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Science Fiction » alt.startrek » TOS Recap: The Corbomite Maneuver, part 4 of 4
TOS Recap: The Corbomite Maneuver, part 4 of 4 [message #217069] Fr, 10 Februar 2006 02:18
Empok Nor  
ACT FOUR

Pilot vessel tows Enterprise. Kirk voiceovers, "Captain's log,
stardate fifteen fourteen point one."

We pan left across the bridge. Environmental Control is now manned by
an extra in a gold tunic. "The Enterprise is in tow. To this point,
no resistance has been offered." McCoy, standing by the extra at the
Engineering station, moves off in the direction of Communications,
where Uhura is showing signs of exhaustion. "My plan: a show of
resignation." We continue to pan left until we come to Kirk, looking
resolute by the Library/Computer station.

Cut to the pilot vessel on the viewscreen. "Balok's tractor beam has
to be a heavy drain of power on a small ship."

Cut back to Resolute Kirk. "Question: will he grow careless?"

Cut to Bailey, who says, "Captain, he's pulling out a little ahead of
us."

Cut back to Resolute Kirk, then pan left to Spock, who says, "He's
sneaked power down a bit." We pan right as Kirk and Spock cross the
bridge, Spock to the Engineering station, Kirk to the Command Module.

Sulu reports, "Our speed is down to point six four of light."

"I'll want a right-angle course," Kirk tells Bailey. "Shear away from
him, no matter which way he turns."

"Yes, sir," says Bailey as he plots the course.

Seating himself in the Big Chair, Kirk orders, "Maximum accelleration
when I give the word."

"Yes, sir," responds Sulu.

Another shot of the pilot vessel on the viewscreen, as the Impending
Danger theme returns. Finally, Kirk orders, "Engage."

A shot of the pilot vessel towing the Enterprise, then Kirk on the
bridge, then the pilot vessel on the main viewscreen.

Cut to a close-up of one of Sulu's readouts: COOLANT TEMP PRIMARY
MANIFOLDS. The temperature readings on the left and right manifolds
are increasing. "It's a strain, Captain," Sulu reports. "Engines are
overloading."

Kirk's only response is, "More power."

"We're superheating," Spock reports as we hear the engines ramping up.
"Intermix temperature seven thousand four hundred degrees. Seven five.
Seven six." He touches a control, perhaps adjusting the scale.
"Eight thousand degrees." Kirk remains unperturbed.

Shot of the Enterprise wiggling back and forth behind the pilot vessel
as the Fesarius theme plays.

Back to the bridge, which is starting to shake. Everyone holds on.

Shot of crewmen being shaken around in a corridor. These are the same
extras we saw in the Kirk-in-transit-from-Sickbay-to-turbolift shot
from Act One; presumably this scene was shot immediately afterwards.

Back to the bridge for reaction shots of shaking principal actors. A
shot of the viewscreen, where the pilot vessel is now much brighter and
blurrier.

People shaking on the bridge. Crewmen being thrown from side to side
in the corridor. People shaking on the bridge. Pilot vessel on the
viewscreen. Uhura and McCoy holding on for dear life. Spock holding
on for dear life. Pilot vessel on the viewscreen. Kirk looking
determined. Pilot vessel on the viewscreen.

Wide shot of the bridge as Kirk orders, "Shear away, Mr. Bailey!"
Bailey presses buttons.

Enterprise wiggles back and forth behind bright, blurry pilot vessel.

Shaking bridge. Pilot vessel on viewscreen. Spock holding on for dear
life as he reports, "Two thousand degrees above maximum. Eight four.
Eight five. Eight six." A beeping sound rising in pitch. "She'll
blow soon."

"Now, Mr. Sulu," Kirk orders. "Impulse power too." A worried-looking
Sulu glances back at Kirk, then brings the impulse engines online.

Crewmen being thrown from side to side in the corridor. Back on the
bridge, the beeping is getting higher and faster. Spock holding on for
dear life. Pilot vessel on the viewscreen. Reaction shots of Kirk and
Sulu. The beeping starts backing down.

"We're breaking free, sir!" says Bailey.

Shot of Enterprise and pilot vessel as the latter flares up and goes
dim, and the former breaks away to port.

Shot of shaking corridor.

Shot of bridge as shaking ends and beeping quickly drops in pitch.
"All engines stop," Kirk orders.

Sulu and Bailey press a lot of buttons very quickly as Sulu reports,
"All engines stopped, sir."

Scott emerges from the turbolift to report, "Engines need work badly,
Captain. Can you hold it here a few hours?"

"That may not be wise," says Spock. "If he got a signal through to the
mother ship . . . "

"Then we're not home yet," Kirk responds as he rises from the Big
Chair.

"A signal, Captain," Uhura reports. "It's very weak. It's Balok.
It's a distress signal to the Fesarius. His engines are out. His
life-sustaining system isn't operating. The message is repeating,
sir."

"Any reply?" Kirk asks.

"Negative. His signal is growing weak. Sir, I doubt if the mother
ship could have heard it."

"Plot a course for it, Mr. Bailey," Kirk orders.

Spock spins in his seat and gives Kirk a puzzled look. "For it,
Captain?"

"Dead ahead," Kirk replies.

Bailey exchanges a look with Sulu. Kirk thumbs a switch on the Big
Chair and addresses the crew. "This is the Captain speaking. First
Federation vessel is in distress. We're preparing to board it. There
are lives at stake. By our standards, alien life, but lives
nevertheless. Captain out." A minor point: in both pilots, it was the
Navigator who switched on the intercom system for the Captain. Here,
there's a control on the Big Chair that lets Kirk switch it on himself.

"Course plotted and laid in, sir," Bailey reports.

"Mr. Scott, ready the transporter room."

"Aye, sir," says Scott, and he moves off.

"Mr. Sulu, bring us to within one hundred meters. Ahead slow."

With a quiet sigh, Sulu responds, "Ahead slow, sir."

McCoy approaches Kirk. "Jim, don't you think --"

"What's the mission of this vessel, Doctor?" Kirk interrupts. "To seek
out and contact alien life. And an opportunity to demonstrate what our
high-sounding words mean. Any questions?" He looks around the bridge.
There are no questions. "I'll take two men with me. Dr. McCoy, to
examine and treat the aliens if necessary, and you, Mr. Bailey."

"Sir?"

"The face of the unknown. I think I owe you a look at it."

"Yes, sir," says Bailey as he rises from his seat.

"Captain," says Spock, "request permission to --"

Kirk is in an interrupting mood. "Denied. If I'm wrong, if it's a
trap, I want you here."

Kirk, McCoy and Bailey enter the turbolift.

#

The transporter room, close-up of the console as Scott and a technician
in a red jumpsuit work it. For the first two pilots, they used the
Command Module from the bridge as a stand-in for the transporter
console. After moving the sets from Culver City to Gower Street, they
built a separate console for the transporter room set, but it still
looks an awful lot like the Command Module.

"Transporter ready?" Kirk asks as he enters with the landing party.

"Well, yes, sir," says Scott, "but it's risky. We're locked in on what
appears to be a main deck."

"Air sample?" Kirk asks as he fastens a belt around his waste. Behind
him, Bailey does the same.

"Breathable." Did Scott actually transport over a sample of the other
ship's atmosphere? That's what it sounds like. "In fact, a slightly
higher oxygen content than our own. Communicator. Phaser weapon,"
Scott adds as he hands them over and Kirk sticks them onto his belt.

"Thank you, Scotty. Ready, Doctor?"

"No, but you won't let that stop you."

As Kirk joins the others on the transporter stage, Scott warns them,
"Bend low, gentlemen. Reads pretty cramped over there." As the three
hunch over, he adds, "Ready to transport."

"Energize," Kirk orders. For the first time ever, we see Scott move
those three levers down, and the landing party dissolves into a shower
of glitter and disappears.

#

Balok's ship is, as Scott noted, cramped. McCoy almost bumps his head
on the ceiling after they finish transporting. The color scheme is
bluish-gray, with ruffled drapes a dominant motif. As Kirk ducks his
head to pass through a doorway, he suddenly draws his phaser.

It's Balok, no longer half-hidden by distortion, dressed in a gray robe
and looking very stiff and motionless. The Fesarius theme plays once
more. As the landing party cautiously approaches him, a puzzled Kirk
observes, "It's a . . . dummy. A puppet of some kind." (The Balok
puppet was created by Wah Chang of Project Unlimited, the prop house
that supplied "The Outer Limits" with its props and creatures.)

"I'm Balok," they hear a voice say, and it's not the stentorian voice
of Ted Cassidy. In fact, it's a pleasant, mellow tenor voice.
According to Memory Alpha, it's the voice of Vic Perrin, the Control
Voice from the original "Outer Limits" series. "Welcome aboard." The
three members of the landing party look around, trying to find out
where the voice is coming from.

As a quiet, airy version of the Fesarius theme plays, we see a figure
reclining on a bed, partly concealed behind a gauzy curtain. The
figure touches a control by its side, and the curtain draws aside,
revealing . . . a childlike alien, bald with bushy eyebrows. The actor
playing him is seven-year-old Clint Howard, younger brother of Ron
"Opie Cunningham" Howard. Much later, he would appear in the DS9
episode "Past Tense" and the Enterprise episode "Acquisition".

Balok is dressed in gray, with a gray circlet on his bald head. His
left hand rests on his control thingie, while his right holds a drink.
The three men from the Enterprise walk over. Kirk is still holding his
phaser, not quite pointing it at Balok. "I'm Captain Kirk," he
introduces himself.

"And McCoy and Bailey," Balok finishes for him. "Sit. Be
comfortable." When the Earthmen hesitate, Balok urges, "Go ahead, be
seated." Kirk finally puts his phaser away and the three of them sit
down on various overstuffed bits of furniture. Balok fingers his
control thingie again, and a little curtain draws aside, revealing a
punch bowl and three glasses holding a pinkish-orange beverage.
Setting down his own drink, Balok says, "We must drink. This is
tranya. I hope you relish it as much as I." He hands glasses of
tranya (actually grapefruit juice) to the three Earthmen.

"Commander Balok --" Kirk begins, but he's got nothing on Balok when it
comes to interruptions.

"I know, I know, a thousand questions," Balok says as he pours himself
another tranya. "But first, the tranya."

The Earthmen are reluctant to drink, and who can blame them after all
the crap Balok has put them through? Balok finally says, "Gentlemen,"
and takes a slug.

Starship Captains are a rare breed who dare boldly go etc., so Kirk is
the first to sample the tranya. He finds it palatable, and the others
reluctantly follow suit. "Commander," Kirk finally says, "that puppet
.. . ."

"My alter ego, so to speak," Balok explains. "In your culture, he
would be Mr. Hyde to my Jekyll," he says with a chuckle. "You must
admit, he's effective. You would never have been frightened by me.
And I thought my distress signal quite clever. It was a pleasure
testing you."

"Testing us?" says Bailey.

"I see," says Kirk.

"I had to discover your real intentions," says Balok.

"But you probed our memory banks," Kirk points out.

"Your records could have been a deception on your part," says Balok.
Pretty elaborate deception. You know, being crazy paranoid isn't much
of an improvement on being an arrogant asshole.

"And your crew?" wonders McCoy.

Balok laughs long and loud. "I have no crew, Doctor. I run
everything, this entire complex, from this small ship." If I were
Kirk, I'd be getting nervous all over again. A guy who operates a
mile-wide starship while laying around getting plastered doesn't sound
like a model of responsible behavior. And bursting into maniacal
laughter at the drop of a hat isn't much of a confidence-builder
either. "But I miss company. Conversation. Even an alien would be
welcome. Perhaps one of your men, for some period of time. An
exchange of information, cultures."

If Kirk has any doubts about the wisdom of the idea, he conceals it.
"Yes, both our cultures would benefit."

Bailey looks like he's ready to speak up. "Do you know where we can
find a volunteer, Mr. Bailey?"

"Me, sir," says Bailey, grinning like an idiot (appropriately enough).
"I'd like to volunteer."

"Ah," Balok exclaims, "you represent Earth's best, then."

"No, sir, I'm not," says Bailey, and you have to admire his honesty.
"I'll make plenty of mistakes."

"But you'd find out more about us that way," Kirk notes. "And I'd get
a better officer in return." Assuming you don't playfully (or
paranoiacally) dump him out of an airlock one drunken night.

Balok gives another one of his crazy laughs. Kirk smiles along, or
seems to. Balok rises from his couch and takes Kirk and McCoy by the
hand, saying, "I see. We think much alike, Captain, you and I. Now,
before I bring back the Fesarius, let me show you my vessel. It is not
often I have this pleasure." He lets go their hands as the three
Earthmen duck under the doorway again. As he leads them into the
bowels of his control ship, Balok continues, "Yes, we're very much
alike, Captain. Both proud of our ships."

Cue closing theme. Cue credits.

DIRECTED BY JOSEPH SARGENT

WRITTEN BY JERRY SOHL

CREATED AND PRODUCED BY GENE RODDENBERRY

#

Closing credits:

The Enterprise caught in the Galactic Barrier.

STAR TREK

ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS
ROBERT H. JUSTMAN
JOHN D.F. BLACK

The Balok dummy.

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
JERRY FINNERMAN

ART DIRECTORS
ROLAND M. BROOKS
AND
WALTER M. JEFFERIES

THEME MUSIC BY
ALEXANDER COURAGE

MUSIC COMPOSED AND DIRECTED BY
FRED STEINER

Balok holding hands with Kirk and McCoy.

CO STARRING
ANTHONY CALL
AS DAVE BAILEY

CLINT HOWARD
AS BALOK

FEATURING
DEFOREST KELLEY
AS DR. MCCOY

GRACE LEE WHITNEY
AS YEOMAN RAND

Crewmen being tossed around a corridor.

GEORGE TAKEI
AS SULU

JAMES DOOHAN
AS SCOTT

NICHELLE NICHOLS
AS UHURA

FILM EDITOR
ROBERT L. SWANSON

ASSISTANT TO THE PRODUCER
EDWARD K. MILKIS

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
GREGG PETERS

SET DECORATOR
CARL F. BIDDISCOMBE

COSTUMES CREATED BY
WILLIAM THEISS

POST PRODUCTION EXECUTIVE
BILL HEATH

MUSIC EDITOR
ROBERT H. RAFF

SOUND EDITOR
JOSEPH G. SOROKIN

SOUND MIXER
JACK F. LILLY

PHOTOGRAPHIC EFFECTS
HOWARD ANDERSON CO.

SCRIPT SUPERVISOR
GEORGE A. RUTTER

Scott in a Jefferies tube.

MUSIC CONSULTANT
WILBUR HATCH

MUSIC COORDINATOR
JULIAN DAVIDSON

SPECIAL EFFECTS
JIM RUGG

PROPERTY MASTER
IRVING A. FEINBERG

GAFFER
GEORGE H. MERHOFF

HEAD GRIP
GEORGE RADER

PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR
BERNARD A. WIDIN

MAKEUP ARTIST
FRED B. PHILLIPS, S.M.A.

HAIR STYLES BY
VIRGINIA DARCY, C.H.S.

WARDROBE MISTRESS
MARGARET MAKAU

CASTING
JOSEPH D'AGOSTA

SOUND
GLEN GLENN SOUND CO.

Glistening Green Vina.

A DESULU PRODUCTION

IN ASSOCIATION WITH
NORWAY CORPORATION

EXECUTIVE IN CHARGE OF PRODUCTION
HERBERT F. SOLOW

#

Filming of "The Corbomite Maneuver" is scheduled to take seven days.
Director Joseph Sargent winds up taking seven and a half, wrapping up
filming on the afternoon of Friday, June 3, 1966. However, the results
are so outstanding that nobody minds, and frankly everyone is slightly
astonished that they managed to film it at all.

It isn't hard to see why the Star Trek production staff chose "The
Corbomite Maneuver" as the first show to film. Most of the action
takes place on the bridge of the Enterprise. There's one scene in
sickbay, one scene in the briefing room, one scene in Kirk's quarters,
one scene in the transporter room, one scene on Balok's ship, and a few
brief shots of crewmen in corridors. A very easy show to shoot. In
addition, since there are a buttload of optical effects, including
shots of the spinning cube, shots of the Fesarius, and shots of the
pilot vessel, it was going to take a good long time to crank them all
out, and shooting the episode first gave GR and company three months to
finish them all.

Some episodes of Star Trek have resonated for the last forty years,
producing echoes throughout the franchise. The first pilot spawned
several novels; the second pilot did the same, and also was the second
episode to be fotonoveled by Mandala Productions in 1977. "Balance of
Terror" bequeathed the Romulans, "Errand of Mercy" the Klingons,
"Mirror, Mirror" was eventually the source of six sequel episodes on
DS9 and a two-part prequel on Enterprise. Even "What Are Little Girls
Made Of?" inspired a novel sequel by Michael Jan Friedman. "The
Corbomite Manuever", on the other hand, has had virtually no impact on
the Star Trek franchise. There was Kirk's re-use of the corbomite
bluff in "The Deadly Years", and Odo/Curzon ordering "two tranyas, very
cold" from Quark in the DS9 episode "Facets", a few offhand references
to the First Federation in some of the novels, and that's basically it.

Which is a shame, because, as Spock notes, it's too bad we don't learn
more about Commander Balok. Here he is, all alone out in the farthest
reaches of First Federation space, just him and this moby spaceship,
the Fesarius. How did he get the post? Does he represent the First
Federation's best, as he assumed Lt. Bailey did? If so, it doesn't
speak well for the First Federation. He seems to spend his time
lounging around in his little control ship, chugging tranyas and
bullying passing spacecraft. Is it First Federation policy to have
their warning buoys attack approaching spacecraft, or did Balok tweak
the programming of the ones under his control? Somehow I get the
feeling it's the latter. Maybe, once upon a time, Balok did indeed
represent the First Federation's best, but years spent all alone on the
edge of known space drove him insane. The Balok we see is the end
result: a lonely, paranoid, sadistic drunk. In all honesty, I don't
like Bailey's chances, all alone with this guy. One day, Balok is
going to get pissy drunk and decide Bailey is a spy that Kirk cleverly
talked him into allowing onto his ship. After that, goodbye Bailey,
unless Bailey manages to get the drop on Balok and kills him first.
Either way, it looks like relations are going to be pretty bumpy
between the two Federations. Which might explain why we never hear
about the First Federation again.

"The Corbomite Manuever" seems to take place about a year after "Where
No Man Has Gone Before". The uniforms are different, Sulu has a new
job, there are several new faces among Kirk's bridge crew, and the
Enterprise has undergone a refit. This is almost the original series
we all know and love, but not quite. McCoy hasn't got his nickname,
Uhura is wearing a gold uniform, and of course there is still no hint
of the United Federation of Planets -- the Enterprise is a United Earth
ship. On the other hand, apart from Nurse Chapel, we get to meet all
of the series regulars and semi-regulars in this episode: Kirk, Spock,
McCoy, Scott, Sulu, Uhura, and Rand.

Next up: "Mudd's Women", the story of an interstellar con man/pimp and
three hot babes who are not what they seem.
Re: TOS Recap: The Corbomite Maneuver, part 4 of 4 [message #217070 ] Fr, 10 Februar 2006 03:46
Notifier Deamon  
Post removed (X-No-Archive: yes)
Re: TOS Recap: The Corbomite Maneuver, part 4 of 4 [message #217074 ] Fr, 10 Februar 2006 17:21
Kweeg  
"Empok Nor" <tkalino [at] localnet.com> wrote in message
news:1139534320.573167.111950 [at] g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> ACT FOUR
>
> Pilot vessel tows Enterprise. Kirk voiceovers, "Captain's log,
> stardate fifteen fourteen point one."

Another great recap, with some good insight, thanks!

--

Qapla'
Kweeg
Ten of Canadian Clubs in the Eeeevil Trek Cabal
http://members.shaw.ca/iksbloodoath
"Half a gallon a'scotch!" Scotty (Spectre of the Gun)
"So say we all!"
Re: TOS Recap: The Corbomite Maneuver, part 4 of 4 [message #217077 ] Fr, 10 Februar 2006 19:57
Wouter Valentijn  
Neon Knight wrote:
> "Empok Nor" <tkalino [at] localnet.com> wrote in
> news:1139534320.573167.111950 [at] g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
>
>> "Me, sir," says Bailey, grinning like an idiot (appropriately
>> enough). "I'd like to volunteer."
>>
>> "Ah," Balok exclaims, "you represent Earth's best, then."
>>
>> "No, sir, I'm not," says Bailey, and you have to admire his honesty.
>> "I'll make plenty of mistakes."
>>
>> "But you'd find out more about us that way," Kirk notes. "And I'd
>> get a better officer in return." Assuming you don't playfully (or
>> paranoiacally) dump him out of an airlock one drunken night.
>
> I think you misunderstood what Kirk meant by his comment (or I did.) I
> always thought that when Kirk said "And I'd get a better officer in
> return" that Kirk was talking about Bailey's replacement. Your comment
> suggests that you interpreted it as Bailey returning to the Enterprise
> as a better officer. I hadn't thought of it in that way, especially
> when Balok does one of his "crazy laughs" right after Kirks'
> comments. It would seem that Balok got Kirk's joke.
>


I also interpreted Kirk's remark about a 'better' officer as Mister Bailey
returning to the Enterprise with more experience. Him improving himself.

> By the way, I enjoy your "Recaps", keep them coming!!!

Indeed!!


--
Wouter Valentijn

www.wouter.cc
www.nksf.nl
www.zeppodunsel.nl
liam=mail

"The world that denies thee, thou inhabit.
The peace that ignores thee, thou corrupt.
Chaos. I remain, as ever, thy faithful, degenerate son."

Ethan Rayne, 'Halloween' (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)
Re: TOS Recap: The Corbomite Maneuver, part 4 of 4 [message #217084 ] Sa, 11 Februar 2006 15:14
Wouter Valentijn  
Empok Nor wrote:
> ACT FOUR

<snip>

> #
>
> The transporter room, close-up of the console as Scott and a
> technician in a red jumpsuit work it. For the first two pilots, they
> used the Command Module from the bridge as a stand-in for the
> transporter console. After moving the sets from Culver City to Gower
> Street, they built a separate console for the transporter room set,
> but it still looks an awful lot like the Command Module.

Standardization.
That's how they also could fit that panel from the Lithium cracking station
into the Enterprise bridge controls in 'Where No Man Has Gone Before'.


<snip>

> As Kirk joins the others on the transporter stage, Scott warns them,
> "Bend low, gentlemen. Reads pretty cramped over there." As the three
> hunch over, he adds, "Ready to transport."
>


*This* is one of my very first memories of Star Trek ever. In the beginning
I thought they would always have to bend over like that to get transported.
;-)
I think this is indeed the first Trek I saw. Somewhere from the middle of
this episode I started watching. It was in a timeslot that used to belong to
'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea'. As a five or six year old kid I was
under the impression that Balok was the captain of the Enterprise. A couple
of episodes later of course I was a lot wiser. Were talking 1971 or 1972.
Something like that.
It probably was a Saturday and we were watching Belgium public television
(in our parts we didn't have commercial television in those days). The day
after we probably saw 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' on a Dutch station. The
exact details are a bit fuzzy.
Weekends were cool. A double dose of Trek!
No wonder I never recovered from it. ;-)


> "Energize," Kirk orders. For the first time ever, we see Scott move
> those three levers down, and the landing party dissolves into a shower
> of glitter and disappears.
>
> #
>
> Balok's ship is, as Scott noted, cramped. McCoy almost bumps his head
> on the ceiling after they finish transporting. The color scheme is
> bluish-gray, with ruffled drapes a dominant motif. As Kirk ducks his
> head to pass through a doorway, he suddenly draws his phaser.
>
> It's Balok, no longer half-hidden by distortion, dressed in a gray
> robe and looking very stiff and motionless. The Fesarius theme plays
> once more. As the landing party cautiously approaches him, a puzzled
> Kirk observes, "It's a . . . dummy. A puppet of some kind." (The
> Balok puppet was created by Wah Chang of Project Unlimited, the prop
> house that supplied "The Outer Limits" with its props and creatures.)
>

The Wizard of Oz. ;)

> "I'm Balok," they hear a voice say, and it's not the stentorian voice
> of Ted Cassidy. In fact, it's a pleasant, mellow tenor voice.
> According to Memory Alpha, it's the voice of Vic Perrin, the Control
> Voice from the original "Outer Limits" series. "Welcome aboard." The
> three members of the landing party look around, trying to find out
> where the voice is coming from.
>
> As a quiet, airy version of the Fesarius theme plays, we see a figure
> reclining on a bed, partly concealed behind a gauzy curtain. The
> figure touches a control by its side, and the curtain draws aside,
> revealing . . . a childlike alien, bald with bushy eyebrows. The
> actor playing him is seven-year-old Clint Howard, younger brother of
> Ron "Opie Cunningham" Howard. Much later, he would appear in the DS9
> episode "Past Tense" and the Enterprise episode "Acquisition".
>

Recently I have been comparing Kirk & Spock with The Fonz & Ritchie
Cunningham. ;-)


<snip>

> "I had to discover your real intentions," says Balok.
>
> "But you probed our memory banks," Kirk points out.
>
> "Your records could have been a deception on your part," says Balok.
> Pretty elaborate deception. You know, being crazy paranoid isn't much
> of an improvement on being an arrogant asshole.
>

If you look at it that way... Yeah.

> "And your crew?" wonders McCoy.
>
> Balok laughs long and loud. "I have no crew, Doctor. I run
> everything, this entire complex, from this small ship." If I were
> Kirk, I'd be getting nervous all over again. A guy who operates a
> mile-wide starship while laying around getting plastered doesn't sound
> like a model of responsible behavior.

LOL
LOL
LOL

> And bursting into maniacal
> laughter at the drop of a hat isn't much of a confidence-builder
> either. "But I miss company. Conversation. Even an alien would be
> welcome. Perhaps one of your men, for some period of time. An
> exchange of information, cultures."
>
> If Kirk has any doubts about the wisdom of the idea, he conceals it.
> "Yes, both our cultures would benefit."
>
> Bailey looks like he's ready to speak up. "Do you know where we can
> find a volunteer, Mr. Bailey?"
>
> "Me, sir," says Bailey, grinning like an idiot (appropriately enough).
> "I'd like to volunteer."
>
> "Ah," Balok exclaims, "you represent Earth's best, then."
>
> "No, sir, I'm not," says Bailey, and you have to admire his honesty.
> "I'll make plenty of mistakes."
>

Yeah, he doesn't fool himself.


> "But you'd find out more about us that way," Kirk notes. "And I'd get
> a better officer in return." Assuming you don't playfully (or
> paranoiacally) dump him out of an airlock one drunken night.
>

Err....
I don't think we ever saw Bailey back again....


<snip>

> Some episodes of Star Trek have resonated for the last forty years,
> producing echoes throughout the franchise. The first pilot spawned
> several novels; the second pilot did the same, and also was the second
> episode to be fotonoveled by Mandala Productions in 1977. "Balance of
> Terror" bequeathed the Romulans, "Errand of Mercy" the Klingons,
> "Mirror, Mirror" was eventually the source of six sequel episodes on
> DS9 and a two-part prequel on Enterprise. Even "What Are Little Girls
> Made Of?" inspired a novel sequel by Michael Jan Friedman. "The
> Corbomite Manuever", on the other hand, has had virtually no impact on
> the Star Trek franchise. There was Kirk's re-use of the corbomite
> bluff in "The Deadly Years", and Odo/Curzon ordering "two tranyas,
> very cold" from Quark in the DS9 episode "Facets", a few offhand
> references to the First Federation in some of the novels, and that's
> basically it.
>

One Voyager novel did something involvng the Fesarius, or what was left of
it,
I think. Can't recall which one though...


> Which is a shame, because, as Spock notes, it's too bad we don't learn
> more about Commander Balok. Here he is, all alone out in the farthest
> reaches of First Federation space, just him and this moby spaceship,
> the Fesarius. How did he get the post? Does he represent the First
> Federation's best, as he assumed Lt. Bailey did? If so, it doesn't
> speak well for the First Federation. He seems to spend his time
> lounging around in his little control ship, chugging tranyas and
> bullying passing spacecraft.

Maybe that's what their culture is about.

> Is it First Federation policy to have
> their warning buoys attack approaching spacecraft, or did Balok tweak
> the programming of the ones under his control? Somehow I get the
> feeling it's the latter. Maybe, once upon a time, Balok did indeed
> represent the First Federation's best, but years spent all alone on
> the edge of known space drove him insane. The Balok we see is the end
> result: a lonely, paranoid, sadistic drunk. In all honesty, I don't
> like Bailey's chances, all alone with this guy. One day, Balok is
> going to get pissy drunk and decide Bailey is a spy that Kirk cleverly
> talked him into allowing onto his ship. After that, goodbye Bailey,
> unless Bailey manages to get the drop on Balok and kills him first.
> Either way, it looks like relations are going to be pretty bumpy
> between the two Federations. Which might explain why we never hear
> about the First Federation again.
>
> "The Corbomite Manuever" seems to take place about a year after "Where
> No Man Has Gone Before". The uniforms are different, Sulu has a new
> job, there are several new faces among Kirk's bridge crew, and the
> Enterprise has undergone a refit. This is almost the original series
> we all know and love, but not quite. McCoy hasn't got his nickname,
> Uhura is wearing a gold uniform, and of course there is still no hint
> of the United Federation of Planets -- the Enterprise is a United
> Earth ship. On the other hand, apart from Nurse Chapel, we get to
> meet all of the series regulars and semi-regulars in this episode:
> Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scott, Sulu, Uhura, and Rand.
>

Err... And Chekov? ;-)
In the night shift probably. :P

> Next up: "Mudd's Women", the story of an interstellar con man/pimp and
> three hot babes who are not what they seem.

Or at least *they* seem to think so....


--
Wouter Valentijn

www.wouter.cc
www.nksf.nl
www.zeppodunsel.nl
liam=mail

"The world that denies thee, thou inhabit.
The peace that ignores thee, thou corrupt.
Chaos. I remain, as ever, thy faithful, degenerate son."

Ethan Rayne, 'Halloween' (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)
Re: TOS Recap: The Corbomite Maneuver, part 4 of 4 [message #217085 ] Sa, 11 Februar 2006 15:36
m5comp  
>>>>> "Wouter" == Wouter Valentijn <liam [at] valentijn.nu> writes:

>> By the way, I enjoy your "Recaps", keep them coming!!!

Wouter> Indeed!!

Yes, please do. I save them to text files and then print them out to
serve as "viewing companions." :-)

JL

--
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