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The Original Series (TOS) Season 3 Guest Reviews

First Pilot - Season 1 - Season 2 - Season 3

 

Whom Gods Destroy Stardate 5718.3: An admired ex-fleet captain named Garth of Izar is the newest addition to a Federation funny farm, however he's learned a (unbelievably perfect, see below) shape-shifting technique which he uses to overrun the colony, draw the Enterprise to the planet, and declares himself king of the universe, intending to use the big E to take over everything.

Wow. Only a minor plot device and some good (and just humorous) acting try to save this crap.
First of all, even with cellular metamorphosis, how can Garth change his clothes, which are not part of his body? Not to mention his voice shouldn't sound exactly like the person he's impersonating. And even with how psycho he is, he should know he can't reach the entire universe, considering they can't reach the rest of the galaxy. And why can Garth not remember anything of taking over the asylum after getting his insanity medication?
However, it is refreshing to see for once, that there's some kind of a preventive measure for starship takeover. However, I wonder why it's put in place, since they had no idea of Garth at the time of arriving. Otherwise, a predictable episode.
Remarkable acting 1: It's actually believable that Garth and Marta are nuts, without the acting being ridiculously stupid.
Remarkable acting 2: Watching William Shatner as Garth throw a temper tantrum when he realizes that taking over the Enterprise will not be easy.
(Un)remarkable special effect: Garth shapeshifting, it's just the camera going out of focus >_<
Continuity error: The medicine to cure insanity seems to be gone by "Star Trek III", as a Federation guard tells Kirk McCoy's going to an insane asylum.
Rating: 4 (Ako Widorn)

The Way to Eden Stardate not given: Synopsis in main TOS listing

To be fair, "Way To Eden" is probably not as bad as you'd expect for an episode whose basic plot outline can be summed up as 'Space hippies take over the Enterprise'. But, really, that's not saying much. First of all, trying to 'take on' the issue of hippies was probably a bad idea to begin with; after all, the philosophy espoused by Roddenberry (and, by extension, the crew of the Enterprise) is almost the complete opposite of the basic hippy mindset. But, even so, it would still be possible to create an interesting episode, by contrasting exactly these two differing mindsets, with perhaps a few insightful comments about the pros and cons of such beliefs. To put it simply, "The Way To Eden" is simply not that episode. And the main problem, predictably enough is the hippies themselves. Almost by definition, for the hippies eventual tragic ends to have any meaning, the audience has to, on some level, sympathize with them and their 'quest'. But, at least in my case, this simply didn't happen. Almost the opposite, in fact; by the end of the episode, I hated everything about them. And this is partly the fault of the writer of this episode; when you're trying to make someone sympathetic, its generally not a good idea to have them immediately tick off the most popular regular character on the show. By the time Spock's ill-fated 'fascination' with the movement begins, the audience is already lost, and, as a result, this plot thread just comes off as plain weird. And all of this is not to mention the horrible, unbelievable way in which they overpower the Enterprise crew, making every single regular character look like an idiot, and, of course, Irina's atrociously fake Russian accent. Overall, not a great episode.
Error: Strangely enough, a man-made bridge appears in the background of the supposedly primitive 'Eden' planet.
Quote: "I reach." (Spock)
Rating: 1 (Nathan)

 


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