Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 30, Episodes 59 (Star Trek)

Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 30, Episodes 59 and 60: The Enterprise Incident/ And the Children Shall Lead

B00005KHK4

Paramount Studio

14 August, 2001

"The Enterprise Incident" An overwrought, highly-stressed Captain Kirk blunders into Romulan space and finds the Enterprise surrounded by enemy vessels, all equipped with strategically valuable cloaking technology. Along with Spock, Kirk is invited to meet with the Romulan commander (Joanne Linville) to discuss the situation, leading to a crisis when the captain suffers a breakdown following Spock's apparent betrayal. Written by story editor Dorothy Fontana (who was unhappy with the final results) and directed by John Meredyth Lucas (who briefly took the producing reins from Gene L. Coon during season two), the episode has a colorful espionage angle, but depends heavily on an improbable romance between Spock and Linville's character. Still, there are things to savor here, especially Kirk's one-and-only appearance with Vulcan/Romulan pointed ears. --Tom Keogh "And the Children Shall Lead" The Enterprise arrives at a distant research outpost to find all the adults dead and their children eerily cheerful. No sooner are they aboard the ship than the children begin taking over, using strange powers bestowed on them by a malevolent "friendly angel." The kids make for an engagingly creepy episode as they alter the crew's perceptions to play on their worst fears, all with angelic smiles on their faces. Kirk's stiff-necked nature is well played against the manic playfulness of the kids, and legendary attorney Melvin Belli (who enjoyed a moderately busy acting career in the late '60s) does an interesting turn as the smooth-talking angel. --Jeff Shannon

The original "Star Trek" series is cheesy at times but often fun and sometimes dramatic. However, 2 episodes per disc is a sure sign that Paramount was milking this series for all that it's worth, because they knew that the loyal "Star Trek" fans would buy every disc - all 40 of them. Paramount has now released the entire series in season boxed sets which, although still pricey, include bonus features and are a better value than these single-disc releases. Skip these discs and buy the boxed sets instead. The Enterprise Incident-This Romulan intrigue story is one of the 3rd season's most solid offerings. It offers a tight and dramatic plot, with plenty of twists and surprises. The teaser is particularly well-executed, and may be second only to Mirror, Mirror's opening in dramatic effect. I also enjoy the moral ambiguity of this episode. By that I mean not only that we are left to ponder whether the ends justify the means, but also that WE are left to ponder that question, rather than being beaten over the head with it and having it answered for us. Would a 1st season episode have been comfortable with this ambiguity, let alone keeping it implicit? No normative judgments implied, but Star Trek had in some sense grown up by the Fall of 1968, for better or worse. (4 stars) Tidbits: Spock was able to stay fairly true to himself in this romance; others weren't so lucky in their 3rd season romances, which generally yanked crewmembers far out of character. As a result, here the sacrifice Spock makes is a real one, in which he compromises himself. The production team did a nice job of giving the Romulan ship interior a different feel. And the Children Shall Lead-Incredibly, the second of the 'children' episodes is even darker than the first (Miri). This atmospheric episode is shrouded in a sense of mystery and dread. I would go so far as to call the episode courageous in it's depiction of evil and willingness to give the children complicity in the adults' deaths. Each individual's insecurities and fears are exploited by the Gorgon, and at the height of the episode Kirk has lost control both of his ship and his entire sense of reality. While some of the effects are quite gimmicky (the knives), others are effective in their simplicity (such as the summoning of the Gorgon). Overall I found this to be an effective, eerie and surreal episode, although some may dislike the fact that there is no simple moral. The cold finality of much of the death (such as being beamed into deep space) may also upset some. The conclusions/ means of dealing with the Gorgon were also admittedly weak. Tidbits: It would be interesting to know how attourney Melvin Belli ended up in this role. (4 stars) REVIEWED ITEM: Star Trek® Original Series DVD Volume 30: The Enterprise Incident © / And the Children Shall Lead © THE ENTERPRISE INCIDENT © PRELIMINARY BRIEFS: Moral, Ethical, and/or Philosophical Subject(s) Driven Into The Ground: The balance of power; military one-upmanship Historic Milestone: the introduction of the fictional "Vulcan death grip" Expendable Enterprise Crewmember (`Red Shirt') Confirmed Casualty List: None REVIEW/COMMENTARY: Jimmers' libido takes a rest in this outing as Spock takes on the task of romancing the babe-of-the-week. And what a job he does: he melts the heart-- whilst earning the trust-- of a Romulan ship commander with his little routine of logic and lack of emotion following the capture of the Enterprise after encroaching into the Neutral Zone. Adding to his credibility with the Romulan commander is his application of the aforementioned `Vulcan death grip' on the good captain when it appears he may've gone a bit loopy. Um, the captain that is. Meanwhile, Jimmers' `corpse' is returned to the Enterprise, where he's revived, disguises himself as a Romulan officer, and sets out to steal the enemy's cloaking device. Scotty's expression of joyful surprise as he sees the good captain in Romulan togs is absolutely priceless! Eventually, the Enterprise makes off with their prize, and with a touch of Scotty's miracle-working, uses it to escape detection. In the end, Spock has the temerity to try and salvage his `relationship' with the captured Romulan officer after using her like a wad of tissues! And apparently she falls for it to a degree, the silly fool. Oh Spock, you smooth character you! AND THE CHILDREN SHALL LEAD © PRELIMINARY BRIEFS: Moral, Ethical, and/or Philosophical Subject(s) Driven Into The Ground: The folly of giving Melvin Belli a part on a TV show-- or an acting part of ANY kind! Notable Gaffe/Special Defect: The entire freakin' episode! Expendable Enterprise Crewmember (`Red Shirt') Confirmed Casualty List: 2 killed REVIEW/COMMENTARY: I was pretty freaked out by the teaser to this particular eppie, featuring a buncha kids playin' and carrying on whilst their parents lie dead all around `em! Was Stephen King a contributor to the script, or what? Unfortunately, things break down after the teaser, and never improve one iota. Melvin Belli's ultra-stiff performance as the evil Gorgan proved to me that, as an actor, he makes a pretty good lawyer. Actually, his character is very lawyer-like: he produces and feeds off of the anxiety & paranoia of others! Okay, so I made a cheap shot with that last crack. What'cha gonna do about it-- sue me? No wait, I was only kidding... honest! Please put that summons down... Anyhoo, after pickin' up the adolescent survivors, the Enterprise encounters all sort'sa troubles... like the kids using mind-control to systematically take over the Enterprise, and making Sulu hallucinate huge knives out in space. Fortunately, the Gorgan's power over his prepubescent charges is broken when Jimmers shows `em a few home movies with their late `rents. This causes the young'uns to bawl somethin'awful, and frees them from their captor. I can't really blame `em for their reaction; if I were forced to watch old home movies, I'd be cryin' too... `Late

Star Trek Starfleet Command III: Sybex Official Strategies & Secrets

078214196X

Sybex Inc

01 November, 2002

I was very dissapointed with this guide. I expected more hard numbers to play around with to help optimize ship design. There are some handy tables, but they totally neglected power usage numbers for weapons. You can get those numbers from the game by painstakingly replace each type of weapon and seeing how it affects warp power requirements. Why couldn't the guide give me these numbers? How about the formula (even a rough one) that relates max speed to impulse and total mass? How about more of an explantion for different cloak types vesus anti-cloak computers? I know they dumbed down SFC3 to reach a wider audience, but did they have to dumb down the strategy guide too? The manual does do a good job previewing the campaign missions though.