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The reigning champion of hilariously bad TOS episodes in my less than humble opinion (YMMV).

For me, the most glaring flaw in this episode (and indeed, it had no shortage of those) was Kirk's approach to the secret underground compound. Were I in charge instead of him, I would've beamed down with as large an assault team as I could possibly muster, all in body armor and armed with phaser rifles (set to heavy stun); and no stopping to revive and question anyone until after everyone in that compound was knocked out cold and all those little wristband gadgets had been confiscated. Then again, if I were in the Trek universe, I'd probably be more at home captaining a ship of space pirates rather than a Starfleet vessel...

TerranceMonster wrote:The reigning champion of hilariously bad TOS episodes in my less than humble opinion (YMMV).

For me, the most glaring flaw in this episode (and indeed, it had no shortage of those) was Kirk's approach to the secret underground compound. Were I in charge instead of him, I would've beamed down with as large an assault team as I could possibly muster, all in body armor and armed with phaser rifles (set to heavy stun); and no stopping to revive and question anyone until after everyone in that compound was knocked out cold and all those little wristband gadgets had been confiscated. Then again, if I were in the Trek universe, I'd probably be more at home captaining a ship of space pirates rather than a Starfleet vessel...

It's something of a running gag in most Star Trek series that away teams are woefully under prepared for what they might encounter. No ground vehicles (not counting that horrible Nemesis), no heavy weapons, no armor or personal shields. Star Trek: Online tries to rectify that situation, but you're still walking around everywhere. At least Star Wars: The Old Republic (and most other MMOs) give you a speeder or mount of some kind.

Archanubis wrote:

TerranceMonster wrote:The reigning champion of hilariously bad TOS episodes in my less than humble opinion (YMMV).

For me, the most glaring flaw in this episode (and indeed, it had no shortage of those) was Kirk's approach to the secret underground compound. Were I in charge instead of him, I would've beamed down with as large an assault team as I could possibly muster, all in body armor and armed with phaser rifles (set to heavy stun); and no stopping to revive and question anyone until after everyone in that compound was knocked out cold and all those little wristband gadgets had been confiscated. Then again, if I were in the Trek universe, I'd probably be more at home captaining a ship of space pirates rather than a Starfleet vessel...

It's something of a running gag in most Star Trek series that away teams are woefully under prepared for what they might encounter. No ground vehicles (not counting that horrible Nemesis), no heavy weapons, no armor or personal shields. Star Trek: Online tries to rectify that situation, but you're still walking around everywhere. At least Star Wars: The Old Republic (and most other MMOs) give you a speeder or mount of some kind.

All very true, though in this particular episode it's even more of a headscratcher than usual. Because they've already received a taste of what the antagonists can do with their bracelet gadgets, not only should they have been expecting trouble, but prepared for it as best as they possibly could.

And they should've put them all in handcuffs, I forgot to mention the handcuffs in my previous post.

Let's be real, any real world military could take over most sci-fi and fantasy worlds inside a week. Even if on paper the other guys are stronger they always have shitty tactics and lack some of the most basic equipment around. I'm kind of sick of watching wars fought where no one understand the concept of combined arms. Tanks, air support, and heavy weapons are all foreign concepts to a lot of people.

TrueMetis wrote:Let's be real, any real world military could take over most sci-fi and fantasy worlds inside a week. Even if on paper the other guys are stronger they always have shitty tactics and lack some of the most basic equipment around. I'm kind of sick of watching wars fought where no one understand the concept of combined arms. Tanks, air support, and heavy weapons are all foreign concepts to a lot of people.

The lack of heavy weapons & air support is an acceptable break from reality for the average TV show with a budget stretched to the limit for what effects we do have. Silly tactics for the sake of plot is something else entirely - for me, the worst example was that Enterprise episode where they trained a bunch of peasants to defeat Klingons in something like a week.

I'd probably agree that this is the champion of the hilariously bad TOS episodes, but I don't think its the worst of the series. Heck, when you get down to it, its almost certainly wouldn't be in my bottom ten to twenty episodes of the franchise. Maybe it would be somewhere in the bottom 10-20%.

The reason it wouldn't rank near the bottom for me is that it actually is entertaining in a MST3K sort of way. Threshold, Shades of Grey, Let He Who Is Without Sin..., The Alternative Factor, A Night in Sickbay- those are all episodes that are in the same ballpark in terms of quality storytelling, but each of those episodes are either actively grating or just plain dull. Spock's Brain is fun. It certainly isn't good, but I'll take fun.

There are a few parts (not many, but a few) that are actually pretty high quality. The group discussion on the bridge, with Sulu, Chekov, and Uhura all making contributions, that's the sort of thing that didn't happen often enough on TOS. The music, the Spock-McCoy banter, the camera work- those elements are all still working.