In which a TV show which has no sets does a bottle episode.
 |
| A visual representation of Shatner's contract. |
The Enterprise is tooling around space, checking out a big ol' space cloud. This space cloud likes to eat planets. So really, the planet isn't missing at all is it? Anyways, it's been eating uninhabited planets, so it's not that big a deal. But it has been getting closer to the planet Mantillies, which has a Federation colony on it, so Starfleet is getting nervous. And with good reason! The cloud starts heading for the planet and naturally Kirk tries to stop it. His ship gets eaten.
The space fight with the cloud isn't great, but I do give them points for trying. It's the most ambitious animation sequence they've done, at any rate. Phasers are fired, anti-matter bombs are set off, the whole deal. But it's no use. The Enterprise is being bombarded with these barnacle looking things that are draining the ship's shields. Scotty estimates they've got about an hour before the ship loses power. Meanwhile, Bones thinks they're inside some sort of life form. The barnacles are teeth, trying to break down the ship, and they're passing through an intestine. There are these big antimatter things coming off of the walls that are most likely villi, and if the ship touches them, it will explode (thus giving the space cloud energy) Kirk, realizing they are in an intestine understands that there is only one way out, and it ain't gonna be pretty. Mr. Sulu, set a course for the butt. Maximum warp! But they can't touch the hurty tendrils on the walls, so it's basically a really gross version of the river level of the NES Ninja Turtles game.
Luckily for everyone, Scotty has figured out a way to keep the ship alive. If the villi are made of antimatter, they should just cut one of them off and throw it in the furnace. Then there's a great sequence of Kirk and Scotty running around the ship's warp nacelles getting the power back on. There's more technobabble in this episode than in a typical TNG. I am not complaining. Now that the power situation is taken care of, Kirk sets a course for the creature's brain, so he can just blow the fucker up and head home.
Spock and Bones are.... not on board. But Kirk has a responsibility to save the lives of the people on the Mantillies colony. It's a bit of a sticky wicket, and heady stuff for a Saturday morning cartoon. So, Spock comes up with a stupid idea. He's going to mind meld with the cloud and talk it into leaving. Here, Filmation's slow pacing make the scene more tedious instead of tense. And Spock looks pretty silly doing a mind meld with his hands outstretched like a wizard. But it works and the space cloud heads...home? And poops out the Enterprise
 |
| More weird aliens, please. |
- I continue to be surprised by how much I'm enjoying this show.
- This was great. There's a crazy space alien, Scotty jury-rigging together an engine. It's everything I want from Star Trek.
- Also, Arex gets some speaking lines! #teamarex
 |
| One of these days, Spock! Bang! Zoom! |
No comments:
Post a Comment