane in a
rather similar circumstance. For a way to keep Jones's mind occupied an
emotionally tangled argument is an efficient way, but is this the right
one to pick, if it wasn't Kirk being inconsistent?
- And so by now McCoy knows Jones is blind; how McCoy found out
about it isn't obvious. This scene probably was part of the motivation
for making the Enterprise-D pilot a blind man when the time came for The
Next Generation, although the facts of George La Forge do weigh on
things.
- There's a Captain's Log Supplementary this time around.
- So apparently by the 23rd century people have not lost the
technology to make cubicle walls. Considering the fears of someone
catching a glimpse of Kolos in transport, wouldn't it have been better
to do the mind-link in the turbolift, where access to the bridge would
be instant and one could be reasonable sure a person didn't accidentally
wander in? For that matter why not reduce the number of people on the
bridge when the cabinet-opening was needed?
- Sulu has to push a button to release the helm to Mister Spock.
I guess that's like when the cashier at Wawa has to log in so they know
who stole from the register.
- This is a relatively rare appearance of Spock at the
helm-and-navigation stations.
- Granting the intent was to make Spock-and-Kolos look really
good at their work, having them get out so quickly made it look like
Sulu and Chekov were wusses for just not turning around and going for a
couple moments.
- Kolos pauses for a moment to wonder about loneliness, which
hasbeen something of the undercurrent of Marvick and Jones's lives.
- The fish-eye lens is the official Star Trek indicator of
point-of-view madness -- it's not only used here and in The Tholian Web
but in a few episodes of The Next Generation.
- Finally, someone remembers one of those phaser things can be
used for restraining dangerous people!
- Evidently there aren't Vulcans, or aren't Vulcans competent to
do mind-melds, on board this week, other than Spock.
- ``His mind has gone far down, too far for even me to reach!''
CROW: Is he doppling with Aram Fingle or something?
- Kirk and Jones got into an emotionally violent argument that
doesn't quite seem to make literal sense. I suppose these things won't
to the outsider.
- Somebody painted over McCoy's little doorway mirror.
- The Medusan vessel appears to be one of the lamented
'Daedalus' class ships, in the remastered version.
- ``I am one with Kolos.'' ``I'm sorry that you're leaving.''
TOM: She has to go make Data cry.
- ``I suppose it has thorns.'' ``I never met a rose that
didn't.''
CROW: And Spock points out the Thablerian roses of Gloriblax IX
don't.
- I hope Kirk was holding his eyes really tight during the
transport since he didn't have his glasses on and didn't leave the room.
Whoops.
- The remastering has a beauty of a shot with the Enterprise
turning and leaving, while caught in the solar flare of a distant star,
in front of the New Medusan Vessel. Nicely planned and conceived a shot
there.
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