ALL SCI-FI

[scotpens]

[Pow]

Right on both counts scotpens.

I forgot about "Bread and Circuses", and that does follow the theme closely to the purposed "Camelot Revisited" script suggestion. B&C was never a favorite of mine and lands in my just okay rating for a ST:TOS episode.

I did appreciate that they did some outdoors location shooting for this episode at the famed Bronson Canyon.

Years ago, I saw outtake footage from this episode that had the towering Ted Cassidy, dressed as an Indian, surprising everyone when when ran onto the jail cell set scene for B&C.

He then lifted up William Shatner and ran of. Everyone cracking up of course.

I believe Ted was filming the western movie "MacKenna's Gold" (1969) starring Gregory Peck on a nearby sound stage.

In that movie, Ted played an Indian, as did Julie Newmar ("Friday's Child").

They just seemed to swap out King Arthur's Court era for ancient Rome instead.

But I still think that "The Squire of Gothos" does have a hand in CR due to its castle setting and Kirk having to fight without a phaser.

Thanks, it was indeed "The Most Dangerous Game" that I was referring to and not "Deadly Game."

I don't know why I messed that one up. I just watched TMDG a few weeks ago on Youtube, so it should have remained fresh in my memory.

I enjoyed TMDG, and I had not seen it before.

The actor playing the villain-hunter of the film was terrific!

[johnnybear]

He might have been, but I remember Ted playing Indian Joe, the bad guy in the animated Huckleberry Finn/Tom Sawyer show as a kid. Sometimes the characters were real life and others cartoon! I think Ted was chasing them every week in the tunnels and caves where they both had fantastic adventures!
JB

[Pow]

"The Trader"

Satunni, a planet of incredible oriental splendor is mercilessly ruled by a space trader turned emperor. It is like a visit to the court of Gengis Khan.

I suppose the closest this concept was to an episode of ST:TOS would be "The Omega Glory."

TOG had a Federation star ship captain going bad and ruling over an Asian population.

"A Question of Cannibalism"

Visiting the earth colony on Regulus, Captain April's sortie party becomes aware of the cow-like creatures raised on the ranches there are actually intelligent beings.

But the colonists, who have built their empire largely on the supply and sale of this meat, rebel at the attempt to free their "cattle."

"The Devil in the Dark" has a similar theme in that a planet that makes its living at mining is having their operations interfered with by a creature they do not ascribe as having elevated intellect.

"The Mirror"

The star ship Yorktown has a near collision with another Yorktown on an exact opposite course. Not only is it the same cruiser, it is manned by exactly the same crew. Could you face yourself after discovering your survival depends upon killing yourself?

Star Trek: Voyager once did a story about an exact duplicate of Voyager and its crew.

"Torx"

The first major menace to Earth. An alien intelligence, claiming to be pure thought and no body, which "devours" intelligence,
leaving behind a helpless idiot. Near starvation for eons, it has been frantically seeking precisely the type of "food" the Earth could supply in quantity.

"Spock's Brain" had a plot where Mr. Spock's entire brain was removed in order to transplant it into a highly advanced and sophisticated machine that was able to provide life support for a planet.
Naturally, the surgical procedure left the brilliant Vulcan as a mindless shell of his former self.

And the concept of an alien intelligence being incorporeal was done in "The Squire of Gothos," "Errand of Mercy," "Return to Tomorrow,"Metamorphosis,"Obsession," "The Day of the Dove," "The Lights of Zetar," and "Charlie X."

It remains a popular SF trope and is often utilized in feature films and on television shows.

[Pow]

"The Pet Shop"

Exactly duplicating St. Louis, 1910; the city is ruled by woman and men have the status of pets.
Intended as something of a satire on "people and dogs."

This woman in charge over men seems to be a trope that Gene liked. It would be used on his sci-fi TV-movie/pilot "Planet Earth." Unfortunately.

Kongo"

It is the "Ole Plantation Days" of the South. Here it is "white savages" who are shipped in ad auctioned on the slave mart. Intriguing concept.

The synopsis doesn't specify if this meant that African-Americans were to be the masters. I assume that is what the intent would have been by the producers.

If so, good luck selling that episode concept to NBC in the 1960s. They would have regarded it as too much a controversial issue to air back then.

Perhaps the white savages were going to be owned by some kind of alien race?

"The Venus Planet"

The social evolution on this planet centers on love. The male crew members find this to be the ultimate in amorous wish-fulfillment in this place of beautiful women. Roddenberry's fantasies at work again.

Until they begin to wonder what happened to all the men?

This plot is similar to the episode "The Loreli Signal" from Star Trek: The Animated TV show. Not one of their better efforts.

"Infection"

A female crew member discovered to be pregnant, it is the larvae of an alien, using her body like some insects plant their eggs in other living insects.

This plot was resurrected for the opening episode of the second season in 1988 of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

An unknown alien energy impregnates Troi.

Interesting idea but it wasn't executed particularly well on the series.