Nobody knows that this is Star Trek Day? Heathens. Everyone to the brig.
It is the anniversary of the air date of the first episode, yes.
"Founded by
Gene Roddenberry"
So sure…Gene derided it’d be great to have a Star Trek Day on September 8, I guess…
Consider if you will, Lieutenant Pavel Andreievich Chekov, a officer of Russian descent serving on board an American starship.
American?
Of course it’s American. Wasn’t it Ryan Gosling who planted the flag on Vulcan?
That’s nice, but I’m a Joel guy.
So am I but in this Mirror, Mirror gag, Dr. Forrester and TV’s Frank do the movie in the SOL. Because Parallel Universe. Hence, gonna watch it (never saw it).
Quote as they enter the theater.
Dr. Forrester: I have news for you Frank, I am not carrying you into the theater, you’re too big for that now.
TV’s Frank: But that’s my favorite part!
I prefered Joel even before I knew Mike was a conservative christian.
All right folks, time for a new episode to argue about - this week it’s “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” It’s funny, at first when I saw the title and first few scenes I remembered nothing, and thought that maybe I had not seen this one before! But then of course Ruk shows up, played by iconic character actor Ted Cassidy. If you don’t recognize the name, you’d know his face - he played Lurch on the Addams Family, for one thing. This episode pushes Nurse Chapel to the forefront, focusing the plot almost entirely on her and Kirk, with just a little Spock and almost no other supporting characters.
I like this episode but I don’t love it, and I’ll get into why shortly. First, it’s worth pointing out that the episode was written by Robert Bloch, who was a prolific writer or fantasy, sci-fi and notably horror - he wrote the novel that Hitchcock based the movie Psycho on. I think that’s worth mentioning because this episode has touches of horror in it - the machine used to create the androids only needs lightning flickering in the background to evoke Frankenstein’s monster, with the android “clones” evoking the Invasion of the Body Snatchers. And the reveal that Dr Korby himself is an android even has some notes of body horror. All in all, a creepily effective story.
So why don’t I like the episode more? Honestly, I think the episode is a victim of its own success. While the ideas they’re presenting probably seemed quite new in the late 60s, with the idea of destroying humanity to attain perfection and its inverse conclusion that perfection is unattainable and the logical machines carry the seeds of their own destruction just like humanity has been done so many times since. It’s a little hard to look at objectively. Heck, Star Trek will return to the well of this very theme several more times over the course of its three seasons - Kirk talking circles around the superior computer until it fizzles totally out is pretty much a Star Trek trope.
Still I definitely can’t say it wasn’t a well done episode, and I don’t really have any complaints. I did remember those visuals I mentioned, they made quite an impact on me as a younger fellow. It’s always fun to go back and watch an episode and not be disappointed by the revisit - I know that’s not going to last, but so far these episodes have been consistently steady.
One more item to point out: I liked Kirk’s quick thinking for how to convey his situation to Spock through the android “clone”. You can see the wheels turning, and while at first I thought it was kind of a hail mary, to try to push Spock’s buttons when he encounters the clones by calling him “half-breed”, it did make sense. I kind of wondered well, what if he had run into McCoy or someone instead of Spock? But then Spock, as first officer, would have sought out Kirk, and it’s natural to conclude they would have crossed paths. I think that holds water, and seems like a clever way to get Spock’s attention.
Last thing - I never noticed before, but Nurse Chapel’s insignia has a little red cross on it!
What Are Little Girls Made Of?
S1E07
Written by: Robert Bloch
I am actually almost inspired to do a magilla on this one. I may do so. But I won’t. Ted Cassidy is the highlight of the thing. It’s better than Mudd’s Women, but not much better, in my opinion.
We do get a ventriloquist Ruk and Kirk uses a giant pink penis to battle the cross-dressing brute.
I think you and I actually see eye to eye here. For me, it’s a “Meh” episode; not much really happens. It’s claustrophobic. Theere is one simple no-suspense plotline that lingers for 50 minutes. We get the “Two Kirks” again in an episode (getting kinda tropey) and Gene keeps trying to make us like his robotic-acting annoying wife, this time as a pining Fiance rather than as the usual “not attractive enough Spock-chaser”:
I always wonder how Gene talked her into playing an “Ugly Duckling”.
Navaronegun’s Running Re-View Rankings ™
1.) The Man Trap
2.) Where No Man Has Gone Before
3.) The Naked Time
4.) Charlie X
5.) The Enemy Within
6.) What Are Little Girls Made Of?
7.) Mudd’s Women
I didn’t talk up the whole “two Kirks” thing being done again, but I will say that I’m glad they didn’t really try to do too much with it, and pretty much knocked the legs out from under it the instant he came into contact with Spock. If they had tried to draw it out, do the whole “but which one is the real Kirk?” it would have been pretty annoying.
First off, you just KNOW that they knew what that club looked like. How could you not? It had to be an in joke.
As far as Cassidy, picture this. You’re 10-11 years old. The Addams Family is one of your favorite TV shows. You love Lurch. And then Ted Cassidy lurches into your Star Trek episode. Full blown SQUEEEEEEE! Dead at 46, so sad.
OK, 1966 camp/nostalgia aside, what do you think of the episode?
Watching news with wife. Then dinner. More detail soon. :)