In the ninth episode of the third season of\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>, an attempt to locate a missing ship strands Captain Kirk in a strange place, pitting Spock and Bones against one another as they try to get him back. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Now\u00c2\u00a0this<\/i> is an episode I can get behind. I think it was incredibly risky for the show to take their star character and\u00c2\u00a0literally<\/i> stick him in a parallel universe for the majority of this episode. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Tholian Web\u00e2\u20ac\u009d made me excited about the fact that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m nearing my journey through\u00c2\u00a0The Next Generation<\/i> because I hoping that\u00c2\u00a0that<\/i> show had a lot more freedom to do what it wanted. This episode is unlike anything in the entire show\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s run\u00c2\u00a0because<\/i> Kirk plays such a small part in it. We get a chance to spend a lot of time with Spock, Bones, and Uhura, AND IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO FANTASTIC. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s discuss!<\/p>\n
The Tholian Web<\/b><\/p>\n
Given that the last two episodes featured ambiguous plots elements so prominently, I was worried that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d dislike the seemingly random nature of the Tholians within this story. But I think this is a great example of how the show can deal with a subplot that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t leave the audience feeling so dissatisfied. The Tholians\u00c2\u00a0are<\/i> largely here for reasons of suspense. The\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i> drifts into Tholian space, but the Tholians are willing to give the Federation ship a chance to prove itself. When it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t? The Tholians attack and begin the methodical process of trapping the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i> within one of its inescapable webs. Yes, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a method to help build tension. But I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m kinda into this idea that the Tholians did exactly what they said they would do, and that means that we get a scene where the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i> escapes from an impossible situation BY POPPING INTO A PARALLEL UNIVERSE AND THEN BACK INTO THEIR OWN. Yeah, I love nearly everything about parallel worlds, I CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T HELP IT.<\/p>\n
The<\/b>\u00c2\u00a0Defiance<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Was anyone else surprised by how graphic (in\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>terms) the scenes on the\u00c2\u00a0Defiance\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>were? I think the show did a great job demonstrating the horrible future that lay ahead for these people if they remained in this part of unstable space. When you combine that with the Tholian web, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got two forces working together to build suspense, and I thought it was pretty damn effective. I know this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the first time\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i> has done the whole \u00e2\u20ac\u0153abandoned space ship floating in the middle of nowhere\u00e2\u20ac\u009d trope, as it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a time-honored classic in the sci-fi genre. But there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much at work here, and the ship isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t abandoned so much as FULL OF DEAD BODIES. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s creepy as hell! There is one aspect of this that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite understand, though. Why did the\u00c2\u00a0Defiance<\/i> stay in this part of space for so long? While Bones does come up with an antidote to the mental sickness, the general solution the crew is aware of is simply\u00c2\u00a0flying away from the rift<\/i>. Did the\u00c2\u00a0Defiance<\/i> crew never figure this out until they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d all murdered one another? Wow, did I just make this a hundred times creepier? PROBABLY.<\/p>\n
Bones and Spock<\/b><\/p>\n
But let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s be real with ourselves! \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Tholian Web\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is as good as it is\u00c2\u00a0because Spock and Bones are put front and center for the majority of this episode. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve certainly seen them disagree over command, but it had never been taken\u00c2\u00a0this<\/i> far before. While I never doubted that Kirk would be rescued by the episode\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s end, I still found the whole sequence where the crew dealt with Kirk\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153death\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to be quite incredible. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like Bones\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plot in that last episode because we know the writers aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t trying to get the audience to believe that Kirk is truly dead. Instead, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re seeing what it would be like if Kirk\u00c2\u00a0had<\/i> died, and guess what? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s uncomfortable and awkward and devastating. SURPRISE.<\/p>\n
While there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never been any real serialization in\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to imagine \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Tholian Web\u00e2\u20ac\u009d working as well as it does without the long history of bickering, disagreement, and mutual respect that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been built up between Leonard McCoy and Spock. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like this is the first time we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen them go toe-to-toe, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a viciousness and intensity that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s totally rare for\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>, and I think it was the perfect way to manifest grief for these two characters. We had to believe that they truly thought Captain Kirk was dead and gone. The more they argued and contradicted one another, the more convinced I was that they hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t given themselves time to grieve.<\/p>\n
AND THEN THERE IS KIRK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S \u00e2\u20ac\u0153DEATH\u00e2\u20ac\u009d MESSAGE AND\u00c2\u00a0NOTHING IS OKAY<\/i>. The scene is still effective even though we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t totally believe that Kirk is gone. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the first time Bones and Spock consider that their constant disagreement is actually a positive thing. They have a healthy discourse with one another\u00c2\u00a0because<\/i> they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re willing to call the other person out when they believe they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re wrong. Why can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that be a resource? Why can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it be a methodology that helps them both to make better decisions?<\/p>\n
And so they work together, disagreeing the whole time, and realizing that this makes them better at their own jobs. No, this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t emotional at\u00c2\u00a0all<\/i>. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m fine! I swear, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m fine.\u00c2\u00a0Totally fine.<\/p>\n
Actually, I\u00c2\u00a0was<\/i> entirely amused by Kirk\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s disappointment when Bones and Spock lied about watching his final orders. HE WAS SO HURT THAT HIS WISDOM WENT TO WASTE. (But it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.\u00c2\u00a0I swear I<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m okay.)\u00c2\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Tholian Web\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the ninth episode of the third season of\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek, an attempt to locate a missing ship strands Captain Kirk in a strange place, pitting Spock and Bones against one another as they try to get him back. Intrigued? Then … Continue reading