Who Mourns for Adonais? (Star Trek TOS - S2E02)

[Hailing Frequencies Open]

Apollo’s got abs, a lightning machine, and the emotional stability of a guy who just got left on read.

This week on Treks and Tangents, our co-hosts tackle Who Mourns for Adonais?; the episode where the Enterprise gets grabbed by a giant glowing green hand and held hostage by a Space Greek God. 

Between Scotty getting repeatedly electrocuted over his crush, Lieutenant Palamas falling for the galaxy’s shiniest red flag, and Kirk refusing to gather even a single ceremonial leaf, the crew debates whether Apollo was truly a forgotten god… or just the universe’s loneliest theater kid. 

Plus: sideways nipples, Greek mythology tangents, thunderbolt tantrums, and Jaci questioning why every female scientist in Star Trek keeps getting hypnotized by emotionally unstable.

[End Transmission]

Transcript

Intro/Turbolift Tease Recap

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Alien Frequencies Open and welcome aboard Treks and Tangents. I'm your co-host Brian.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

And I'm your co-host Jackie. I'm the Star Trek newbie who treks off on tangents.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

And I'm your Star Trek expert who is here to get the tangents back on track.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Each episode we watch and talk about a different Star Trek episode, and this week we watched Star Trek, the original series, season two, episode two, Who Mourns for Adonis?

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Welcome back, everyone, to another episode. Very exciting. Season two, I think, produces better episodes than season one. Well, yeah, technology has gotten better. And I think the show has kind of fallen into a better pace.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

Yes, like they're trying, but we're still stuck in some, you know, ladies are lower than the men.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

And I think the and I think the show itself has kind of captured more of its identity.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

As we move into season two. But everyone stick around till the end of the episode to find out the topic of our bonus Star Note episode that we'll post on Patreon at the same time. So jump over there for the bonus episode after you finish with this. We'll jump straight into it by revisiting last week's TurboLift tease. That's where we gave Jackie the title of this week's episode. And Jackie, without any other information, tried to guess the plot of this week's episode. So without further ado, computer. What was Jackie's guess last week?

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Jackie's TurboLift tease last week was the Enterprise is receiving a distress call from a planet that is not on their way to wherever they were supposed to go, and they have to debate whether they go and help this planet or ignore them and keep going to their final destination.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

So, Jackie, how accurate do you think your turbolift tease was?

SPEAKER_02 2:11

Major fail, but I got the two planets right.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Okay, yes. So they're going from planet to planet on a cartography mission, so two planets. Sure. They're starting at one planet and moving to the next planet, but other than that. Major fail. I don't know that there's anything else that ties into the episode this week, but hey, A for Effort. Well, I have a lot to learn. Like I didn't have no idea what all these people do. And it's kind of uh it's one of the titles that's kind of misleading because I don't know how much the actual title ties into the plot.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

So Yeah, we have an overgrown uh man child who thinks he's the god of everything.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Well, he thinks he's the last god left in an outdated system.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Yes, and now he needs everybody else to be with him.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

So what did you think of the episode this week? Now that you've seen it.

SPEAKER_02 3:13

I mean, it was enjoyable. It went really fast. Like there wasn't like a slow, slow, slow, flat, fat, fast, you know, it just kept going. But it made our lieutenant Palomas, like she totally went from super smart to super dumb, and then she had to get smart again.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

It's kind of like what we saw in Space Seed with Khan, where we had another bright, intelligent crew member of the Enterprise completely fall head over heels for, in this case, not an alien, but some influence outside of the Enterprise in a very similar fashion. True. Maybe she just really enjoyed her dress. And we also saw the same thing happen on Shorelave, where all of a sudden we had what is a bright, intelligent crew member just completely throw it all away because a pretty dress appears.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

So obviously, we all need to stay on the enterprise and just look from afar.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

And not fall for attractive members of the opposite sex and not get distracted by pretty dresses.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

Or just be like Disney and don't get twitter pated.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Something similar to that. Yeah. Did you find the episode entertaining? Yes, I did. Okay. I agree. It doesn't really have any pacing problems. It does pretty much just go. It has like one storyline. Right. There's not really anything else much to follow.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

They don't really go off on any tangents to it's more like they're trying to escape from that man, that god man, because he's hold literally holding them in space.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Yeah, and I think it's kind of a pretty obvious flow of plot points from beginning to end for viewers. Well, it's your first time seeing it. So did you kind of follow it the whole way through, kind of knowing what the natural conclusion was going to be?

SPEAKER_02 5:09

I had hoped, I I hoped it would end how I thought it would end. So I was pleasantly surprised, but then it was like, whoa, interesting.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Okay. Yeah, I mean, it's an okay episode. It's entertaining to watch. It's not a huge head scratcher. They don't really leave a whole lot of questions on the table at the end. It's just kind of uh eh, it happens and we're done.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

So well, I was glad that Scotty got to be a main character and show his affection. Yes. You know, because Dr. McCoy gets all of the action.

Treking Through the Episode

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Or he thinks he does. McCoy is definitely the unsung ladies' man of the Enterprise. We always talk about Kirk and his adventures with the opera. Oh, right. He's like forefront. Yes, but we get McCoy in the background definitely has his moments. So I mean they all end up having moments. Well, I guess we just gotta keep watching. Well, without any other distractions by 20-foot-tall Greek gods, why don't you walk us through the episode?

SPEAKER_02 6:16

All right. So in this episode, we are starting mid-conversation, it seems like. Usually it seems the episodes are kind of like showing the bridge and like setting up, getting ready to do something. This episode started mid-sentence, it seems, like mid-conversation. And our lieutenant Carolyn Palomis is sharing her report on planet Pollux 5, which is the next planet that they're doing their map the mapping of after Pollux 4. Correct. So right now they're starting to do the the plan is mapping Pollux 4, but she's presenting her report that she stayed up all night for for the next planet. So that's why they start talking about how she looks tired, and Scotty says, Oh, she's worked so hard on it. And like that's pretty much the general chatter that we interrupt. And Scotty kind of like escorts Lieutenant Palomas out to get a coffee, and then McCoy and Kirk are talking about how oh, she'll find love one day, and then they'll lose an officer. So weird.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

Yeah. I mean, so Scotty's flirting with Palomas. And that's gonna be central to the plot moving forward. And Kirk and McCoy are kind of ribbing Scotty over this whole thing. And at the end, when they do this little conversation, it's I I mean, McCoy doesn't seem to enjoy the idea of crew members fraternizing with each other. Don't really know at this point what the rules are in Starfleet for that type of behavior, but we see it multiple times. And yeah, Kirk gives this awkward comment of like, well, no, I don't like to think of it, you know, she'll get married and you know, she'll settle down and I won't be losing an officer, I'll be gaining because he's trying to play off of the saying of I'm not losing a daughter, I'm gaining a son. Yes. But he doesn't finish it up because he just goes, Well, no, actually, crap, I'm losing an officer, you know. And I'm like, okay.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

Like they automatically sign her off. Like, she'll she'll just leave Starfleet. Oh well.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

Yeah, and I I mean, part of that is because at this point in the original series for Star Trek, these ships are very much military type ships. While their mission is to explore and conduct scientific research and so forth, it's structured very much like a military-style environment. When you jump forward to the next generation and we look at the Enterprise and under Picard, Starfleet has changed it, and now families have joined the officers on the ship. Picard very much is speaking out against this because he's in charge of a completely different structure. So I don't know, maybe that was the norm, is you just had people marry off and leave Starfleet and go do something else. But in the future, we at least start to see that they're going to. If if as an example, Lieutenant Palamis and Scotty were to get married, they would just keep living on the Enterprise.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

Oh, well, then they would eventually gain little probies.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Yes, little little kids. But we also had the episode where what was her name? You liked her so much because they got married, but then her her husband they were gonna get married, but then the husband died the episode before Sure Leave, and then she comes back for Sure Leave. But they were gonna get married, and no one's I mean, I don't know. It's it just was an awkward comment from Kirk in the moment.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

Right, and also at I'm sure at this time of life, while it's being made, that generally happened. People got married and someone had to stay home with the children. Alright, so now we are back off from our tangent, and we have entered the original planet Pollux 4's orbit, and we already know that there is no life form, and Spock sensors have confirmed that, and it's four billion years old, and we don't need to, you know, reach out and say, Hey, we're coming in. So they start to get their cartography machines ready, and then all of a sudden, this like giant green hand comes at them, like jolly green giant for real. And they are like, What is this that's coming at us? And Spock is confirming it's nothing, like it's just energy, it's just a green looking thing.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Yeah, there's no mass to it, it's not giving off any any real sensor readings other than just it's shaped like a hand, shaped like a hand, but even I think the energy readings that they're picking up don't translate to what they see visually, it's just we have no idea. There's just energy.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

And even reversing as fast as they can, the hand actually catches them, and Sulu can't make the ship get away from its grip, like he's stuck.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Right. I I like the effect, it's it's a practical effect. It's not they made some small adjustments to it that we see later on in the episode, but what we see on screen is not the remastered version that's what we would have seen in the original version. So that's really cool. Kind of a kind of a cool uh camera effect that they do. So we'll talk a little bit more about it later.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

I did like the overall filming of this episode. So we have the opening and sorry, sorry, guys that don't like this new opening uh tune.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Let me take my note for the still don't like woman singing. Is that what you don't like? Yes. Okay. My sexist co-host does not care for the woman singing.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

Okay, and here I am like going go Lieutenant Palomas, but I don't like the lady. Okay, oh well.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

What if I told you it was the actress who played Lieutenant Rand?

SPEAKER_02 12:29

Oh no, that'd be so sad.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

Doing the singing. Would that change your mind? Would that influence your thought? I would be really upset if it was her. Okay, it's not. Thank God.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

Ah, you got me. That would I would be judgmental still. Oh well. So we have the log, the captain's log, you know, saying, oh no, an unknown Oh no, we're fucked.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

But we're still orbiting Pollux 4. Yeah, I think that well, scientifically, are they orbiting? Orbiting would be continuing to journey in a in a path around the planet. Are they orbiting, or is the hand literally holding them in place? So they're not orbiting, they're just held in place. I took a they were held in place, so they're stuck in the orbit. I don't think they're moving at all. I think we continue to see the planet move. Yeah, we do continue to see the planet move, so and they're like at a stop sign. They're just stuck. I don't know. I'm not gonna picture that much more.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

Well, we can just watch the little image. But Kirk tells Uhura to contact Starbase 12 with updates, because obviously this is important. They've just been rocked back and forth. McCoy has five injured patients that he's treating.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Right, because it wasn't an uh a gentle grabbing when the hand latches onto the Enterprise, it's violent. It grabs them, it stops them in their place, they try to escape, they're rocking themselves around.

SPEAKER_02 14:03

That's what I really liked about I didn't like that they got caught, but that's what I was mentioning. I like that I always like when they're all jostling. I don't know. And then Spock again is certain. Yes, it looks like a hand, but nothing of substance, it's just energy. Kirk Assulu used the tractor beams that's push it away, and he's even unable to gain traction with the tractor beams. Like this is major.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Because again, there's no physical mass for the tractor beam to push against. Tractor beam, just like everything else, there has to be an equal and opposite reaction. But when you're pushing on air, you don't really feel there's nothing for the air, you don't you're not pushing back on the air. Like through a cloud.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

Exactly. Wow, that would be really like mind messing up. Like that you can see something holding you, you can feel it holding you, but you can't feel it. Like, I don't know. So the next, like on their viewing screen, we see this man, and he thinks that they're good friends, that they haven't seen each other in 5,000 years. And he's like, How are we doing? And then Kirk ignores like the happy greeting, and he demands that the enterprise be free. Don't mess with us. And then the man on the screen is angry, and he says, You will obey me and you will not be let go. And he even threatens that he's gonna crush the enterprise, and he even demonstrates his strength by adding pressure to the bridge, and the crew is like physically in harmed, like they are hurting.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Yeah, I I think what they're they're wincing is in as if in pain, and I think it's in reaction to the sound of the stress that's being applied to the enterprise itself.

SPEAKER_02 15:52

That's also thinking like the air pressure, like in a plane.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Yeah, I don't know if environmental controls would have much effect in that because while it's applying pressure to the outside, it's not changing. I don't know that it I don't think that would change the atmosphere pressure inside.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

Crushing metal shirt would make a loud, awful noise.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

Yeah, that's okay. Again, we've just spent more time looking into that than the writers put thought into it, which is on display because whatever I don't even I didn't even write it down, but Scotty gives off some readings on some units, and that those aren't real units, they're just completely made up.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

Yeah, he's like, Oh my gosh, we're gonna blow. And then this man then says, you know, to the crew, come on down, visit with me. And he's like, but not that one with the pointy ears. He reminds me of Pan, and I was bored of him.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

Right. And that's really are gonna be our first indication of where this plot of this episode is going. Because I mean, we see him as this projection in space, because that's important also to point out is that we're not it's not a view screen, communication to communication, camera to camera, view screen to view screen. What they see is a projection of his torso with the laurel leads and everything, yeah. And so there's a little bit of an indication that he's a you know of the Greek variety, yes, very shiny. But the reference to Pan is gonna be kind of that first big hint to we know who that is, right? Because I mean, even the Metreons um from Arena kind of portrayed that Greek look to them, but they were not Greek.

SPEAKER_02 17:39

No, this is very much Greek mythology, yes, and then um this man also says, While you're on the way, you need to be sure that you are joyful and not be sad. And Spock calls him verbose when Kirk asks if he's insulted Spock, and then Spock is like, I can only be insulted if I may have emotion.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

Yeah, that's a human trait. I am not Jim.

SPEAKER_02 18:05

So now we have joined this man on the planet Pollux 4. We have Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, our new friend Chekhov, and Lieutenant Palomas.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

Yeah, Chekhov with his bad wig still.

SPEAKER_02 18:21

Yes, it's really bad. But Kirk instructs their tricorders to be on, skin, everything because they have no idea what they're dealing with. And Lieutenant Palomas doesn't understand why she had to join the party because I mean she only went to get a cup of coffee and a nap.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

Yeah, it's kind of weird that well, it makes her a better episode, but she has it's stated in the episode that her specialty is ancient civilizations. Yes. Still don't quite know why we chose to bring her down in this moment, because other than those two clues, the laurel leaves for the headdress and the mention of Pan, there's not any other reason to suspect that this is tied in any way to ancient civilizations.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

I think though that she had to come because we learned earlier that the planet is thousands and thousands of years old. And because she is the most knowledgeable of archaeology, anthropology, ancient cities, they need that. And she just happened to come along to, you know, give a helping hand on her nap.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

I mean, I'll poke holes in that because at the very beginning they talk about how the planet is lifeless. Yes, but it's full of life, it's four billion years old, right? Which is a problem because it's full of life, and even when they're in orbit, they can tell that it's Earth. It's fucking vegetative right there. I mean, we're looking at a screenshot of it now. That looks like Australia to me, to be honest with you, but it's obviously green. What so what I think that Spock's intention was when he made that statement is there's no higher life forms, there's no intelligent life. That makes sense. So I also mean to take that to be there's no signs of past higher intelligent life, there's no ruins. I mean, what even what we see to be just like dead veget like live vegetarian vegetation. Yep, live vegetarians. And so without I again, I just think that I just question why we bring her down other than for the show to advance the plot.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

I completely agree. She wasn't even on the bridge.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

No, so tie it in, fan fiction, fan headcanon here. Why not put an ancient civilization there? Because ultimately you can tie it in. Why does a pollo and the other quote unquote gods, why do they go to this planet? True. So if you add an ancient civilization, and we know their motivation is to seek out worshipers because they need it, then why not put this ancient civilization there so that they go, Oh, this is this drew us here, you know. I don't know. I think I'm just inventing things now for the for the episode.

SPEAKER_02 21:14

Well, while they're scanning, they do walk into an opening that has like a gazebo and a you know, some benches to sit on, right? Like picnic benches.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

And yeah, everything and everything looks like you would imagine from a stereotypical movie set about ancient Greece. You've got the columns in the gazebo, as you put it. There's statues, I think. And it's like broken and old. Yeah, I mean it's is it is it is it really old? Is it I would imagine they're trying to portray it as old, but you can definitely tell this is a movie set, movie props, yeah, styrofoam. So it's fine, it's impressive. Yes, they did a really good job. I'll give them that.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

So Well, they're working with what they got. So while they're scanning and looking around, this like giant voice booms, and he's calling his children as if he knew them from generations ago. And then he even calls it like seasons of earth along with other Greek gods. And McCoy and Chekhov are still scanning, and then like they're ignoring him. And he's like stands now and he's like, I am Apollo.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

Important to point out, first time he introduces himself as Apollo. Yes. He does not introduce himself when they're still on the Enterprise.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

And then Chekhov, he's like under his breath, and he's like, and I'm the Tsar of Russia. And Kirk like quickly like cuts him off. And he has to like put himself down, put his tail between his legs, and apologize for his outburst. He's never met a god before. And then Kirk's like, you still haven't, and then asks for McCoy's readings, like, what's up with this? And McCoy's like, just a simple humanoid, but not too simple, also. And then randomly, Apollo comments on Earth and its beautiful women as he looks at Lieutenant Palomas, who, yes, is very beautiful, and he's pleased with her beauty. And then Kirk like interrupts, like, because he's like fawning over her. And Kirk's like, What is your end game? What do you want from us? We're here. What? And then Apollo's like, You will not be leaving. You're stuck here. Welcome.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

Yeah. You're going to live here. You're going to worship me. You're going to call me a god. You're, you know, you are my children. And you can call me Zaddy Apollo. Fancy. Well, he does have a very shiny attire. Shiny attire, nipples that go sideways. He's got it all. Shorts. Short, short shorts.

SPEAKER_02 23:55

This man is very muscly, though. Like he's a very nice-looking man, too.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

Yeah. I don't think I have it in the interesting facts for the episode. So I'll just I I did read though that when this actor flew out to audition for the role, one of the first things they did was make him take off his shirt so that they could make sure that he had the body, the body, and the muscles that would be required for the character. I mean, I I imagine that's not uncommon for casting. No, I agree. But the way I read it made it very much seem that it was like out of the norm. It was just like, dude, we're not even going to bother unless you can, you know, flex for us.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

So let's check out your body and then say, I am Apollo. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

But you know, if you flub the line about being Apollo, that's fine. As long as you're got a rock hard body, we'll make it work.

SPEAKER_02 24:54

And immediately Kirk tries to call Enterprise, and he's like, We gotta get out of here. And all of the communication lines are down. And again, Kirk is like, What do you want? And Apollo demands that he will be worshipped, and he grows to be like a big giant man. And then we have a break.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

Yeah. Yeah. He grows to like 50. I don't know how tall he gets. I don't I don't think I read anywhere where how tall he gets, but we're talking like 20, 30 feet. Jolly green giant. Jolly green's not green. It's gold.

SPEAKER_02 25:27

So now we're on the bridge, and Ohura cannot contact the landing party. Spock tells her to keep trying, don't stop. And Sulu, you need to be prepared to leave immediately. And see? Of all the people that went down who should have gone, it should have been Sulu and Ohura instead of Lieutenant Palomas, as we said before, because she wasn't on the bridge. So Sulu needs to be prepared to leave immediately, and we need to know what else is on this planet because we thought again, nothing was there.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

Still really is nothing there.

SPEAKER_02 26:01

So now I pop back to the planet, and McCoy is just calling him fascinating. Like, how is this happening? And the crew has gone like in this corner and they're just talking amongst themselves as Lieutenant Palomus is giving the history of Apollo, the twin brother of Artemis and son of Zeus. You know, we learned the god of light, knows the bow and the lyre, because we can see that he has a lyre behind him on his in his gazebo.

SPEAKER_01 26:31

Yeah. Boy howdy, thank God we brought the lyre. No, I was gonna say the the lieutenant, because her skills do come in handy. Again, why did she come? I think Scotty pulled some some strings to get his girlfriend to go to the planet.

SPEAKER_02 26:48

Well, he needed a friend. And then check off on his readings, he can read that there is an incredible amount of energy being used to create this entire situation that they're in. But is this the real Apollo?

SPEAKER_01 27:02

Yeah, so I don't think the energy is being used to like fabricate the set in the way that we saw in the Squire of Gothos. I think the set is fixed. I think he might have used energy to replicate the surrounding area, and not all of it, just the the f the stone fixtures of everything. But I don't think he's using the energy to maintain that. Got it. Just more of himself. Yeah, well, he yeah, he's using the energy source to he it makes grow and shrink. We see fireballs or uh lightning bolts in a bit, but it makes sense that Chekhov would have this energy source. One, it's an energy source, it puts out a signal on its own. Yes. Two, it would be working overtime, it takes a lot of energy to manifest that hand that is holding on to the enterprise.

SPEAKER_02 27:59

That is yeah, because that's happening at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

It never goes away. So yeah, it oh, he's tired. It which we're gonna find out is gonna be a good thing in a bit for the enterprise crew.

SPEAKER_02 28:11

So McCoy asks, what does Apollo want in return for this warship that he wants? And all he says is a simple life in paradise like it was 5,000 years ago. And then Kirk's like, we don't bend to anyone, we don't worship anyone. And then this is when we see Apollo get angry and he threatens it with wrath and a and then Scotty gets mad with his own wrath and yells back, like, what are you doing? And then Lieutenant Palomus interrupts all of them, and she's like, What he said makes no sense whatsoever. And then again, Apollo says, Yes, she's beauty and grace. Oh, Miss America, although she's wise for a woman, and then he wants to know her name, her and she gives her rank, and again, what's your name? And then now she's like broken down to just a lady, Carolyn, and then Scotty yells again for him to leave her alone, and then Apollo makes more craziness, and then the phasers are like melted together.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

Yeah, so it's it's important to note when in this whole interaction it's becoming obvious that Apollo is viewing Lieutenant Carolyn as an object, as a mate. Yes, Scotty, but but not in an aggressive way, not like uh we're gonna can I'm gonna continue to make the comparison between Apollo and Khan. So Khan was very much toxic, very much manipulative, controlling, gaslighting, and so forth. We don't get that from Apollo, he's very soft, even though he's very angry, like rageful. Yes. Uh and so in this moment, Apollo is not doing any of those things as he communic as he converses with Carolyn. He just very much is flirting with her and flattery and he wants to get to know her. So when Scotty's reacts, it is in no way a way to defend Carolyn. It is pure jealousy on Scotty's part. Totally. And he pulls a phaser on Apollo, and that's when Apollo shoots out lightning bolts from his fingers, it hits the phaser in Scotty's hand, it melts the phaser, and yes, they discover that the rest of the phasers have all had their energy drained.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

Oh, that makes sense. And he calls them toys, and then Apollo goes on, he's like, let's just talk about stories. Just like, you know, Artemis. But something's wrong with Lieutenant Palomas. She needs to have her bow arm bare. Like, duh, how do you shoot your bow and arrow with a shirt on? I don't know. And so Snap, she's now in pretty much less clothing than she already had on, and just you know, her arms are bare and just enough is covered, but it's beautiful pink.

SPEAKER_01 31:11

It is. And her hair has changed too. Her hair has changed too, her whole outfit is changed, and again, it's not a manifestation, it is Apollo fabricating that material and changing it. Is he is he using the the mass and material from her uniform to change it? Is he just dissolving it and making it a new dress in an instant? Who knows? He you know, shared some sparkles from his own. There we go. But again, it's a full creation of an actual object. It is not uh like a holographic illusion or an illusion like we saw with the Squire of Gothos.

SPEAKER_02 31:51

And she's also her personality has changed now. Now she's like, Oh, I like wearing this cute little outfit. He's kind of nice, yeah. And Apollo, you know, he's like normal, and he tries to take her like to like a side area so they can get to know each other more. And again, Scotty is jealous, and he tries to stop them, and Apollo again crack, and then Scotty falls back and he's stunned, and then Carolyn and Apollo are gone.

SPEAKER_01 32:23

Right. Side tangent here. Do you think up until this moment, because at some point we all I think we both can agree, Carolyn flips from Enterprise crew member on a mission to partner of Apollo? Immediately. When does that happen for you? When do you think that switch happens? Because again, with Khan, that happened immediately. As soon as he was seen, she was completely smitten with him. When do you think Carolyn f makes that transition in this episode?

SPEAKER_02 32:58

Well, like as TV, so I would imagine if this happened, it would be a longer period of time. But he talked to her, he tried to get to know her. Where on the Enterprise, she is just a lieutenant, she has had to go against all kinds of men in the science area and fight for where she is. I'd imagine, because you said military. So lieutenant is an officer. Okay. So she's had to like be strong, not as feminine, even though she has to wear that crazy outfit. But like she's had to fight, and now this weird dude is actually wanting to know who she is, not with Lieutenant Palomas. She is just a pretty gal, and her name is Carolyn. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:45

Alright. My answer's much more simple. I think as soon as she's got a pretty dress, she's just like, Oh, I love you.

SPEAKER_02 33:53

Well, I mean, that kind of sealed it.

SPEAKER_01 33:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:56

And so they've disappeared, and Kirk is like, WTF, and he sends Chekhov to do research. I don't know what he's researching. Just scanning things?

SPEAKER_01 34:06

Yeah, well, yeah, trying to figure out anything that they can. I I think the order in the moment, if it's not explicitly said, it's said later. But at some point in all of this scanning, it is ordered to Chekoff and and others that they need to find the source of the energy. Even if it's not explicitly said in this particular moment, that's primarily his mission. And that's what these tricorders do. They look like tape recorders. They do a lot of things, but yes, one of the things that they do is they can scan the environment on a huge number of different variables.

SPEAKER_02 34:44

The original iPhone. In a way, yes. Pretty nifty. So scanning and scanning and scanning. And Scotty has is now coming back from his you know smack. And he's babbling about Palomas going off with Apollo. And Kirk's like, you know, she'll do her job. She's gaining information. That's what you know he should be doing too. And then McCoy and Kirk, you know, also are trying to imagine how this even happened. Like, how did they get stuck with a green hand that isn't a hand, and now they're on a planet that wasn't supposed to have a life form. Now it has like what happened? And then perhaps Apollo was mistaken for a god some 5,000 years ago. Sophisticated travelers like landed on Earth in the Mediterranean, mistaken for gods, like totally crazy storyline.

SPEAKER_01 35:35

Well, very similar to what we saw in to go on a big tangent, uh, Stargate SG1. Oh, yeah. It's it's that same idea where you have sophisticated aliens coming to Earth at a time when humans don't have sophisticated technology. True. And they get mistaken and lean into the idea that they are gods. And that is, spoiler, exactly what happens here. This is not anything else except Apollo and all the other gods that he mentioned is going away, are in fact aliens that have these incredibly long lifespans. They're referred to as the beings in official Star Trek lore, and they did, in fact, go everything Apollo says is correct. They did go to Earth, they were treated as gods, they were in fact the Greek gods. They also were North mythology gods. There's speculation, and yes, in fact, they went to Vulcan and Romulus and all these other places. That is what these beings did. They impersonated or they injected themselves into the society as gods, because that's how they exist. As we find out, Apollo literally feeds off of worship and admiration and all the other things that he's desiring. That's what he's gaining nutrients for. At least because I believe the other gods have gone away. Right, like piece by piece. As he mentions, they kind of give up and they just kind of dissolve. So I think why they need a big tangent, whatever energy they get from that. Like a big head. It's what they use not only, I think, to power their energy source, because we never really find out what it is, but it also is what gives them the energy to maintain this physical form. I don't think that they are naturally from this plane of existence. I think they traveled to this plane and they need the energy to stay here. And when they don't get it, they go back to their original plane. Oh, like they're like drifters. Yeah. What amazing brains these writers have.

SPEAKER_02 37:52

Well, I think it's also a lot of fans pulling stuff out of their butts, but well, just to even make this episode like this is wild. I don't know. I I'm learning a lot. But now we're back on the bridge, on the Enterprise. And Spock is having Sulu activate reverse polarity. Polarity, which is which isn't working as they had hoped. And Ohura is trying to still contact the landing party, and she's like, Oh, I need to create a bypass. How does she know that? Okay, cool. Create that. And then another crewman, Mr. Kyle, has located the landing party that they cannot contact, but they don't know why one has separated from the group.

SPEAKER_01 38:35

Right. And I think it's this scene that there's a there's a brief, inconsistent error where Spock in passing conversation refers to the being as Apollo. I don't remember the exact context, but he says something along the lines of we have to get them away from Apollo, we have to keep them safe from Apollo, whatever. The point is, Spock would have no way of knowing it's Apollo because he's never been down to the planet where Apollo introduced himself.

SPEAKER_02 39:02

That's true. He only knows the pan reference. Reference and the man that looks like some weirdo. Correct.

unknown 39:09

Hmm.

SPEAKER_02 39:09

So Sulu has also tasked, he has a lot of things to do. He has to find the location of a special energy source. They're all looking for this energy source. And you have to, he's gonna have to scan the whole planet if he has to. A lot is happening in that tiny, tiny scene. Yeah. Make Spock is like yelling at O'Hora. So now we're back on the planet, but we're back with Apollo and Carolyn, and they're walking in this beautiful garden. And again, Apollo is just like love bombing her with compliments and beauty, comparing her to Artemis and Hera. Like these are gorgeous gods that we know of. And then Carolyn asks, Well, what happened to them? He doesn't say like they died, because you know, she's lowly, so she wouldn't know what that means in their way of death.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

You're just a mortal baby. I haven't made you a goddess yet.

SPEAKER_02 40:05

But he goes on to say that he just had waited for her, this lowly being, all this time, since you know, gods took mortals for life all the time to love and to care for them. So why not you?

SPEAKER_01 40:19

Yeah, and again, I think that has to do with them maintaining their energy reserves to maintain their form. Like a con conduit? Yeah, you know, it it allows them to continue to exist on this plane. And again, he talks about how you're right, they didn't die, but they went away. They got tired of waiting, they got tired of existing in this form weakened, yeah, inferior state than what they're used to on this plane, and they got tired of waiting from more worshippers. So then they said, Alright, peace out, we're gone, we're gonna go check out other stuff. Apollo's the only one that stayed behind waiting.

SPEAKER_02 40:58

Which makes sense while he's like, You all have to stay here, just do it. So then we skip back to the Greek, you know, quote unquote temple, and Chekov and Scotty have found a hidden place of energy. Kinda. They at least are able to locate it within the area. That's what I meant. They're like, over here, we just haven't found it yet. And then they do explain that's how they think Apollo is doing all this, you know, stuff. Yep, advancing the plot. And then McCoy also wants to know about like Apollo's physical self because when he was like scanning him, he saw an extra organ in his chest and he doesn't know what it is.

SPEAKER_01 41:38

Yeah, and this really only serves a purpose to show that Apollo is not using other forms to manipulate and use this energy for any of his quote unquote powers. It's just to explain and give a little bit of context that he's naturally channeling this energy, that this is part of who he is. It doesn't really pay off any further.

SPEAKER_02 42:02

It helps me understand what you're talking about. So thank you. So Apollo appears as they're you know running him around and they ask him about Lieutenant Palomas, and he's like, You don't need to worry about her anymore, you know, she's fine. And then Scotty again, he's like is like a rabid dog, like on this episode.

SPEAKER_01 42:24

Like, calm down, boy. Right. It's interesting to point out because yeah, Scotty tries to attack again, he gets blasted back once again. There's never any consequence to Scotty on a on a career-wise. He's never brought up on court-martial for any of this, and he really should have is would be justified because he repeatedly defies orders and repeatedly tries to attack Apollo for very irrational reasons.

SPEAKER_02 42:51

And even has to make Kirk stand in front of his men because Scotty is shocked and he's on the ground out cold, and everyone is like huddled over Scotty and trying to like, you know, keep him safe. So everyone is now could be in danger.

SPEAKER_01 43:09

Yeah, I like at some point Scotty wakes up from one of these attacks and they ask him how he is. He's just he's like, I don't think it's this, I think it was earlier, but Scotty goes, I'm just kinda I'm kinda tingly, Captain. And then he keeps going, he keeps going after, and I'm just like, you really like to be tingly, don't you, Scotsman? You really like, you really are a bit of a of a masochist in this sense.

SPEAKER_02 43:30

And Kirk just keeps going on, and it's all like, instead of worshippers, you now have enemies. And Apollo grip has an ability to grip Kirk's throat, choking him to the ground. So Scotty went against orders, and now Kirk, his captain, could be dead. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:50

Force choking him out like Vader.

SPEAKER_02 43:52

And so now everyone is, you know, ah, and Apollo just walks to his temple bench. He sits down and he's talking to them and mid-sentence just disappears. And Chekhov, our crazy little guy, he notices that Apollo looked to be in pain while disappearing. And then now Scotty comes to, they're all gathered together trying to like welcome back Scotty. And now they're trying to remember their Greek mythology. And they learn that gods of the myths also need a time to recharge after expending such energy. Remember, Apollo has the force field that's holding the Enterprise, and he's doing all this fancy stuff with the planet, the the environment, taking care of Scotty, like all this crazy stuff. With such restraint, also, because I mean he could just kill them all instead of forcing them to be his worshipers. So while he's off somewhere pre-charging, Kirk has an idea to provoke him enough so that he's gonna attack them, and then that way they can eventually get back to Enterprise. They want to get enough energy. Apollo reappears and he demands that everybody bow to him. He's over everything that he's been doing. They're going to bow to him and approach him and also worship all of that.

SPEAKER_01 45:15

Yeah, because again, he's stuck in this one track mind of I need to get back to what things were thousands of years ago where I had worshippers, I had followers, and we have to. I've tried to I've tried to convince them with the carrot, now I'm gonna use the stick.

SPEAKER_02 45:33

He tells them that they need to gather laurel leaves, make a fire, and sacrifice to him.

SPEAKER_01 45:38

What are they gonna sacrifice to him?

SPEAKER_02 45:40

I have no idea.

SPEAKER_01 45:41

I saw this, I he says this, he's like, and make sacrifices to me, and I'm like, what are we sacrificing? There's no other life to the melting phasers. Yeah, there's birds, you hear birds in the background. Yes, so maybe he's going to manifest lambs and goats and other things to make sacrifice, I guess. I have no idea.

SPEAKER_02 46:02

And Kirk is like, no, you only believe in one god, and then they all turn their back on him and ignore him, which makes Apollo more angry, and he's like super angry, but then all of a sudden, Lieutenant Palomas has come back and she's like, Don't harm them. I mean, you know so much about love, you know, you don't need to harm them.

SPEAKER_01 46:23

Which is completely throwing a wrench in Kirk's plan of getting him to expend as much energy as possible so we can overwhelm him. That was the whole reason of making him angry and mad and openly defying him. So she really throws this plan to the side. And you can see Kirk be like, oh my gosh, woman. I think he's thinking, oh my gosh, lieutenant, but okay.

SPEAKER_02 46:51

And then he's like, oh well, okay, the rest of the enterprise can be in my temple. And he's like, they can raise goats and sheep, you know, be primitive. Housing will be made of the ship herself. Like he's visioning this all on the Pollux 4.

SPEAKER_01 47:06

Yeah, where the hell are they getting the sheep and the goats, guys?

SPEAKER_02 47:09

So then once again, just Apollo and Carolyn are together, and he again is telling her about the beautiful life of love, that everything's gonna be perfect, she can be the mother of a new race of gods, and then they have this beautiful, passionate kiss. So while that's happening, Kirk and the boys are trying to still contact Enterprise, they have not stopped. They're they are trying, and then again, Polomus reappears, and then Scotty's like, Oh my gosh, are you okay? And Kirk's like, Well, we're gonna find out. He has never left his point of command, like he's always kept a clear head, and then Chekhov offers to help, and that's when we learn that you're only 22, you you don't you can't handle this. So Kirk, I guess, is a manly man, goes over to the Lieutenant Palomas and asks how she is. She, you know, tell me, Lieutenant, what's up? And she tells him that Apollo just wants worship, they'd all live peacefully, all is great, and you can kind of see Kirk like poke her bubble of happiness and says, Come down from Mount Olympus and deny him.

SPEAKER_01 48:21

Yeah, because this is gonna be the next step and possibly the last attempt that they have to overcome Apollo, and which is to get uh Carolyn to not feed into Apollo and the fantasy, and to spurn him. So again, they can get him into this weakened state to overcome him. And she at first says that no, I'm in love with him, and I'm gonna be his partner, and I I can't do that. And then through some dialogue back and forth, Kirk is able to convince her.

SPEAKER_02 48:57

Well, he takes her hand, and I think that's what really brings her back. Yeah. Human to human contact.

SPEAKER_01 49:04

Yep, and to be like, this is a fantasy, you can't do this. You have to first and foremost be human. Second, you have to resume your role as Lieutenant. Lieutenant in your duty to Starfleet and the ship. Again, she would be subject to court martial as well. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 49:22

Yeah, but all of them get to live happily ever after later. Hallelujah. O'Hura has created the bypass and she's able to contact Kirk somehow. And now we can figure out where you are and attack and bring you back. But also, Spock's like, you all need to get kind of close and tell me where you are, because we know one of you, you know, ran away. But get together and we're gonna figure it out. But Kirk also can't promise what Enterprise sees is where they are.

SPEAKER_01 49:52

So let's try. Right. And again, what they're attacking is the energy source that Apollo is channeling to use all of his powers.

SPEAKER_02 50:00

And this is where McCoy is like, that has to be what the extra organ is for.

SPEAKER_01 50:06

Congratulations, McCoy. You solved the day.

SPEAKER_02 50:09

Well, he's a very smart man, our cowboy. And so now Plum is back with Apollo, and she's like, Oh, I I loved you, it was lovely, but I have to get back to work now. Like, I'm a scientist. Uh tell me about your evolutionary pattern.

SPEAKER_01 50:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:27

Like, I have to look at you like a bacteria.

SPEAKER_01 50:31

Yeah, very much belittling Apollo, very much flipping the script and saying, like, no, I'm your your charm doesn't work on me. Like, I was being friendly and nice to you, but now it's time for me to resume my duties and study you, basically.

SPEAKER_02 50:46

You can see at the beginning, it kind of hurt her to say these harmful things.

SPEAKER_01 50:51

100%.

SPEAKER_02 50:52

Like she had to say it, but she's like, Oh, I'm harming like he's gonna be heartbroken. But she then is like, You have to be logical, Apollo. I mean, how can I stay with you when you're using thunderbolt and anger to get, you know, what you want or what I want? Like, that's not really great, right?

SPEAKER_01 51:12

Yes, very much again, everything that she's saying is emasculating him, pulling him down off of his high horse, bringing him down to a level of a normal human being, which I think is what hurts the most. I mean, he's obviously heartbroken that he's being rejected by a woman, but I think it digs deeper that he's being brought down to equal footing with everything that she says and being regarded as just an ordinary entity.

SPEAKER_02 51:42

I mean, that would be harmful if someone I love told me that. But the Enterprise is able to contact everybody and he sees that there's a change in the weather. We'll wait for Kirk to signal to fire. Thankfully, Kirk has found the temple wherever the energy source is. So they lure Apollo back to the temple, and you know, Lieutenant Palomas has weathered him. He's, you know, kind of like soggy and sappy.

SPEAKER_01 52:09

Yeah, because again, we kind of glossed over it, but as she's rejecting Apollo, the change in the weather is Apollo creating this storm on the planet and directing the fury of this storm at Carolyn. So she's windblown, she's had a tornado coming. Almost like a tornado coming. And so when we see her now, she's very much beat up. She's very much not like physically violently harmed, but like like trees have like like branches have slapped her, she's running through. Yeah, her hair is a mess, she's got dirt smudging on her face and so forth.

SPEAKER_02 52:49

But she's uh so she's walking in it, and Scotty's able to grab her, and they hide behind a rock. And the Enterprise is able to strike, turning the temple into rubble. Not just the temple. Everything.

SPEAKER_01 53:01

The not everything. The temple and the the little patio furniture in front of the temple for some reason had to be destroyed as well. They don't destroy the entire set. I think it's funny that they destroy the little garden bench with the table and the two benches on either side of it has to melt as well.

SPEAKER_02 53:21

Yes. And Apollo is in tears. He tells the crew that he would have cherished them like a father loves his children. Did he ask for too much? And then Kirk just basically tells them that they've outgrown him and no longer need him. And he looks over at Polomus and is like, I loved her. I would have made her a goddess. And then he shows her his open heart, and yet still he ends up lost. And then so he calls to the heavens above, telling them they were right. He's very upset, and he's begging that they take him. McCoy and Kirk discuss how they didn't like being forced to wreck the temple. Like it didn't have to come to this, especially with all that Greek mythology that they knew. If only they've gathered those laurel leaves.

Final Thoughts

SPEAKER_01 54:05

Yeah, it's kind of sad in the moment because Apollo is he's no longer angry, he's no longer wrathful. He's broken. They do, in this the in a sense, yes, they have to break him, and he fades away, and they basically through their actions destroy him. I don't know that they had any other choice, but it it is a it is definitely a moment that they regret and they're sad about. Because that's all that Apollo really demanded. Just look for some leaves. Yeah, and that's the ending line is them saying, If only we had just gathered a few laurel leaves. But roll credits. So, Jackie, what did you think about season two, episode two? Who mourns for Adonius?

SPEAKER_02 54:53

It really takes you on a ride. Like you do think about Greek mythology that we know, or at least think we know, and then by watching this episode, you see a totally different output. But then at the end, you were well, I was sad because yes, they did essentially break him and he had to go back to wherever or die, and it was so sad, but also he didn't have to be so mean at also right.

SPEAKER_01 55:22

It yeah, again, I don't know that there's any other outcome they could have effectively pulled off in order to get away from Apollo and move on. Who knows if Kirk's original plan would have worked? Yes, so ultimately, while sad, I think necessary, and again, I think it's an entertaining episode to a point. Yes, it's very ne I don't know. Narrow seems like it's insulting to the episode, but it's it feels like the best way to describe it when it comes to the plot point, it's got fine pacing, it just overall comes across as narrow.

SPEAKER_02 56:02

Well, it only had one idea. Usually I've noticed that we have one main idea, and then we have like our show tangents, like, oh, there's a pink thing over here, oh, there's a yellow thing over here, but we're still going straight. This one was completely A, B, and back to A.

SPEAKER_01 56:19

Yeah, and I don't necessarily have a problem with that. I it can be entertaining. It just I don't know, maybe at the end of the day, I'm not a fan of these episodes where a female member of the crew gets turned into a love sick character.

SPEAKER_02 56:36

No, it's totally gross.

SPEAKER_01 56:38

And ultimately has to be either then that because when a when a character gets to that point, one of two things can either happen. They either can divert from the path that they're on and come back and redeem themselves, but they don't actually, you never actually see them do the redeeming. They get saved, they get convinced to do it, and sometimes they're even regretful and reluctant to do it. The other thing that they do is they continue on their path and they don't ever get a redemption, and they have to go along and kind of be the villain. And we don't ever really see, at least we haven't up to this point, the story plot of female crew member makes a mistake, goes down the wrong path, but then has their own self-saving and their own redemption that they bring about. That would be fantastic. I'd like to see that episode at some point.

SPEAKER_02 57:36

So I mean, but I mean, others can also see Scotty gets the girl at the end because he literally saves her. Does he? Because what we we don't know, but he's literally holding her behind a rock.

SPEAKER_01 57:47

I mean, we've we're we're we're batch recording these episodes, so we've we've watched a couple episodes into the future as we as we talk about this, and I'll just say I think we know they don't end up together. We don't miraculously see Scotty and Carolyn getting married.

SPEAKER_02 58:04

So it would have been so cute.

SPEAKER_01 58:06

I think she gets transferred off the enterprise at this point because I think when you kind of get to that point, you have to, you've been compromised, you have to get out of that situation because you've just proven that you can't be trusted on these missions and in these situations. She has a desk job at Starfleet. Pretty much. I don't know why Scotty doesn't get a desk job and why Scotty doesn't get reprimanded for his actions.

SPEAKER_02 58:30

Well, he's a manly man, he could take care of himself after everyone else takes care of him when he gets hit with the thunderbolt.

SPEAKER_01 58:36

I guess he's got a better contract.

SPEAKER_02 58:38

So but engineering is better than archaeology.

SPEAKER_01 58:43

Yes. So before we get to our final quotes, as a reminder, we'll post a bonus little episode over on our Patreon, our Star Note bonus episode, patreon.com slash treks and tangents, where we'll dive into a deeper topic based on this episode. And I think the topic of our Star Note this week is going to be was Kirk right to reject Apollo immediately? So we'll dive into that a little bit deeper over at the Star Note Bonus episode that we'll post at patreon.com slash treks and tangents. Again, again, all of our Star Note bonus episodes are free for all of our Patreon followers. But to round out our thoughts to this episode, our quote, Jackie, what's your favorite quote from the episode?

SPEAKER_02 59:33

I'm back with Spock. Insults are effective only where emotion is present. And I mean, he's talking about when he doesn't get to go onto the planet because the pointed ears one reminded Apollo of Pan. Um breaking it all down, insults are just words. And if we don't allow our emotion to react to the words, then it's not really an insult after all.

Tribble Tidbits

SPEAKER_01 1:00:00

Alright. I didn't really find this episode to be qu too quotable. No. There wasn't really a whole lot of like deep quotes, but so I I picked my quote. It's just a random quote from McCoy. Uh, in the beginning, when they're first beaming down to the planet and they're first encountering Apollo, he gives a quote and he just says, to coin a phrase, fascinating. Of course, in reference to the number of times that Spock has uttered that same or something similar. I liked it. I it kind of stood out to me because I think as we're in season two of the original series, we're really starting to get a lot more character development in their personalities and their traits, their flaws. And so I kind of like this moment because it really kind of speaks to me. Everyone loves Kirk, everyone loves Spock as a favorite character. I really kind of resonate with McCoy as a favorite character from the original series, and so I just really liked that moment where it kind of is showing a bit more of McCoy's personality in the moment. So, but I also have now some triple tidbits or interesting facts about the episode. And Jackie, why do we call them triple tidbits? Because they are the best. Because at some point Jackie said tribles are the best part about Star Trek, and now we have a podcast that is loosely based on tribles. So first airing September 22nd, 1967, Michael Forrest, who is the sideways nipple actor who plays Apollo, he later observed in giving interviews that he and William Shatner never share screen time where they stand next to each other.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:48

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:49

If you go back and you look at the episode, they're either doing separate camera shots where there's Kirk and then the camera angle changes to jump over to Apollo and back to Kirk, or there's an obvious height difference because Apollo is up several stairs in his little temple and Kirk is down at the bottom. And I can't confirm it to be true, but I saw several sources that commented on it, including uh Michael Forrest, the actor, speculating that this was at William Shatner's insistence because William Shatner is significantly shorter than Michael Forrest, and he didn't want to appear shorter on camera. Wow. Vanity. The charred and burned phaser that uh Scotty was holding that gets burned by the lightning bolt from Apollo is the exact same one that was crushed by Khan in the episode Space Seed.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:46

Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:47

So they're reusing the prop. The dress that's being worn by Leslie Parish, who's the actress who plays Lieutenant Carolyn, uh, was held in place on her with fabric glue instead of tape. This, of course, not the best way to do this costume decision. Uh, and it did in fact hurt, she reported, when they had to take the dress off at the end of shooting days. Scotty, of course, Scotty the character, gets beat up quite a bit in this episode, and he gets tossed around quite a bit. And of course, the actor playing Scotty doesn't get tossed around, his stunt doubles get tossed around. And they all suffered several injuries shooting those scenes, including one suffering a concussion. This is the second of nine episodes across all of the Star Trek episodes and series to date to feature a question mark in the title. Interesting. The hand that they use to model the effect of the giant green hand holding the Enterprise in place is none other than Gene Roddenberry's hand. I mean, that says a lot also. And then the final triple tidbit, the original script called for an ending where it would be revealed that Lieutenant Palamas was pregnant with Apollo's child. And oh my goodness. That was, of course, changed at the insistence of the networks. They didn't want to have a story that featured this erotic relationship between the two characters, resulting in an unwed pregnancy. Well, she talked bad to him. Basically.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:35

Oh my gosh, broken home. Basically, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:38

It was it it would have been revealed at the very end of the episode when they're back on the Enterprise, and Apollo has already dispersed and gone off to the other plane of existence. It would have been reported by McCoy to Captain Kirk that she was pregnant.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:52

So that would also tie the loose in about losing an officer at the very, very beginning.

Episode Ranking

SPEAKER_01 1:04:58

It would, yeah, it would have, but ultimately it it moved pretty far into the planning stages, but it ultimately was cut. They never filmed those scenes. Good. But those are going to be your triple tidbits. And this is where we're going to dive into our episode ranking, where we pretend the episode is a member of our crew and what Starfleet rank we would assign this episode. The rank is going to be based on not only how entertained we were with the episode when we watched it, but also how valuable of a member we find them to be for our crew. A higher rank means that we find the episode not only more entertaining, but more valuable. And of course, a lower rank means we're not as entertained by the episode, and the episode is a more disposable member of our crew. Our episode ranking system is based on Starfleet ranks. We have at our bottom tier our listed officers, our ensign, our lieutenant junior. Grade and our lieutenant, of which for any of them, we can have an unlimited number of rankings. And then we have our officers that have limited slots for ranks. We have seven lieutenant commanders, five commanders, one captain, and then one admiral, a 10 plus out of 10, a perfect, beyond perfect episode for the season. If none of that makes sense, we do post a graphical representation of our rankings every Wednesday over on our Patreon for everyone to view for free, patreon.com slash treks and tangents. Jackie, this season your ship is the USS Luminaria. Yes. And so what rank are you going to give this week's episode?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:46

Oi. Sadly, I have to give it an ensign.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:49

An ensign?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:51

The bottom rank, the most disposable member of the crew.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:55

Yeah. I mean, especially when I learned that they wanted to make her pregnant. Oh my gosh. Total down the drain.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:03

They tried. Jackie's rankings are frequently influenced by how the podcast goes. Okay. Well, I'm going to give it a little bit more of a grace. Uh, it's not going to crack the officer rankings, so I'm just going to leave it as a lieutenant. It's going to be the top enlisted members. Again, it's an entertaining episode. It's got fine pacing. It doesn't really have any problematic moments for me. There's a couple little weird things to the episode that I kind of go, did we really need the giant storm at the end? I'm not a big fan of the plot of female crew member falls in love with an alien or someone else, and then either has to be saved or remain and be villainized. But ultimately it's Star Trek and it's the original series, and we're going to get a lot of that. So for pure entertainment value, I'm going to call it a lieutenant because it is slightly disposable, but it's still entertaining. And that's going to be our rankings. As of this recording, the on IMDB, this episode ranks a 7.1 out of 10. I tend to find the episodes that rank in the 7 out of 10 range for an episode to be kind of average for IMDB. Anything lower than a 7 is kind of a bad rank. 7 is middle of the road. 8's are going to be great episodes, and 9s are going to be fantastic episodes.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:39

So they don't really give a 10.

Turbolift Tease

SPEAKER_01 1:08:41

No, you'll have that one. Yeah, you'll never get a 10 out of 10 on IMDb. So that makes sense. And I really wish there was I I don't know. I we keep using IMDb as the metric for the rankings. I I really wish Memory Alpha had a fan ranking scale to it, but it doesn't. But again, we'll post the graphical representation of our rankings over at our Patreon, patreon.com slash treks and tangents, free for everyone to view. We'll be back next week to trek through another episode, and this is where we'll give our turbolift tease or elevator pitch to the next episode's plot. I'll give Jackie the title of the next episode, and Jackie with no other information will give a brief pitch to the plot. Jackie, next week's episode, is entitled The Changeling.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:30

Remember that distress call for last episode? We are going to that planet and happen to meet a new character, and Sulu is going to become friends with this person, animal, who knows. And then we are going to help them and Enterprise leaves.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:52

And tune in next week to see how accurate Jackie's guess is. If you want more show information, you can find and directly support our podcast on Patreon, patreon.com/slash treks and tangents. Again, we'll have our bonus Star Note episode published as of this. If you're listening to this now, you can hop immediately over to the Patreon and listen to this Star Note bonus episode on this episode and every other Star Note bonus episode we have. We have our graphical rankings. And for our members, once a month we dive into the animated series for Star Trek. We have all of our test episodes published. If you want to hear how we were when we really first started out on this podcast, we've improved. I would like to think so. But yeah, thank you everyone. Hopefully, if you like the episode, you'll comment, you'll like, you'll share the episode with your friends. Um, send them on over. We're always happy to entertain. You can also follow us on x.com at trex underscore tangents. We're on Instagram and Blue Sky at Trex and Tangents. Jackie, where can people find you? And what are you up to?

SPEAKER_02 1:10:59

You can find me on Instagram as Jaboom J-I-B-B-O-O-M. I am busily doing things with weight loss, fashion, you know, dressing, you know, your after you've lost weight. How do you work your new body? And also I have my music as well as disability advocacy.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:20

So I'll be over there. And you can watch me stream a variety of video games over at twitch.tv slash piratepoundtown. On YouTube, I post video game content and other random things on my main channel, Pirate Poundtown. Also on YouTube, coin collecting and hobby content at pirate treasure hunting. I post socially on Blue Sky at Pirate Poundtown, and every once in a great while you can catch me post something over on Instagram at Pineapple Cannibal. Links to all social media mentioned can be found in the episode description. Thank you everyone for tuning into this week's episode. We hope you had fun like we did, and we will see you all next week. Be sure to check out Pan. He's not always sad. End transmission.