The Man Trap
S1E01
Written by: George Clayton Johnson. Other notable credits: the novel Logan’s Run, multiple Twilight Zone episodes (including “The Four of Us Are Dying”, “Nothing in the Dark”, “Kick the Can”, “A Game of Pool”, and “A Penny for Your Thoughts”), the story on which the 1960 and 2001 films Ocean’s Eleven were based.
So I took notes randomly while watching; I’ll riff off of those.
Long Dead Ancient Civilization
The planet and sets were really evocative of a long dead ancient civilization. I thought it was interesting that for the first broadcast, it wasn’t “take me to your leader” or a simple “monster of the week”. A long dead ancient civilization; the Craters living in the ruins of a sci-fi Sumeria, a bustling alien city; now gone. Really interesting concept for 1966. The sets were evocative and gorgeous, both in the Craters’ residence and on the planet.
Big Ship/“Vulcan has no moon”/Personal Yeoman
As I discussed earlier in the thread with @Gordon_Cameron, this was a prime example of the “Big Ship”. The Botany Lab, multiple crew members outside of the main cast with speaking lines,. All of these evoked a large ship and interpersonal relationships beyond what we see in the main plot lines. Rand and Sulu bantering in the Botany lab. Rand, “He’s not speaking today”, when referring to what she thinks is Lt. Green.
I got a bit of personal satisfaction that the very first broadcast episode established canon (Vulcan having no moon) that JJ the moon destroyer couldn’t keep. But to a larger point, and building on what Dive and Giles commented on earlier, we are establishing characters: Uhura is sweet and thoughtful, Spock doesn’t understand being sick of work and so on. The script was really fantastic in that sense.
It is 1966, and #MeToo hasn’t arrived in the Federation yet. The comments about the Captain having “His own personal Yeoman” and the crew members leching after Rand really was a product of its time. Though, I’ll still give the show credit: Kirk was all business, all episode, even while the yahoos in the crew leered at Rand.
Creature Telepathic? Extra Emphatic? What gives?
The creature says to Uhura, “You were thinking of someone like me”. And later to McCoy, “Your feelings are better (than Dr. Crater’s)”. What was going on here? It really hints at far more than we know of. More than just a simple doppelganger effect.
Trek Geek Trivia Stuff: Undershirts, Old Unis and Old Phasers
Indulging my geekdom, I have always thought they played with the idea of there being black under uniforms early, and then later made the tunics have black collars instead. This kind of lent credence to that theory.
Also I noticed tunics from The Cage/Where No Man Has Gone Before/The Menagerie during the intruder alert.
Also, I always noticed Crater had a different weapon when I was a kid. A Laser (or Phaser?) from The Cage/Where No Man Has Gone Before/The Menagerie
Conference Room is mindblowing: Premise/Screenwriting and Acting
The most fascinating scene for me was the Conference room meeting with Crater and the creature impersonating McCoy. Talking about the creature and its motivations. DeForest Kelley really was the standout in this episode in my opinion.
I found this on youtube, a user rescored the scene with the originally intended “Conference” music by Courage (which wasn’t used). Interesting in and of itself, but it serves my purpose of getting the scene in this post. It really is a masterful job by Kelly, Shatner and Alfred Ryder
(Dr. Crater).
Finally, I though Courage’s score was very effective and horror influenced. Lonely. Haunting. It reminded me of similar scores from Roger Corman films from the era (
The Terror,
Masque of the Red Death).
Ultimately, I really enjoy this one. It isn’t a “Top Ten” but it is definitely a “Top 25”. No weak spots. Good story, effective Sci Fi, good dialogue, interesting characters, well-shot, beautiful sets.
