Star Trek -- Season 2 Episode 22 (By Any Other Name)

I’ve been watching a lot of the original Star Trek episodes so that I might review them for this blog.  It’s amazing how little I seem to have forgotten about the episodes.  Then again, there are a lot of factors that contribute to that.  I’ve seen most of them numerous times.  I had also reviewed a lot of the episodes when I was writing on Epinions.  One might say that the episodes were well-written, but I suspect that it has more to do with how straightforward the writing was.

Take “By Any Other Name”.  The Enterprise responds to a distress call from an uncharted planet, only to discover several humanoid aliens.  The landing party is quickly captured and told that the aliens, who call themselves the Kelvans, require the ship to return to The Andromeda Galaxy.  (Their ship was destroyed by an energy barrier surrounding The Milky Way.)

It will take approximately 300 years to get back to the Kelvans’ home, which will require a generational ship.  It’s discovered that the Kelvans are actually and advanced species with hundreds of tentacles and the ability to control each independently.  They took human form for convenience and have accepted that the return trip will be generational.  Their mission is to find planets suitable for colonization, as the Kelvins need to conquer.

Because of the Kelvan’s technology, the crew of the Enterprise is easily subdued, but Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scotty are able to turn the tables and incapacitate the Kelvans.  By taking on human form, the Kelvans have also taken on human weaknesses, which the four officers can exploit.

It’s a bit of an odd episode.  I don’t want to say that it’s simplistic, but it had me asking a lot of questions.  First, the 300-year trip means that the Enterprise would get back at least 600 years after the Kelvans first left.  It would take another 300 years for a colonization ship to return to the Milky Way.

Add to this the fact that the Kelvans didn’t really look around much.  Granted, they have Starfleet’s flagship, which would likely contain more than enough information to get the Kelvan government started, but you’d think they’d want to look around first.  At least check to see how accurate the information is.  It took them three centuries to get here.  They could at least spend a few days to check things out and fill in a few gaps.

Also, as humans, there would likely be ten or so generations of humans.  Even if the Kelvans reproduce as humans, their descendants will have no loyalty to the Kelvan government.  What’s to stop the second or third generation down the line from turning the ship around?  The entire plan doesn’t seem to be that robust.

There are some memorable scenes and the acting is good, but it wasn’t one of the better episodes, in my opinion.  It could have done with some more detail.  I get some of the constraints, like making the Kelvans human.  It would have been difficult to present them as hundred-tentacled creatures.  But you’d think they’d be able to build a faster ship.

The biggest shame is that we never find out what happened to The Kelvans.  Those that took human form are left on that original planet.  They present as perfect humans, but it’s still a limited population.  Also, a probe is launched back to Andromeda.  It will take 300 years, presumably, so we’ll never know what becomes of those waiting for the would-be invasion party.  Perhaps with all the new Star Trek series on Paramount+, we’ll get some answers.

 

IMDb page

 

Forbidden Planet (1956)

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

Every so often, I feel the urge to see a movie that falls just outside of my comfort zone. Sometimes, it’s a romantic movie. Sometimes, it’s a foreign movie. Sometimes, I find a new type of movie to like. Usually, I don’t. I’ll admit that science fiction isn’t that unusual for me to watch and I have nothing against older movies, but one thing caught my attention: Leslie Nielsen was in this movie. I’ve always seen him in comedies, such as the Naked Gun movies. I had to see this movie.

Nielsen plays the Commander Adams. He’s commanding a space ship sent to check up on a colony that hasn’t been heard from in a while. When the ship arrives, the crew finds Dr. Morbius, the only survivor of the original landing party. Morbius warns the ship to stay away at all costs; Adams decides to land the ship anyway.

Shortly after landing, the crew is greeted by Robby the Robot, Morbius’s robotic servant. Adams and two other crew members go back to Morbius’s house to find that there’s one other person on the planet: Morbius’s daughter, Altaira. Morbius reveals that some mysterious monster destroyed nearly the entire colony shortly after everyone set up. Only the doctor and his wife were spared. (The doctor’s wife died a few months later due to natural causes.) For some reason, the monster never attacked Morbius or his family.

Further inspection by Adams prompts Morbius to reveal that there was an ancient race on Altair IV known as the Krell. Having plenty of time on his hands, Morbius spent the past 19 years studying them. He’s unlocked a few of their secrets, but there’s so much more to the Krell that he hasn’t even touched. The Krell were an advanced race, eons ahead of humanity. They could harness great energy and build vast structures, but died mysteriously in a short span of time. Nothing exists above ground, but a great deal of technology exists below ground. Adams and Morbius have differing opinions on whether or not the technology should be brought back to Earth.

I figured that a science-fiction movie released in 1956 was bound to have cheesy special effects, and to a large extent I was correct. However, that’s not to say that I didn’t like the movie. Both the story and the characters were well developed. I don’t know what it is, but it seems like the science fictions movies of today seem to be more about show rather than story. Sure, there are exceptions, but I find that there are a lot of older movies that I find myself interested in because of an engaging plot. I want to know more about the Krell. I want to know more about Dr. Morbius and Commander Adams.

That’s really where a movie stands out. Things like special effects will eventually be replaced by bigger and better. The acting in this movie was great, as were the sets. Both statements will hold true in another fifty years. It looks like people spent a lot of time designing and assembling the underground structures. It’s a shame that we couldn’t get to see more of it. (Since I know someone will ask, Walter Pidgeon played Dr. Morbius and Anne Francis played Altaira. Robby the Robot was credited as himself.)

This movie gets four stars. Most of the material is appropriate for all ages. There are only two exceptions that I can think of. One is where Altaira receives ‘kissing lessons’. The other is a scene where the crew battles the monster. (Only the battle is something that I think young children might have a problem with.) I would definitely recommend this movie. 

IMDb page