re: Star Trek: TOS Watchers - S2 - Return to Tomorrow *Page 14*

I never really realized that two of Star Trek's funniest episodes were produced back to back.

Lots of great moments in this one.

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Laddie, don't you think you should... rephrase that?

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MCCOY: Spock, I don't know too much about these little tribbles yet, but there's one thing that I have discovered. 
SPOCK: What is that, Doctor? 
MCCOY: I like them better than I like you. 
SPOCK: Doctor? 
MCCOY: Yes? 
SPOCK: They do have one redeeming characteristic. 
MCCOY: What's that? 
SPOCK: They do not talk too much. If you'll excuse me, sir

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SPOCK: Surely you must have realised what would happen if you removed the tribbles from their predator-filled environment into an environment where their natural multiplicative proclivities would have no restraining factors. 
JONES: Of course. What did you say?

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SCOTT: Well, Captain, the Klingons called you, uh a tin-plated, overbearing, swaggering dictator with delusions of godhood. 
KIRK: Is that all? 
SCOTT: No, sir. They also compared you with a Denebian slime devil. 
KIRK: I see. 
SCOTT: And then they said you 
KIRK: I get the picture, Scotty. 
SCOTT: Yes, sir. 
KIRK: After they said all this, that's when you hit the Klingons? 
SCOTT: No, sir. 
KIRK: No? 
SCOTT: No, I didn't. You told us to avoid trouble. 
KIRK: Oh, yes. 
SCOTT: And I didn't see that it was worth fighting about. After all, we're big enough to take a few insults. Aren't we? 
KIRK: What was it they said that started the fight? 
SCOTT: They called the Enterprise a garbage scow, sir. 
KIRK: I see. And that's when you hit the Klingons? 
SCOTT: Yes, sir. 
KIRK: You hit the Klingons because they insulted the Enterprise, not because they 
SCOTT: Well, sir, this was a matter of pride.

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Just a fun episode all the way around.

Saturday bump - last call for Tribbles.

Tuesday bump

I always liked the concept.

Obligatory for Drusilla (Lois Jewell):



A model who, briefly, tried her hand at acting - this was one of only 2 screen credits (the other being in the pilot episode of The Flying Nun).

As for our villains - here is a nice blast from the past picture:



Michael Pollard (Jahn from "Miri") and Logan Ramsey (Cladius from our current episode) - appeared together, with Ramsey's wife, IRL, Ann Ramsey (in one of her final screen appearances) in Scrooged.

Logan Ramsey is the son of the famous USN officer, Captain Logan Ramsey, Sr., who raised the alarm on December 7, 1941 - "Air raid Pearl Harbor, this is no drill". Logan, Jr., our Cladius, served as a naval officer during the war, as well.



Merik - more of a flawed hero who falls then redeems himself, played by William Smithers, an actor known for his wonderful villains:

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This was also a good McCoy/Spock episode. Some funny moments, like the bickering during the gladiatorial combat, to a pretty intense confrontation in the jail cell.

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This show did a good job of balancing things out between talk and action, as well - contemplation of what you would do if in Merik's spot, etc. The Rome stuff bordered on tongue-in-cheek, in spots, but the "Christian" rebels kind of anchored the first part of the episode.

Other than shows like Twilight Zone and Outer Limits (essentially spiritual parents to TOS, along with Wagon Train and the film Forbidden Planet) - you didn't have lots of attempts at mixing/matching things like 20th century technology and Roman/Greek empire type stories - at least not in film or television. In the 60s, Sci Fi guys were writing alternate histories (PKD's The Man in the High Castle, for example), but there were few mainstream filmed efforts - in TOS - we have, effectively 2 in the same season - this episode and the subsequent 2nd Season episode, "Patterns of Force" (Space Nazis), which has a very similar vibe as this one.

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Monday bump

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One of the best Star Trek eps of all time, any series

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I agree - some of the best acting, particularly Mark Lenard's Sarek and Jane Wyman (who was 7 years older than Lenard just barely old enough to be Leonard Nimoy's mother IRL) - I was always struck by the casting.

The "Andorian" assassin, Thelev, (turns out to be a surgically altered Orion) - was played effectively by William O'Connell



- associated with Clint Eastwood since, at least, Rawhide, O'Connell appeared in many Eastwood films, most memorably, for me anyway, as the strictly neutral ferry operator in The Outlaw Josey Wales:

Classic Bones!


MCCOY: Dress uniforms, spit and polish. I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to stand this. I feel like my neck's in a sling.
KIRK: The Vulcans are the last delegates we have to pick up. As soon as we get them aboard, we'll be able to relax.
(They leave.)

[Corridor]

MCCOY: Sure. A formal reception tonight, a hundred and fourteen delegates aboard for two weeks, thirty two of them ambassadors, (Spock joins them) half of them mad at the other half, and the whole lot touchier than a raw antimatter pile over this Coridan question.

Another of my favorites. It was great to get another glimpse of Spock's personal life.

I'd forgotten just how harsh Sarek was to Spock in the beginning. Ignoring him like that seemed like the Vulcan equivalent of a slap. Of course, that makes their reconciliation at the end that much better.

Great costumes and makeup also. It was a treat to see the Tellarites and Andorians.

Some look down on the episodes that take place only on the ship, but this one in particular proves you don't need lots of planetary sets to make a great episode.

Spock and Amanda have a very powerful scene in Spock's quarters. Great job by both actors.

GAV: There will be payment for your slander, Sarek
SAREK: Threats are illogical. And payment is usually expensive.



SPOCK: On Vulcan, the teddy bears are alive. And they have six-inch fangs.