Tag Archive for Spock

Episode 26: Errand of Mercy

Errand of Mercy

The Klingons are back – and this time it’s going to be all-out war! At least, until a glowing space angel shows up and spoils all the fun.

This episode shows Kirk at his most aggressive. He just can’t handle the idea of a pacifist society. He’d rather get the whole planet blown up than bow down to anyone, especially a dude in a shiny shirt.

Why do Klingons have such cool facial hair? Why are the goats green? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or send us an email at StarTrekQuest@gmail.com.

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Errand of Mercy Review

Episode 25: Devil in the Dark

Devil in the Dark

So it starts with an amorphous pizza-shaped blob. That can burrow through rock. And spit acid.

Actually, that’s what the whole plot of this show is about. Slowly learning that the pizza thing may be more human than the humans.

If you were to make an alien costume, what would it look like? Would it be as weird as this thing? Would Spock grok it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or send us an email at StarTrekQuest@gmail.com.

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A Taste of Armageddon Review

Episode 24: This Side of Paradise

This Side of Paradise

Peace, love and happiness flow through Spock’s green veins after being assaulted by a molesting spore plant. He smiles, hangs from a tree like a monkey, and gets to make out with a hot blonde. You go, Spock!

Of course, party-pooper Kirk can’t let anyone have any fun, so he throws a fit and calls Spock a dog-faced boy. How rude!

In one of our shortest podcasts to date, we burned through the plot and spent more time talking about the incredible capabilities of the spore plants. Logic score be damned.

Have you ever been spored? How could a plant fly through space? Why does Spock get so much love from the ladies? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or send us an email at StarTrekQuest@gmail.com.

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A Taste of Armageddon Review

Episode 23: Space Seed

Space Seed

KHAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A super-being from an alternate past sleeps his way into Kirk’s universe, seduces his historian, and decompresses him into a near-vacuum.

The TrekQuesters had a fun time discussing Bones’ insane courage in the face of having his arteries sliced open, super women performing yoga, and that weird plastic thing that Kirk beats Khan with at the episode’s end.

Did we all miss a huge war in the ’90s? Are all historians potential traitors? Is Khan stronger than Spock? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or send us an email at StarTrekQuest@gmail.com.

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A Taste of Armageddon Review

Episode 22: A Taste of Armageddon

A Taste of Armageddon

Wars being fought by computer really sounded like a great idea until this episode came along and ruined it. Instead of being shot or gassed or nuked, just walk into a spinning closet and you’re painlessly disintegrated! Such a civilized concept could have lasted forever if Kirk hadn’t shown up and started blasting everything is sight.

This episode is actually a pretty smart sci-fi concept, exploring the idea of warfare and its related deaths becoming so technical they become a mundane part of everyday life, neither feared nor avoided. The show also has one of the coolest classic Trek sets, with a computerized scanning station complete with spinning radar viewer. Not too shabby considering the less-than-stellar budgets of the ’60s.

Are you a casualty statistic? Are diplomats completely useless? Have you heard Spock tell Uhura to sit on a scantily-clad alien? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or send us an email at StarTrekQuest@gmail.com.

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A Taste of Armageddon Review

Episode 21: Return of the Archons

Return of the Archons

So, you’re standing on a street corner with a friend, minding your own business, when suddenly three dudes in cloaks carrying long, hollow tubes approach you from multiple directions. Do you call for help? Run away? Convert to a new religion? The Star Trek answer: all of the above!

LANDRU!!! Part Kramer-haired holographic cult leader, part schizophrenic computer! Join the body! Become filled with peace, and joy, and experience glorious pre-planned acts of violence! What a lovely planet we have to visit this week.

Unfortunately, our own L-Andrew wasn’t able to make this, but we had plenty of fun both at his expense and in his absence.

Can you destroy a computer — with a logical loop? Can a sparkler shoot from a hollow tube? Was George Takei completely high for this show? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or send us an email at StarTrekQuest@gmail.com.

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Return of the Archons Review

Episode 20: Tomorrow is Yesterday

Tomorrow is Yesterday

A Viet Nam era jet is scrambled over U.S. airspace to check out a time-travelling UFO, leading to the TrekQuesters’ highest rated episode to date.

Combining one of the best Kirk fights ever with a big dose of geeky Trek humor, Tomorrow is Yesterday is a great example of the things we love most about ST:TOS (with the notable exception of attractive female yeomen and/or aliens).

With this first plot focused on time travel, Star Trek makes a big leap into one of science fiction’s great “final frontiers.” Is time travel actually possible? We’ll leave that to future physicists to figure out. But is a time-travelling Kirk neck-flipping a 1960s security guard hilarious? Yes, yes it is.

Will you be part of the first Saturn mission? Is Spock capable of making a mistake? Do you believe in little green men? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or send us an email at StarTrekQuest@gmail.com.

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Tomorrow is Yesterday Review

Episode 18: Arena

Star Trek Arena

What is the most famous alien race from the original Star Trek series? Well, it’s probably the Klingons. However, considering we only see one example of a Gorn in this single episode, I give the big green guy a close second and true over achiever status. The Gorn is so famous, in fact, that he has made guest appearances on Big Bang Theory and Myth Busters, and Bill Shatner has been recently spotted playing video games with him. So take that, Andorians, Telosians, and Phasians.

Despite the Gorn’s fame, The TrekQuesters gave this episode pretty weak reviews. Yes, the big lizard costume was actually pretty cool, but anyone who has seen a lizard move knows they’re quite a bit faster than the Gorn’s super slo-mo. And as Myth Busters soundly proved, Kirk was much more likely to blow himself to kingdom come (assuming he could ever actually light his bamboo/diamonds/gunpowder contraption) than to do the slightest damage to that snarling dino-man.

The best part of this podcast? Brian’s horrible reception from his Texas hotel room created a truly strange echoing robotic sound effect. And by strange, I mean funny. And what made it even funnier? Andy was still recovering from pneumonia at the time, so he spent the entire hour stifling a hideously painful coughing fit. Hilarious!

Do you like lizard men with huge biceps and a lisp? Have you ever sparkled? Could you build a weapon from a broken piece of bamboo? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or send us an email at StarTrekQuest@gmail.com.

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Arena Review

Episode 17: The Squire of Gothos

Star Trek The Squire of Gothos

On this show, we meet one of the classic characters from the Star Trek universe: General Trelane, AKA The Squire of Gothos, AKA an all-powerful adolescent alien space blob. When the Enterprise crew finds an unknown planet in the middle of the star desert, “Greetings and Felicitations” soon go sour as Trelane gets in touch with his human (i.e. violently irrational) side. Castles, candelabra, harpsichords and swords provide an anachronistic backdrop for a battle of wits between Kirk and and the impish Trelane.

Are you a naughty little boy? Do you wear lime green pants? Would you phaser the last salt vampire remaining in the universe? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or send us an email at StarTrekQuest@gmail.com.

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Shore Leave Review

Episode 16: Shore Leave

Star Trek Shore Leave

If you could visit a planet where all of your most intimate thoughts would be immediately made real, would that be a good thing?

In what is currently (and perhaps shockingly) our highest rated episode to date, the Enterprise crew experiences just such a place, for better or worse. Kirk struggles with a literal inner demon from his past, while Bones chases a white rabbit and Sulu fights a samurai. Zeroes and flocks of seagulls fly above, and a chained tiger wonders why his once glorious run at Ringling Brothers has taken such a s dramatic turn for the worse.

Is this the single best episode of the Original Series? Probably not. But after two shows discussing futuristic courtroom dramas, it was great to see the lighter side of Trek so beautifully and blatantly on display.

Do doctors ever peak? Do Vulcans have any imaginations at all? Could you defeat a mounted wax knight? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or send us an email at StarTrekQuest@gmail.com.

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Shore Leave Review