ALL SCI-FI

[Pow]

While watching The Time Tunnel episode "The Alamo", I noticed that the Alamo fort uses the same exterior & interior sets of ST:TOS episode "Errand Of Mercy" that used it as the Organian Village.

It was referred to as the Arabian Village by Desilu Studio where it was a part of their famous 40 Acres Backlot.

[johnnybear]

I'm going to be watching that episode of The Time Tunnel real soon my friend and I'll keep my eye out for that! I have seen the entire series a few times before indeed but I can't say I've ever noticed it before!
JB

[Bogmeister]

____________
___________ Classic Star Trek: Errand of Mercy


__________

___

This was the one — this was where we first met the Klingons. Aggressive, ruthless, sadistic . . . Kirk describes their society as a military dictatorship.

The story has parallels to our history when some portions of Europe, as one example, were occupied by the Germans during WW2. Here, as war escalates between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, Kirk & Spock get stuck in disguise on some backwater planet when an occupying Klingon force arrives.

Thematically it returns us to the folly of war, similar to the previous Balance of Terror, which involved Romulans. The Klingon commander is Kor (John Colicos in a sinister, entertaining performance). He's not a complete barbarian; he only starts to execute populations when affronted somehow (don't smile too much).

__

We're also introduced to the Organians, the local populace which seems to give new meaning to the term 'appeasers' — there are no self-professed leaders among them, but the most prominent is named Ayelborne (John Abbott).

Kirk, becoming quite exasperated in this episode, doesn't understand how anyone would fail to see the difference between his benevolent society and the slave labor worlds dominated by Klingons. He fails to grasp the correct perspective (until the ending). If he looked down and observed two armies of ants waging their insect war, would he really pick a side?

To him, ants are ants; why pick one side over the other?

Now, he probably wouldn't bother to stop the ants from fighting and that's a puzzling facet of the actions of some higher powers in this episode. We can only guess as to their reasoning. Perhaps we need to evolve more to understand. A lot more.

__

What's a bit amazing about this episode now is its function as prophecy.

Though it seemed unlikely during TOS, as the Klingons returned in several more episodes to bedevil Kirk, the predictions made here — that Earthmen & Klingons would be allies in some future — turn out to be correct!

And there's plenty of foreshadowing. Kirk and Kor agree too well on their contemptuous regard of the Organians. Even Kor himself, despite his amusing protests towards the end concerning such an impossible future alliance, states at one point that there is indeed very little difference between Klingons & Earthlings, besides minor "ideological" ones.

The deus ex machina ending weakens this one a bit (Arena had similar highly-evolved interference), but it's still great, high concept science fiction.

__

Speaking of the ending however, I also admire the style here (as in many TOS episodes) of introducing us to the true nature of some aliens. It's very melodramatic, with the score causing the hairs on the back of our necks to stand up a bit.

__
__

Extra Trek Trivia: like Kang and Koloth, Kor was another Klingon who returned in later Trek series, in Deep Space Nine. Colicos would reprise the role. There is a famous, well written short story by a fan (published in a collection, The New Voyages, in the late seventies) which functioned as a sequel to this.

In it, Kor, seeking The Guardian of Forever portal, had captured Kirk and finally used the 'mind ripper' device mentioned in this episode. Kirk ended up trapped in a past era with his mind damaged (making the story also a sequel to The City on the Edge of Forever).

BoG's Score: 8 out of 10

________________ Errand Of Mercy - Enhanced


__________


BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Bud Brewster]

[Pow]

EOM was directed by John Newland. John was the host and sometimes director for the eerie TV series anthology "One Step Beyond.''

The title for this episode comes from author Charles Dickens.

There is a line in his The Life and Time of Nicholas Nickleby that goes I
"It is an errand of mercy that brings me here. Pray, let me discharge it.''

Dr.McCoy does not appear in this episode at all. It would be one of 3 episodes that Bones is not in.

Make-up artist Fred Phillips had the challenge of creating what the first Klingons would look like in their ST:TOS debut.
Phillips recounted that ''nothing in the script indicated what the alien Klingons should look like.''

Actor John Colicos (Kor) suggested to Fred that they should go back in history and think of Genghis Khan.

Victor Lundin who played a Klingon Lieutenant played Friday in the 1964 film Robinson Crusoe on Mars.

At one point Lundin was up for the role of Mr.Spock.

The Organian village was originally built for the 1927 epic silent film "King of Kings"which was directed by the legendary Cecil B.DeMille.

[Bud Brewster]

[trekriffic]

I enjoyed "Robinson Crusoe on Mars" too, Bud. Not sure I liked it enough to show it to my classroom every year, but sounds like your students enjoyed it, and you certainly went all out with your presentation of it so cudos to you.

The thought occurred to me it would have been neat to have shown a double feature with 1953's "War of the Worlds" starring Gene Barry. Some of the sound effects were the same and they used the same alien spaceships, only in RCOM they didn't have the long neck blaster thing.

[Bud Brewster]

________________________________

Oh boy, I would have LOVED to do that!

Unfortunately, every time I showed this movie I had to fill out official county paperwork which convinced my principal that showing it was supported by the state authorized curriculum!

One way I convinced the principal to let show it was to break the movie into 25-minute segments each day for four days in a row. I had to present the segments of the film during the official "writing block" each day, and then require the students to write about the movie in their journals for the rest of the 60-minute writing block.

Ah, but the clever Mr. Cook knew just when to stop the movie so that I drove the kids crazy by halting it at an exciting moment!

So, when the kids whipped out their journals and started frantically scribbling their thoughts about the movie, they were all eager to express their ideas about what they had just seen, along with what they thought would happen tomorrow in the next "chapter"!

Bear in mind that I jumped through the Clayton County Board of Education's bureaucratic hoops in Georgia every year for ten year . . . and yet I repeatedly managed to talk my principals into authorizing me to show this movie to my 4th and 5th grade classes.

Sadly, I never managed to get permission to show the movie here in North Carolina after moving here in 2007. I taught 2nd graders, and they were deemed too young to understand the movie.

What a pity . . .

And yet, those little 2nd grade kids loved the rock song by Johnny Cymbal which was release at the time the movie came out! I played it (and other oldies hits) for them in my classroom frequently.

Listen to the lyrics of this wonderful song and you'll see why they (and I) love it so much. It relates the story of two brothers who tell their father about their dreams of becoming astronauts.

I get chills every time I hear it!

] ________________ Robinson Crusoe On Mars


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