ALL SCI-FI

[Pow]

"Journey to Babel."
These Are The Voyages TOS: Season Two.

NBC press release, issued October 19, 1967: Jane Wyatt guest-stars as Mr. Spock's Earthling mother in "Journey to Babel," a drama in which murder and pursuit by an alien vessel plague the Enterprise as it transports ambassadors to a vital council meeting. The delegation includes Mr. Spock's (Leonard Nimoy) mother, Amanda (Miss Wyatt), and his Vulcan father, Sarek (guest star Mark Lenard). Tellarite ambassador Gav is murdered and Sarek is the prime suspect. When he suffers a heart attack, Dr. McCoy determines that only a transfusion from Spock can save him. Meanwhile, Captain Kirk (William Shatner) is attacked and wounded. Spock, despite Amanda's pleas, refuses to aid his father and insists on taking over for Kirk.

Sarek and his son haven't spoken in years, as a result of Spock's decision to join Starfleet. This is a story of stubbornness, sacrifice ... and love.

Assessment

"Journey to Babel" offers a look at the generation gap, a hot topic in the 1960s, as well as examining the complexities of relationships within the family. The theme is one of personal sacrifice.

Some of these sacrifices are motivated by love, some by tradition, some by blind obedience.

"Journey to Babel" is one of Star Trek's best.

D.C. Fontana, writer. Gene Coon & Gene Roddenberry script polish. Directed by Joseph Pevney.

The episode title is a reference to the eleventh chapter of Genesis in the Bible's Old Testament. As told there, all of mankind spoke one language until their pride led them to build a great tower to consolidate their power. God reacted to this achievement by "confusing" the languages of man, so that everyone no longer spoke the same. The story served as an explanation for the many languages and cultures throughout the ancient world.

"It was really a story about communication, and why people stop communicating, and why they begin again," said Fontana.

Years later, Fontana said, "They put some money into that, to the tune of the costumes, the makeup, masks and so on. You always did trade-offs in that sense. If you went on location, you had to give away your costume and makeup. If you stayed on the ship you could do more."

It was decided to not beam up Sarek, Amanda, and four others from Vulcan. To save money, they would arrive by shuttlecraft instead. The actual cost of each transporting effect -- one person only, either materializing or dematerializing -- was $810.

Of the changes, Fontana said, "One scene was added where Amanda talks to Kirk about Sarek's relationship with his son. It seemed to me that would have been inappropriate, and that she would not have blurted out all of this to Kirk. I did not have anything to do with that scene, and I think Gene Roddenberry rewrote it."

[Bud Brewster]

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What a wonderful review of this great episode, Mike. One thing you wrote was especially interesting.

[Pow]

Excellent observations on both points, Bruce.

Why-o-why would God believe that humanity would be better served by having many, many different lingos amongst itself? We already divide ourselves over education, careers, race, where we live, houses, cars, physical features and anything else we can think of. How did adding different languages serve the human family? More divisiveness is what it did.

I agree, Amanda saw the big picture compared to her stubborn husband & son. She probably was at her wits end by the time she spoke to Kirk about it all, having no one on Vulcan to discuss such an emotional situation. It was a catharsis for her to do so, perhaps she even thought that Kirk might possibly have some ideas as to create a reconciliation?

She is human and probably just needed to discuss the long time estrangement between Sarek & Spock. I think she intuitively knew that Kirk was just such a person to speak to about it all, someone she could trust.

I recall there was a scene in one of the Star Trek feature films that addressed the issues we see in this episode. Sarek tells Spock that he has fine friends with his Enterprise crewmates. He further states that he was wrong to oppose Spock's enlistment into Starfleet. That was a huge moment between father and son in the movies.

I can see the dilemma regarding not having Sarek, Amanda, and his aides transport up from Vulcan as a cost saving measure on the optical effects.

There was also the big dramatic moment where Kirk says to Spock that he can beam down to Vulcan to visit his parents if he wishes. Spock comes back by replying Ambassador Sarek & his wife ARE my parents. So the Enterprise had to be orbiting Vulcan for that big reveal.

The only thing I could come up with is that they could have opened up as they did with the shuttlecraft coming to the Enterprise from Vulcan, but not orbiting it, while the Enterprise is also collecting other delegates in the region. Once on board Kirk could have told Spock there was time for him to take a shuttlecraft to visit his folks before they had to start their journey to Babel. It could also be a situation where the Enterprise could start their way to Babel & Spock in the shuttle could catch up with them. Spock then could inform Kirk about not needing the shuttle, because his parents were standing right in front of him. So you'd still get that terrific dramatic moment.

Another thought that struck me was this episode would have made a splendid Star Trek: The Motion Picture story. My first choice is "The Doomsday Machine" for ST: TMP." "Journey to Babel" would be my next pick.

You had the personal element to it with Mr. Spock and his family, Kirk's noble sacrifice to resume command of the Enterprise while severely wounded so that Spock can go into surgery to save his father's life.

Aliens, sabotage, murder-mystery, intrigue, unknown attacking vessel, plenty of space scenes with the Enterprise. That's a lot going on and would have kept the audience enthralled.

Obviously D.C. Fontana would have had to write an expanded script for a movie-length plot, but she was certainly talented & capable enough to do so. The film being longer could have offered up more exotic looking aliens than what their 1967 budget & makeup techniques were able to do twelve years earlier. It could have given us more suspects among the aliens regarding the murder of the Tellarite ambassador. There could have been more attacks upon the Enterprise by the unknown spacecraft. Maybe the unidentified vessel lays out space mines or other nasty tricks for the Enterprise, in addition to its attacks. It really could have made for a very compelling movie.

[Bud Brewster]

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Mike, you made such a good case for Journey to Babel: The Motion Picture that I prefer it to Doomsday Machne: The Big Movie!

As for the whole "shuttle instead transport" decision, I guess I like the simple way the episode did it rather your imaginative-but-more-complex version.

Also, the scene of Sarek and Amanda walking slowly towards Kirk and Spock in the hanger deck looks properly regal for an ambassador and this wife — as opposed to just appearing on the transporter pads like any ordinary Joe would have done.


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

These Are The Voyages: TOS, Season Two.

John Wheeler (Ambassador Gav) on his death scene and hanging upside down in the Jefferies Tube, "It was hotter than hell in that costume, I'll tell you that. I thought I was going to melt. But they gave me lots of water. They treated me wonderfully."

John Wheeler, "It took them five hours every morning to get me in that shape, with the applications and everything they put on. I had two guys working on me. The hair that I had on my face, they laid that on individually, pretty much hair by hair. The only thing I think they do better nowadays is they tie in the eyes a little better, so it doesn't look like you're looking out through two holes."

Sidebar: John is correct regarding the eyes, it gave the mask a phoniness unfortunately. On Star Trek: Enterprise they had Captain Archer & crew meet a Tellarite. The makeup was vastly superior to what we saw on Babel.

The Westheimer Company handled the optical effects, which were limited to the Orion ship, seen on the bridge's screen, and a matte shot of Uhura, on a monitor in engineering.

The shots featuring the shuttlecraft docking with the Enterprise had been filmed for the first season episode, "The Galileo Seven." The miniature of the shuttle bay had been designed by Matt Jefferies and constructed by Richard Datin. It was over ten feet long, more than six feet wide, and six feet tall. The price, one year earlier: $2,100.

Sidebar: Using stock footage was a budget saving measure, especially considering that Trek's second season episode budget had been slashed from what they had for the first season. Then again, just how many angles can they film a shuttlecraft entering the hanger deck? You could do a few different ones, but it wasn't worth incurring the cost.

Nimoy listed "Journey to Babel" as one of his favorites. Dorothy Fontana said it was one of her favorite shows. David Gerrold said, "Two of Star Trek's very best episodes were 'Amok Time' and 'Journey to Babel' ... both of these episodes were true dramas. All of the conflicts and relationships were honest."

I have to agree with you again, Bud. Having the Vulcans all transport on board the Enterprise would lack the dramatic and majestic scene of them all entering from the hanger deck.

[Gord Green]

POW WROTE:

[Gord Green]

But beyond those questions....
JTB established a good part of the background of the Federation and their relations with Vulcan and the other members of the Federation of Planets ; and as such laid the groundwork for the further aspects of the saga to come!
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Pow]

Nitpicker's Guide.

Phasers must travel much slower than the speed of light. Yet in this episode, Kirk tries to hit a vessel going at warp eight with phasers. This is impossible. Even if you fired at point-blank range, the vessel could move out of the way before the phaser energy would reach it.

[Pow]

Andorian Ambassador Shras (Reggie Nalder) wears the same vest that John Wayne wore playing Genghis Khan in the 1956 feature film The Conqueror.

[Bud Brewster]

[mach7]

Not to get pedantic,

But in the Star Trek universe starships can travel faster than light because they generate a warp bubble around the ship.

The ship inside the bubble is moving less than the seed of light but warp bubble is moving faster than light.

Once the phaser beam leaves the warp bubble it is subject to Einstein's theory's.

To be constant with the "science" of Trek ships should not be able to fight at warp. They would need to fight sub light.

But the need for action and drama takes precedent over science.

[Bud Brewster]

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Thank you, Mark! You've presented a logical analysis of the situation. I can't dispute your logic.

All I can add is the fact that the "warp bubble" and everything it makes possible is entirely hypothetical.

Therefore, if we claim that the "phaser beams" can also travel faster than light, we aren't breaking the laws of physics any more than the warp drive is.

My point, of course, is that we can't simply accept the hypothetical idea that warp drives make starships go faster than light . . . and then dismiss the idea that the phaser beams somehow do the same thing.

Either we accept all the advanced technology in Star Trek as possible in the future — or we demise the whole franchise as childish bullshit.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[mach7]

Of course you are correct Bud, It's all just a TV series and made up.

[scotpens]

Star Trek's "subspace radio" must somehow travel at hyperlight speeds -- in fact, even faster than a starship at maximum warp -- but it's not instantaneous. In several episodes we're told that a subspace message will take several days or weeks to reach Starfleet Command or the nearest starbase.

If a radio message can travel at FTL speeds, I have no problem accepting a directed-energy weapon that can do the same.

[Maurice]

There's a page of notes in the front of the "Journey to Babel" script, presumably written by Fontana, as it sounds like her. This is what it says: