Quick Summary: There has been a pattern of mass insanity destroying civilizations, it's been following a straight line through the galaxy, and the planet Deneva is next. Complicating matters further, Kirk's brother, sister-in-law, and nephew have already been infected along with the million or so colonists on the planet. We soon discover that these blobby aliens, one of which infects Spock, are the cause of the insanity. Each is actually a giant single-celled organism, and a brain cell at that, collectively forming one enormous hive mind. Kirk realizes that they are sensitive to blinding light, so he rigs a way to blind the blobs all over the planet, and blinds Spock in the process, though only temporarily.
Review: The alien blobs look like cheap plastic vomit you would buy in a novelty store. Cool! This episode is another of the oft-repeated insanity storyline of season one; And it shows the writers are slowly getting better at it.
Who could ever possibly believe that Kirk might actually kill a million colonists to prevent the insanity from spreading further? Thankfully, that would not be the only drama of the episode. Spock going blind is more of a big deal, and when it seems McCoy blinded him unnecessarily, it adds a much needed additional layer to the story.
That Kirk's brother dies is a wasted storyline, as is the hive-mind concept. It's pretty absurd that no one ever thought about exposing the blobs to light as they destroyed entire planets. An overly simple, lazy solution. And for that matter, so was the resolution for Spock's blindness - extra inner eyelids caused by the Vulcan sun. You'd think he might have mentioned that earlier.
These are valid points to nitpit about, but overall we cruised along swell.
Review: 3 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment