{"id":4364,"date":"2015-01-14T13:00:34","date_gmt":"2015-01-14T21:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4364"},"modified":"2015-01-05T12:28:12","modified_gmt":"2015-01-05T20:28:12","slug":"mark-watches-star-trek-s03e18-the-lights-of-zetar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2015\/01\/mark-watches-star-trek-s03e18-the-lights-of-zetar\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Star Trek’: S03E18 – The Lights of Zetar"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the eighteenth episode of the third season of\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>, Scotty\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new love is affected by a bizarre entity. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For consent and sexism<\/b><\/p>\n

Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about serialization, shall we?<\/p>\n

I appreciate that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Lights of Zetar\u00e2\u20ac\u009d shows us a character who\u00c2\u00a0isn<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> Captain Kirk getting a chance to be romantic. There aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t many people on\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i> who get more than a superficial sense of development, so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s refreshing. I have no problem admitting that! But the very nature of how this show unfolds means that this kind of development is told to us, not shown. I know that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a rather common idiom when it comes to writing: show, not tell. I generally stick by it, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also not something that people\u00c2\u00a0need<\/i> to commit to in order to write something that I enjoy.\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i> is not a serialized show, so that means if the writers decide to do something as different as this, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be a lot of telling.<\/p>\n

And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s awkward. To suddenly thrust a romantic relationship upon the viewers like this, knowing full well that we will\u00c2\u00a0never<\/i> get to see Mira Romaine again, is weird. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that Scotty is head-over-heels in love with Mira, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll never come up again. For such a significant development, it seems silly to contain it within a single episode. I mean, we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even get a scene where Scotty gets to express his sadness at Mira staying behind on Memory Alpha; she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just out of his life, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s it! No ramifications, no meaning beyond what this episode explores.<\/p>\n

I admit that a lot of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Lights of Zetar\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was entertaining and eerie, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s by no means a perfect episode. The framing of Mira\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story is unfortunate at times, particularly since there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s less of a focus on her own characterization, and more of an attempt to show us how important it is that Scotty loves her. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s admittedly pretty subtle, but I think you can see how this story revolves more around Lt. Scott than it does around Mira, despite that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the one who is directly affected by the Zetarans and is the one who expels them from her body. Instead, we get to see what Scott is like when he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s distracted by love; we get to hear about how Scotty\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s love was what anchored Mira enough to fight off the Zetarans. Sure, that was an influence, but it came across less like a factor and more like the sole explanation, as if Scotty deserved credit for the whole affair just for loving Mira. Now, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think this is anything intentional, and I credit it to the script not being entirely clear about these things. Still, it reduces the impact of Mira\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s role within the episode in a way that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not very satisfying at all.<\/p>\n

As for the rest of the story? There were parts of it that reminded me of the previous episode, at least in the sense that we got a singular villain that was shrouded and mystery and was eventually revealed as ONE OF THE SADDEST THINGS EVER. (Shit, these last two episodes were\u00c2\u00a0grim<\/i>, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all.) At times, I found it pretty thrilling and fun. Hey, it was entertaining to shout about the Glitter Storm so often! I definitely didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t figure out what was going on, so props on that. But at other times, the plot was a bit too sluggish for me. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that whole interrogation sequence in one of the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s meeting rooms that is just completely unnecessary, especially since it goes on for so long. (Like, how many times do they need to confirm what they already know?) It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a pacing issue, and there are a number of moments that felt artificially prolonged just so that this story could meet the running time.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not one of my favorite episodes, but I also don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s as disappointing or unsatisfying as some of the other stories this season. The Zataran backstory was plausible and really unsettling, and that final scene was fantastic just to see Kirk\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s amused face. That\u00c2\u00a0alone<\/i> was worth it. I think this season in particular, though, has made me excited to see what a more\u00c2\u00a0modern<\/i> staff of writers and crew can do with the\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>world. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m wondering if there will be more serialization and consistency in the other four\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i> shows I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to watch. Will the pacing not jump all around the pace like this season has? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know, obviously, but I\u00c2\u00a0do<\/i> know that Patrick Stewart being on my screen every week is IMMINENT. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so close!<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Lights of Zetar\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– Mark Does Stuff is now on Facebook<\/a>! Feel free to Like the page, which I’m running myself, for updates and SILLINESS.
\n– If you would like to support this website and keep Mark Does Stuff running, I’ve put up a detailed post explaining how you can!<\/a>
\n– Please check out the MarkDoesStuff.com<\/a>. All Mark Watches videos for past shows\/season are now archived there!
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Feature is now on the schedule! I will be watching <\/b>Leverage<\/i><\/b>.<\/b>
\n– The 2015 Mark Does Stuff tour is being announced!!! Check my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page<\/a> often to see if I’m coming to your city!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"