This Side of Paradise (Star Trek TOS - S1E25)

[Hailing Frequencies Open]
And we got really hot,
when we saw Mr. Spock,
fight a triffid that spits poison and thrills.

This week on Treks and Tangents we cover This Side of Paradise: when the Enterprise crew beams down to a planet where stress, rules, and Starfleet discipline mysteriously disappear, things get very un-Starfleet very fast. Smiles all around, productivity at zero, and Spock?? Laughing?!

Is this paradise… or the galaxy’s most suspicious group vacation?

Kirk’s got one job: ruin everyone’s good mood.
[End Transmission]

Transcript

Intro/Turbolift Tease Recap

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Hailing Frequencies Open and welcome aboard Treks and Tangents. I'm your co-host Brian.

SPEAKER_03 0:16

And I'm your co-host Jackie. I'm the Star Trek movie who treks off on tangents.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

And I'm your Star Trek expert who is here to get the tangents back on track. Each episode we watch and talk about a different Star Trek episode.

SPEAKER_03 0:28

And this week we watched Star Trek, the original series, season one, episode 24, This Side of Paradise.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Welcome back, everyone. Welcome back to another episode. Episode 24 for episodes that have aired, but episode 25 for our podcast.

SPEAKER_03 0:50

That's a lot of Star Trek.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

It is a lot of Star Trek. It's a lot of it's a lot of podcast episodes. It's episode 25 for us because while this is the 24th episode that aired on television, you have to count The Cage as an episode. That was the first episode of our podcast. Eventually we will hit season two and the numbering system will go back to normal. I can't wait for that. Yes, you've been Jones in for it. Jones and for it indeed. But thank you regardless to all of you for continuing to listen, to like, subscribe, sharing the podcast with friends, commenting on the episodes. We really appreciate it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:30

It definitely helps if you chat and talk on the post because that helps build engagement, even though we do love your private messages too.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Yes, absolutely. So with all that being said, let's just jump into this week's episode by revisiting our turbolift tease from last week. That's where we gave Jackie the title of this week's episode. And Jackie, without any other information, tried to guess this week's plot. So, computer. What was Jackie's guess last week?

SPEAKER_00 2:06

Jackie's TurboLift teas last week was the Enterprise has been out in space fighting, collecting samples, and doing everything, but they are obviously going to need a vacation one of these days, so perhaps they are on their way to a nice little oasis or a Hawaiian paradise in order to relax. But then something pops up and surprises them.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

So, Jackie, how accurate do you think your prediction was for this week's episode?

SPEAKER_03 2:35

I mean, I kind of vaguely hit on the head. We have a nice vacation on like a tropical area with the beautiful flower. No, I'm kidding, I failed. I was gonna say.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

I'm looking forward to you explaining how the set, which is basically just the central California, southern portion of the valley.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

They threw in a pink hibiscus.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

They threw in a pink hibiscus, an orchid, a triffid. I'm gonna refer to it as a triffid the entire time. Gertrude's friend. Gertrude's friend. I guess by definition, Gertrude would be a triffid.

SPEAKER_03 3:14

Yeah.

Initial Impressions

SPEAKER_01 3:15

I've always I've always pictured triffids to be to lean into the description of dangerous, scary, but I guess you could just define triffid as any kind of unknown plant of an unknown origin. So yes, Gertrude would be a triffid. So um these are her feral cousins. Her feral cousins. Well, what did you what did you think about I I I agree with you. I think you you you kind of missed it. So they're not on they're not on a vacation, they're not going to resupply well, Spock was definitely on vacation. Spock was definitely eventually on bake vacation. So why don't what is your what what did you think about the episode? What are your initial thoughts?

SPEAKER_03 4:01

I think it was fun. And by going all throughout the Star Trek universe, the I'm sorry, the all these episodes have been kind of intense and weird for me because I have no idea what I'm watching, but I thought this one was fun because they got to play around and Sulu was back, but they didn't tell me where he was, so I'm upset about that.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

It's not really a Star Trek episode with an away mission down to a quote unquote paradise setting without Sulu. So definitely feels very much like the episode Shore Leave. Yes. Did you notice that a lot of the soundtrack from this episode was also the soundtrack of Shore Leave?

SPEAKER_03 4:48

Well, I didn't think of it that far, but I knew it was very whimsical, so I could see that.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Yeah, I think that's part of how the two episodes tie together is the soundtrack for sure.

SPEAKER_03 4:58

Well, and also there was definite soundtrack for Layla. You knew she was in the scene because her soundtrack all by itself was very whimsical, like willowy and haw.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Right. The soundtrack for that is Ruth's theme. And it is the same soundtrack all the way back to Shorleave with the blonde romantic interest of Kirk from that episode, Ruth. Oh, the child? No, that's Miri. Oh. Sure Leave the blonde woman.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

Oh, oh, yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

The woman that you were basically like, This is such a shallow character. Yes. Or maybe I'm projecting because I thought she was a shallow character. Where we just kind of sat there and said, Who is this?

SPEAKER_03 5:44

But no, it was yeah. They they definitely utilized music to create an inner feeling of emotion for the viewer. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

Did you like the episode? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Not one of my favorite episodes, and which surprises me. I think I gave Sure Leave a lot of leeway for what it was. We're just gonna continue to draw the parallel between the two episodes, I think. I really enjoyed Shore Leave. I didn't so much enjoy this.

SPEAKER_03 6:20

Well, I did see why, because Shore Leave had multiple different scenarios in one episode, and this one is one umbrella that's that has multiple dancing characters underneath it, like a carousel.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Yes. I also think that the two episodes try to have their own whimsical slapstick moments, and I think in Shorelave, those moments hit pretty good peaks. We have Sulu shooting the gun, again going back to Shorelave. That's funny. We have the yeoman finding the princess outfit and changing into the princess outfit and McCoy being infatuated with her. Those moments are funny. The tiger appearing out of nowhere. Very I would call them high-level slapstick moments that really made the episode. In this episode, this side of paradise, we have I think moments that tried to be like that but fell flat. McCoy's over-the-top accent.

SPEAKER_03 7:26

I don't understand how that happened. Uh is he from Georgia or a southern state? Because he was all about that mint and julep.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

According to Memory Alpha, Dr. Leonard McCoy was born in Georgia in 2227. But I don't think his accent does anything. I think it's just it it's awkward. Which leads to other awkward moments in the episode, all of them to getting into fights and rolling on the ground and fighting with each other. Is it supposed to be serious? Is it supposed to be dramatic? Is it supposed to be funny and over the top? I don't really know.

SPEAKER_03 8:04

The fights were also after we learned that they had to evoke an emotion, but how do they magically learn about that when Kirk wasn't there yet? And then they have a fight, and oh, we're cured when the settlers were already there and they could have had some kind of emotion and could have cured themselves, but then died.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

I guess that's another good that is a good question. So to draw the parallel to answer your first question, how does that all get discovered? Kirk is able to overcome his possession of the spores by triggering anger within himself, which shows that it can be done. So any of the colonists at any time could have snapped themselves out of it. Point number one. So he understands that. He then lures Spock back up to the ship and forces the emotional reaction from Spock, thereby proving one, the hypothesis that anger can neutralize the spores, but B, that someone else down on the colony at any time could have worked to free them. Kind of confusing and muddled. And what was your other question that we went off tangent on?

SPEAKER_03 9:12

How do they know when to fight when Kirk wasn't there provoking them?

SPEAKER_01 9:16

So that was because they rigged up some kind of signal to come from the Enterprise to go down through, I'm assuming the communicators, and they communicated this high-pitched, ultrasonic sound that got on everyone's nerves that got them on edge so that they would Oh, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_03 9:39

So, like instead of uh in the garden, instead of Sulu accidentally, you know, hitting that dude with his shovel, oh I'm so sorry, friend. Instead he went, F you, the fight out.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Right. So they Spock and Kirk from the Enterprise created that situation. But that's right, faulty logic. Is that gonna cause everyone to become angry? Because that's what that was their that was their plan was everyone within a short time period would be triggered by this unknown sound. We also put on one more put one more hat on a hat for the initial impressions.

SPEAKER_03 10:16

It's very tall.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Just a just a small tangent. Kirk's the only one left on the ship at a certain point. Everyone else is beamed down.

SPEAKER_03 10:24

He's a sad boy.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

We're supposed to come to the conclusion that Kirk is able to control the ship and keep the ship running by himself. We've seen so many previous episodes that would imply that is not the case. We have to have a skeleton crew on board.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

No, he says that in his supplemental log that even an auto uh run, he can keep it going, but only for a few months. He needs to have a crew after that.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Right. Which, but again, my point is in the previous episodes where this has been a problem where they've needed other people on the ship, they didn't have a window of months, they had a window of hours.

SPEAKER_03 11:08

Well, Scotty's been working on this on the intelligence and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Of the ship?

SPEAKER_03 11:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

I guess.

SPEAKER_03 11:15

He's been creating things.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Yeah. So ultimately, my initial impressions, now that we've gone off on fifty tangents and lived up to the name of our podcast here in our 25th episode, not the best episode for me overall, but you mean you didn't like the felt roots of the plant? No, not so much. Not so much. The the roots where they just seem to tie it all together and wrap it in saran wrap at the bottom. Anyway.

SPEAKER_03 11:42

Pool noodles.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

We're not gonna harsh too much on the props department in this one.

SPEAKER_03 11:46

Let's just No, they they did a good job.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Let's just jump into the episode. Jackie, why don't you walk us through the episode?

SPEAKER_03 11:53

So we open up on the bridge and ring that bell. Sulu is back. We never know why he's back. Where did he go? Was he on a date? Was he sick? Was he visiting his grandma? What's wrong? But welcome back.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Was he in contract negotiations? Oh.

SPEAKER_03 12:10

And then we have Mr. Painter as a navigator. And it took again all the way to like the end for me to figure out who that was. Right. So we are approaching Omicron Cent3.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Yes. And we're going to the planet because the colony that was established there or sent out there three years ago. So they left Earth a year prior. And so they're four years into this mission, but they haven't heard from the colony. And so they're there to investigate what happened.

SPEAKER_03 12:44

Right. 150 men, women, and children went to the planet uh in hopes of making it a new colony and you know, spreading our land and whatnot.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Right. But it's known to Kirk and Spock and Starfleet that the planet is under the bombardment of birth toll rays. Probably not how you pronounce it, but I don't care. These would be a type of radiation. I don't think that the show ever explains what the source of these rays are from. The only thing that it has to be would be coming from the sun of the solar system. I don't think there's something on the planet generating these rays. It's not coming up from the planet core.

SPEAKER_03 13:36

And so Uhura has been calling the colony to check on them. Hey, we're on our way to see you. Are you alive? Hello. And nobody's answering. But we're still gonna go. Because according to Spock, even if we are, as if I'm on the landing party, uh, even if we're exposed to the rays, we will not be harmed for the short period of time we're on the planet.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

Right. They don't expect to be there too terribly long. Also, I mean, I guess it makes sense to beam down and do a quick investigation as to what happened, but they already are assuming that the colonists arrived, they started to set up shop, and then they quickly were overcome by these deadly radiation rays and are dead. So one has to ask, what's the point of beaming down in the first place? But that's besides the point.

SPEAKER_03 14:32

Well, they probably are curious and they want to know what was accomplished or not. Okay, maybe maybe there's a way like marking on the planet, do not come here, you know, like X is not the spot.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

They would do that by space buoys around the planet, like satellites, so they don't need to go to the planet to do that. Also, of note, why is the Enterprise sensors not picking up any of the colonists that obviously are alive down there?

SPEAKER_03 14:57

But are they alive?

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Yes, they are clearly established to be alive in the episode. So again, the ship's sensors should have picked up on it. They were able to pick up where the colonists had set up shop, at least one of the sites. They should have been able to pick up that there were humans, human life forms there. One of my problems with the episode.

SPEAKER_03 15:18

So, anyways, Kirk has a landing party F5, including plus himself, created to go down. And we know that it's Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sulu, a biologist, and someone I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

So it's gonna be DeSall? Yes, Desol. And Kellowitz is gonna be the biologist.

SPEAKER_03 15:45

Yeah, I have no idea who that is.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

Kellowitz would have been in the Galileo 7 episode.

unknown 15:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 15:52

Well, DeSal and Sulu hang out because they're also told while they're wandering around, like in the future, like going through this episode, to stay in groups of two, just a heads up. And so they all beam down to the colony. So at the colony, it's like a ghost town, a farm, uh, build buildings, barns. I mean, I wish I had this ranch myself, except, you know, I would have life on it because no one is around and no animals. And then finally, we see three men come just like out of nowhere, and we learn that one of them, his name is Elias Sandoval, and he is the quote unquote leader of the colony. The 150 people that initially went split into three different communities to be able to uh hopefully grow, offer more growth and support over time.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Right. I mean, that makes sense. You have split up into three groups. It's explained in more detail later in the episode that the decision was made that way if some unforeseen catastrophe struck, famine, disease, so forth. In theory, instead of striking all 150 of them dead, it would only kill off a third of them because they've separated themselves.

SPEAKER_03 17:16

And then we have our opening credits. And again, while that is happening, we have our log entry, just like what we said. Eliasa telling Kirk that they didn't know how to use their subspace radio, so they didn't know if anybody had been hearing from them from the last four years. Do you buy that explanation? At the time, yes, but as the episode kept going on, no.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Even not knowing the specifics with the spores and the plant, I don't find it very believable that a colony ship would set out with colonists, and no one in that complement knows how to use, operate, or repair the radio.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

Because it's like a C B radio, right?

SPEAKER_03 18:05

Like everybody should be able to go breaker breaker nine.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

I would imagine that there's a lot of cross-training. I don't know that I would describe it exactly like a CB radio, but that's the idea is that they have some way to communicate with Starfleet to let them know what's going on, request assistance if they need it, request supplies if all of a sudden a plague breaks out and they need medicine. They're not being abandoned by Starfleet, they're not removing themselves from Starfleet. And again, that's like saying we're an agricultural colony ship and we're going to land on a planet and create an agricultural society, but no one knows how to operate the tractors and no one knows how to practice animal husbandry. True. So I didn't buy it one bit. I think I think they were purposely keeping themselves isolated once they became infected with the spores because under their altered mental state, they recognized that they possibly could encounter Starfleet again and try to be removed.

SPEAKER_03 19:06

And so um Kurt goes on to keep asking questions. How are you alive? Uh our readings here, as he like, you know, has Spock show all these Bertol rays. You should have been dead like two years ago. Um, we see no livestock. You have, yes, you're planting crops, but there's not an abundance. Um, a farmer, in my opinion, should be growing enough to not only support his colony, but have some for the future because the next yield may or may not be uh as much as you have in the first yield.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:48

In fact, it takes three yields to get like a good one.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

Right. They're not doing anything other than the bare minimums to survive. And like you said, one could argue they're not even doing that at this point. So there's also no signs of the colony growing or expanding. There's no technology. They tried Elias tries to explain that away by saying they've chosen a simpler life. Pull back the curtain, it's to match the set that they're shooting on. It's a set that's been established as this colonial period in American history, so they have that explanation to justify that's why the buildings and the farm buildings and so forth look like they are. It's I think this is the Disney lot. There's several lots this film's on. Um, but there's also no signs of growing the colony. There's no babies, there's no children whatsoever, so one can infer they're not reproducing, and there's no desire on their part to do that. Again, they're happy and content how things are.

SPEAKER_03 20:53

And we only meet one woman when we finally go into the farmhouse and we meet a woman named Layla, and her whenever they show her her music is just like I said earlier, it magically changes, and she like you know, bats her doughy eyes, and Spock is like, Oh, hi.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

Does does she bat her doughy eyes? I saw her when she first walked in, and I thought, she looks dead inside, especially her eyes. I think Well, a hooded eyelid is hard to make look awake. Okay, is that what it is? I think I think the actress is trying to portray a look of contentment, and it just comes across as looking like she's hypnotized. Either way, you know something's up.

SPEAKER_03 21:44

Part of it is her face, but yes, she could have kept her eyes open a bit bigger. Jackie with the hot take. Some of it's her face. And you know, she has long curly blonde hair, and yeah. The definition of pretty back then. And she also comments how she and Spock know each other from six years ago. And Spock's like, no comment, because they all want to know, hey, how do you know her?

SPEAKER_01 22:12

Right. But clearly there was more than just professional interest they were involved in somehow. What a perfect match. A dead inside woman for a dead inside Vulcan. Jackie is struggling not to laugh. I'm not gonna cut this out of the episode. Jackie, that that tickled Jackie. She's trying desperately not to laugh.

SPEAKER_03 22:35

Okay, so back to the farmhouse. Uh Elias is constantly telling them to enjoy the peace and harmony of where they are at the moment at the moment. Like, enjoy your time. Don't worry. And so Sulu and De Salle decide to go off together and look around. And Sulu is climbing on all kinds of things. I swear he's a child. He like leans up on an armrail and and DeSalle notices that a barn is built, but there's no animals in the barn.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Right. This would be the first time, yes, that they notice there's no animals, and they comment on it and they talk about it. Sulu is making comment that he wouldn't know what is out of place on a farm or not. I'll point out this is the first moment that we see the unidentified plant when Sulu is sitting up on the handrail or whatever it is. It's kind of down in the lower right of this of the screen there.

SPEAKER_03 23:38

They're stalking them.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Well, yes. And we know that they have to move. We see that later on the bridge when the one kind of lifts himself lifts itself up to spray Kirk on the bridge one more time.

SPEAKER_03 23:51

But Alrighty. So back to the farmhouse. The landing party goes off to investigate and leaving Layla and Elias to chat about, you know, how are you doing with him being here? Do you feel comfortable? And Elias even asks Layla, would you like him to stay? And they're all talking about Spock. And she in this like creepy smirk is like, he doesn't have a choice. Kurt goes into another part of the farmhouse to check on McCoy to see how he's doing with checking on the colonists, making sure they're healthy, if they need any medicine, how they're doing. And he says he's examined nine men between the ages of 23 and 59, and they are all healthy and excellent health, like off the charts. And he even jokes that he'd throw away his shingle if he worked here. You know, has a doctor put up the shingle in the olden days?

SPEAKER_01 24:59

It's a possible plot hole, maybe not, but it's interesting to note that we as the audience know that these colonists are infected with the spores from the plants, but the trichorder doesn't pick up any sign of those spores. You would think that it would.

SPEAKER_03 25:19

Exactly, but nothing. And also we learn that if there was a a surgery, a scar, uh appendicitis, those magically came back or disappeared. Like brand new humans.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

Right, which is mind-blowing. It's maybe a little bit interesting that they don't have a bigger reaction to it. They refer to scarring on Elias' lungs that would have been caused by childhood pneumonia that has disappeared. Okay, but they specifically mention Elias had his appendix taken out and the appendix is grown back. That doesn't just happen. That's a problem. That's a huge anomaly.

SPEAKER_03 26:09

Leaving the farmhouse, we are getting some sun in the garden where Spock has accompanied Layla, and Spock is commenting, even the insects don't live here. But I mean, your plants are doing great. And Spock is constantly asking Layla, what is your secret about these rays? Like, why uh why are you not affected? And she says, I'll tell you, but you know, you have to come with me. And she's like, being coy. Then we pop back over to the farmhouse, and Kirk has learned that okay, something is wrong. We need to leave the planet. You guys all should be dead by now. Like, this is not right. Something's not right. So please pack your bag and go. And let's go.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Well, Kirk specifically says he's reached out to Starfleet to provide an update, and Starfleet has given the order. So Kirk is using that as an explanation to say, this isn't my call. My higher-ups are demanding that I evacuate all of you survivors and we take you to Starbase 27 to decide what to do with you. You can't stay here. And yes, Elias is very much saying, No, we're we're staying. He even argues that they're vegetarians, so they'll be just fine. Yes, in response to Kirk saying, All your animals are gone, dude.

SPEAKER_03 27:34

And then we pop back over to the garden, and the two are Layla and Spock walking, you know, memories, and she kind of like leads him. I think she misleads him and kind of right into the way of a flower that just magically pops up.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

Well, she's definitely that's I mean, that's the premise of going to where they were going. She knew that this was probably the closest little clump of these flowers. She is fully intending to expose Spock to these spores.

SPEAKER_03 28:09

Yes. And so when the flower, like it's a beautiful flower. It's like a Hawaiian hibiscus married a sunflower. So it's tall and strong, and it like a camel can spit. It explodes with little balls, white balls, and powder. And Spock is covered in it, and he is in pain uh as he falls to the ground. And Layla is like, it didn't hurt for me. It's not supposed to hurt. And I sense a bit of betrayal in Spock when he like towards her when he says, What do you mean? Like you knew this was gonna happen? Like, I'm not like you.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

Yeah, he's definitely in this confused state. So's she. I don't think she intended to hurt him. I think she just wants to get him exposed to these spores so that he can become in a mental state to where he would want to stay. But yes, it is clearly he is in excruciating pain. This will be my pun for the episode. I got really hot when I saw Mr. Spock fight a triffit that spits poison in thrills. That is a science fiction double feature Rocky Horror reference. You're welcome to the one fan that picks up and enjoys them.

SPEAKER_03 29:30

Finally, the pain subsides, and he and then our music changes. It's back to Chiny. And he stands up and they embrace he and Layla, and he tells her he loves her too.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

Yes, a complete 180 from how he was acting. He is now very much he's a he uh is expressing emotion, they kiss, clearly under the effects of whatever the spores are doing.

SPEAKER_03 30:05

But Layla don't care. She finally got her man.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:08

And so Spock is like, I don't want to do anything, let's go hang out, and off they go. So we have a commercial break, and we come back back up at the farmhouse where Sue and DeSalle are reporting to Kirk and McCoy, you know, everything that they found. No animals again. Uh Kirk says, Yeah, something's wrong. We are supposed to be getting out of here and going to Starbrays 27. We need to ensure that the Enterprise has enough accommodations for all of the colonists, because we have to move them. And do you have an idea where Spock and DeSalle are? Because DeSalle was off by himself looking at native plants. Right.

SPEAKER_01 30:58

It's technically Kellowitz in the scene.

SPEAKER_03 31:00

Oh, thank you. Yeah. Doesn't matter. They all look, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 31:05

Here comes the hot take from Jackie.

SPEAKER_03 31:07

Yeah, I just I need to make like a board that says Sulu, this, this man, this man. Maybe I'll make like a picture board. We talked about doing crafts.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

I thought we we talked about doing a picture board of like a ranking of the yeomans. So we might maybe we'll do a supplement also where we do a ranking of all of these tertiary crew members. It doesn't matter. It's it doesn't matter who it is. It's one or the other. But hot take from Jackie. All middle-aged white Starfleet officers look alike. It must be that uniform.

SPEAKER_03 31:39

That's it. So we are now peeking at Spock and Layla cuddled up, acting like teenagers, underneath a tree, and Kirk is calling him and calling him while and Spock is ignoring it. Right.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

Because he's looking at the clouds. Right. Also important of note, Spock is no longer wearing a Starfleet uniform. He is wearing the green coveralls. So at some point between getting exposed to the spores and having that kiss, and we really don't know how much time has elapsed. We can say that it's it's not a it's not a problem or a or an error in the scenes of shooting. There is there can be plenty of time for him to change, but it's just interesting to note that now that he's under the effects of these spores, he as a character has decided to change out of the uniform and change into these coveralls. We don't see that elsewhere. We don't see the other officers when we see Desol and Sulu farming in the garden, they're still wearing their uniforms. Obviously, it's to imply to us, the viewers, that Spock is in fact changed and is a different quote-unquote character or a different mindset of a character, or maybe the two of them just banged. And that's the clothing he chose to change into. Who knows?

SPEAKER_03 33:04

And so finally he's annoyed enough that he does open the communicator and just goes, What? You know, like no respect whatsoever, and hangs up.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

Yeah, there's uh there's a little bit of a dialogue between Kirk and Spock where Spock is basically just nonchalantly telling Kirk, I don't care, I don't want to do that, I don't feel like doing anything. Thanks so much. And then yeah, he just drops the communicator and goes back to making out with uh Layla.

SPEAKER_03 33:33

She she's all like, yeah, this is a great time. And so, of course, Kirk and McCoy are extremely confused at what has happened because they are again at the farmhouse where everyone should be so they can make a plan. They don't even know where Spock is. So since they hear that the line is open, you know, to be able to talk to Spock, they can also track it. So they use that option and follow it, and they find the grassy tree and Spock. Also, this is when DeSalle, poor DeSalle, he has is actually holding one of the plants and is like, isn't this flower beautiful? as he shows it to McCoy.

SPEAKER_01 34:21

Yeah, there's a weird little cutscene to move the plot along. We have to surmise that DeSalle has been exposed to the spores off camera, and much like anyone else who falls under the influence of the spores, he is motivated to expose others to the spores, so he brings flowers to McCoy to have McCoy look at it. McCoy is then going to get exposed to the spores off-camera because we quickly cut back to Kirk and Party finding Spock.

SPEAKER_03 34:54

Who is hanging from the tree like a monkey?

SPEAKER_01 34:57

Which is how exactly it is described in everywhere that you read online, as if hanging like a monkey. An improv scene, something that was added in the moment during shooting, it's not in the original script, but the origin the original script just had Kirk and everyone coming upon Spock um and Layla making out. But they saw this opportunity, they saw the tree branch, and and okay, it's a little goofy, it falls a little flat, it doesn't really come across as that funny slapstick moment that we see in Shorleave, but it does get the idea across that or at least sets up the scene immediately to Kirk and Company that this is not Spock.

SPEAKER_03 35:43

I think it's special that they did this with Spock because in his actual headspace, I mean, I doubt he'd even climb the tree. You know, like that's the difference between this and short leaf.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

Sure. And it really does set up the idea that Spock is completely out of his mind at this point. Which is interesting because maybe this is just the short-term effect, maybe this is what happens when you're first exposed to the spores and they eventually settle down. Because the other colonists who have been exposed to the spores over the last three years, we don't see any evidence that the colonists are acting in this over-the-top goofy manner. So maybe they build up an immunity and allow them to return to some normal. Maybe they all were like this when they first were exposed to the spores, is they all completely lost their mind, and we had multiple people climbing trees and hanging from trees and doing nothing. But that also goes against the idea that they were able to then thrive or I should say exist and survive as a colony, because then how long did they spend goofing around before they actually got down to business?

SPEAKER_03 36:49

I see your point, but I think just because over time they've been able to have that peace and harmony be a part of them, like innate. They don't have to goof off. They the human side always knew about compassion and fun and what they try to spew, where Spock continuously pushes that away.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

Yeah. And maybe maybe that's it. Maybe it's the fact that Spock is acting this way because he's a Vulcan and this is the human side coming out and something he's completely not used to. Maybe that's it. He's fully embracing it. Yeah. In any case, Spock the monkey is hanging from the tree.

SPEAKER_03 37:30

Spock says there'll be no moving of the colony. He gets off the tree, takes Layla's hand, and says, Come with me. And then the four men follow him. They come upon this giant bush of these flowers, and they're just looking at them, and then poof, uh, pour spores and powder all over everybody. But I also wonder how did Kirk how is Kirk immune? Because he obviously got some too, but I keep watching it, and it's like he didn't get enough. Is he farther back?

SPEAKER_01 38:07

So I've got the scene pulled up now on one of our monitors. I'm looking It's like hail on Sulu and McCoy. That's not that's not McCoy, that's Kellowitz. Yes. Um, if you look at the scene when the flowers shoot, they kind of shoot onto Sulu and Kellowitz, and they're covered in that powdery spore substance to recognize to represent the spores. There's nothing on Kirk.

SPEAKER_02 38:35

Like he's like Teflon.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

I think that it was just the weird angle of the way the flowers shot out the spores. Kirk was able to kind of react in the moment and kind of lean back a little bit. So that has to be the explanation. I think they could have been a little more pronounced. I think you could have had Kirk literally take a half-leap step back to really show to the audience that he hasn't been infected at this point, but that's besides the point.

SPEAKER_03 39:01

So they're all like, whoa, we got blown up with these spores. And we pop back over to an open field, though, and McCoy, he has a super southern Georgian accent and is beaming up these flowers to the enterprise. One at a time.

SPEAKER_01 39:21

Let's just keep getting these on the enterprise for everybody. It's also explained in this scene with McCoy that the plants are not native to the planet, that they came from outer space. They wandered around in space, they happened to find themselves on the planet, they themselves thrive under these radiation rays that would normally kill the humans. So we get a little bit of a tie between the plants and these rays, and maybe that's why the spores provide this immunity to the humans. But in any case, it's also where we get the firm confirmation that the spores act as parasites and the humans act as their host.

SPEAKER_03 40:02

So Kirk has also beamed back up to the Enterprise, and he goes to the bridge to have Yehura send down a message, but she cannot do that because she also has been sprayed by the spores, and she's sabotaged all of the communications except, of course, to be able to speak to the surface from the ship. We also see that all the other crew has been sprayed by the spores, and they are being beamed down to the colony while Kirk is running around trying to figure out what's happening, also.

SPEAKER_01 40:39

Yes, leaving Kirk alone on the Enterprise, the last crew member to not be infected. As Kirk is on the bridge, he's lamenting about how empty and how quiet the Enterprise is without anyone on board. He's trying to decide what to do, how to get his crew back, how to deal with the situation. He finds a plant on the bridge, he gets angry and he throws it across the bridge at some point. But in any case, I think he's sitting at the navigation station. He's just kind of quietly contemplating what to do, and then we get this super 1960s cheesy sci-fi shot where on wires the plant that he threw across the bridge kind of lifting itself up like a like a cobra coming out of a basket, and it sprays spores all over Kirk, and now Kirk is infected. Fun side plot tangent episode in an alternate universe, Kirk beams down to the planet, leaving the Enterprise completely abandoned. It's in orbit around the planet, the orbit would eventually decay, and now the ship would be in danger of crashing into the planet. So what if they all end up realizing that, but they're all stuck on the planet? And how do they solve the idea? How do they solve the problem of the Enterprise crashing into the planet and possibly killing them? That could be its own comic book later. You're welcome, Paramount. Take my idea. I'm available to hire to write Star Trek stories.

SPEAKER_03 42:08

But we need the royalties.

SPEAKER_01 42:09

Yes, I mean we'll get paid a creator's fee or something. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:14

Kirk has been packing a bag so that he can join his crew down on the colony. And we even see him pull out like a medal, like it's a lockbox, and he takes time to think about it. I thought that was really sweet.

SPEAKER_01 42:30

Yeah, it's kind of a weird filler moment where he it's a Starfleet medal. We don't really know what it is, but he ponders up over it, he seems to remember, but then he ends up just kind of slamming it closed. I think he breaks the box. If you look closely, when he slams it closed, he breaks the box that it's in. But kind of just a weird filler moment to show that maybe he's still slightly conflicted, as we'll see in an in a short moment, but he's still under the influence of the spores.

SPEAKER_03 42:59

So he takes his suitcase and down to the transporter room, he goes, puts the suitcase on this one of the specific lights, because they have all those spots they have to stand on. He starts to input the navigational directions, and then he realizes he shouldn't be doing this, and he gets angry and in such an angry, violent, like as he's pounding on the po on a podium just to like make noise and get his anger out, and then it's like magically the spores effects kind of melt away. Right. It's very weird.

SPEAKER_01 43:43

Which is where we now get the plot to move on to the point where Kirk realizes that the way to neutralize the effects of the spores are to cause the host to experience extreme anger, this extreme emotion. Not the first time we've seen this employed. We saw this all the way back at the cage where Pike uses thoughts of pure anger and violence and raw emotion to mask his thoughts from the big brain aliens. So, not a new concept.

SPEAKER_03 44:16

So, but Kirk needs Spock to get out of this la land. And he's like, I'm gonna call Spock and get him to come up here. And I need to be ready because this Vulcan man is huge and could kill me.

SPEAKER_01 44:33

Right. Superhuman strength. I think he also recognizes that not only is Spock his best asset to free the rest of the crew, not only is Spock he recognizes and realizes that Spock is not only the best asset he can have to free the rest of the crew, but also Spock is the biggest threat against that plan.

SPEAKER_03 44:54

Very true. And so he calls and says, Spock, I know you're busy with Layla, but I need you to come up here. Uh come on up so I can come back down sooner. We have equipment to move. Right. And so Spock is like, okay, I'll be right there. Uh bye-bye, lady friend. I'll be I'll be right back. And he beams up. Not a moment to do anything besides put all of his molecules back in place. Kirk is yelling at him. Mind you, Kirk has a bat.

SPEAKER_01 45:32

Yeah, he's got some big metal pipe that he's wielding as a bat.

SPEAKER_03 45:35

And he insults him. I I love these insults, by the way. Like, sorry, Spock, but he calls him an overgrown jackrabbit, an elf with overactive thyroid, a disloyal dog-faced boy. Like it goes on and on. Oh, and he even insults his parents.

SPEAKER_01 45:56

Right. It's a missed opportunity because one of the insults is Kirk calls Spock a half-breed because Spock's dad is a Vulcan, his mom is a human. But if you go back to what a little girl's made of, he when Kirk is cloned, he forcibly uses his mind to implant the idea in the clone's mind that Spock is a disgusting half-breed as a way to signal to Spock that this is not me, this is my clone. And Spock at the time in that episode makes the comment of, yeah, that seemed really out of place for you to call me a half-breed. Kirk, of course, says, Well, I only did that so that you would recognize something was wrong, and Spock said, Oh, well, I'll remember that. It's a good it would have been a great tie back to the episode. It would have been great if there was some acknowledgement in this episode to that, but they don't.

SPEAKER_03 46:49

I mean, he does call the Vulcans traitors, but that's not as yeah, uh Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:56

That is an interesting choice.

SPEAKER_03 46:59

And lack of integrity.

SPEAKER_01 47:01

Yeah, this is a this is an interesting choice to to do because we see so much of the earlier interactions between Earth and humans and Vulcans in Enterprise. So it's I think it's very on point, but we'll get to it later.

SPEAKER_03 47:19

So that was the final dish. Uh calling his father a computer, mother an encyclopedia, and his being a Vulcan, no integ no integrity. He like runs off that stage and beats everything up. He breaks wall tiles, uh, breaks the bat, knocks Kirk down. Like it's a brawl.

SPEAKER_01 47:45

Right. Well, it's not really a brawl between Kirk and Spock, it's a brawl between their stunt doubles. It's very obvious these are stunt doubles in this moment.

SPEAKER_03 47:52

And cardboard pieces that are cracking.

SPEAKER_01 47:55

Well, what Spock punches out there in that moment is the door to the replicator that we first saw in That made the soup. That made the soup for the Earth Guard from tomorrow is yesterday.

SPEAKER_03 48:07

See, these these set designers are so smart. So finally Spock picks up like this giant table, and Kirk's like, Are you done yet? And they're like, Oh, I feel normal now. That was odd.

SPEAKER_01 48:23

Right, because Kirk has successfully triggered this rage emotion in Spock. It has successfully gotten Spock to break away from the influence of the spores. I I'm assuming it neutralizes whatever chemical reaction is happening, or it just kills the spores that were producing that chemical reaction.

SPEAKER_03 48:43

Oh, maybe adrenaline does that.

SPEAKER_01 48:45

That would have been an interesting thought. There that would mean that there's multiple ways to get rid of the spores influence. You could And cortisol.

SPEAKER_03 48:52

Look at us being all scientific.

SPEAKER_01 48:54

Yeah, you you wouldn't need to trigger the emotion. You could make an antidote and a serum that is just jab jab. A way to induce- you could just in inject pure adrenaline into someone and kill the spores if that in fact is what it is. We should let them know of our idea. Well, it's interesting because spoiler, we don't ever see these plants again. Like Gertrude, it took her away. So it's not just keeping them safe from the radiation, it's literally regrowing tonsils, appendix, curing scar tissue around lungs. This is the miracle cure. So literally anything that happens, well, maybe there's testing and limits, but a lot of stuff they could get this these spores as a compound, expose someone, get them, and just keep them restrained, isolated in a recovery room until that effect, that ailment is cured, and then just inject them with the serum of adrenaline. Again, keep them in isolation for a small period of time, 30 minutes for observation. Poof, you're gone. Nope. Should have been a doctor.

SPEAKER_03 49:58

So they are, you know, talking to each other. I'm so sorry. And Kirk, because like we need to make this giant machine that we cannot hear, but it's at a high enough decibel to irritate the spores, thus creating the aggravated feeling, you know, on the colonists to get them on the enterprise.

SPEAKER_01 50:20

Yeah, I don't think it actually affects the spores inside of them. It's literally just to create just the irritation in general, just a state of irritation in the individual that is aggressive enough to be noticed more than the euphoric state that the spores put the person into. So weird. They don't really elaborate what that is. It could be a physical sensation, it could be tinnitus, it could be a it could be a lot of things, but that's their plan is to utilize the communication systems on the enterprise to transmit this annoying signal. I'm assuming it they're not beaming it down through the atmosphere of the planet and blanketing an area, they're targeting the communicators of the crew members that are down there, and there's a lot of them. There's like 400 enterprise crew members down there. Why they all still have their communicators on, who knows? But story for another day.

SPEAKER_03 51:23

So they're off to make this device, and we are now back on the planet, and Layla is just staring up in the sky. She's kind of an airhead, but she's supposed to be this fancy scientist. No, she's dead inside. She's Spock's perfect mate. And uh McCoy walks up to her to ask what's happening, and she explains that Spock went up to help Kirk, and they'll be back soon. And again, the weird accent. He's so weird. Like he totally changed. He's the only one that has really changed in character. And also, he has a drink, uh, a theme we see throughout the whole thing. The whole 24 episodes we've watched. If there's a drink, McCoy will drink it.

SPEAKER_01 52:12

Yeah, he's always saying he's talking about mint juleps the whole time. Yeah, it's very special, delightful, refreshing drink. It's a weird-looking mint julep, it's extremely dark for a mint julep, but yeah, his is like red, but the mint julep is a more dainty color.

SPEAKER_03 52:30

It's more of a yellowish color. So McCoy offers his communicator to Layla so that she can check on him, you know, how's things going? And when they connect, Kurt cautions Spock, like, are you sure you can handle talking to her? Like, we have to be careful. And you know, Spock's like, I could do I could take care of it, blah blah blah. So he's like, I'll be there when I can out.

SPEAKER_01 53:00

Yeah. But we cut to the transporter room. Layla's beamed up because she wants to see a starship. I don't know why she would have seen a starship when she traveled to this planet to colonize it.

SPEAKER_03 53:15

It's been four years, things change.

SPEAKER_01 53:17

Whatever. Plot hole. And Spock beams her up, and they kind of have this little heart-to-heart moment where she's happy to see him, but then she hugs him and realizes he's no longer under the effects of the spores, so he's quote, lost to them. And he tries to explain to her that this is just how things are, and this the spores don't really change anything. They are still where they were six years ago when they supposedly broke up, that they're just incompatible. Spock is a Vulcan, it's just who he is. And they have a final embrace, they're, you know, kind of uh, okay, we'll break up. And she's not happy, he's not happy, but they accept the situation. That's also the last time that we see Layla in this episode, so no idea what happens.

SPEAKER_03 54:06

So Spock and Kirk, though, have created the device, and I love the little grate that they put over it. It's those decorative ones that you see on the floor, like for the air vents. I don't know, I thought it was super cute. And everybody on the planet starts acting differently. So, for example, Sulu and DeSalle are digging in the garden. Uh, they're digging holes for some reason, and Sulu bumps DeSalle, and the two of them start fighting. Like, what a sorry or a no problem, friend. And they just start brawling. And so, that's their anger.

SPEAKER_01 54:46

McCoy is under a tree enjoying his mint julep, his overly, overly sat alcoholic saturated mint julep.

SPEAKER_03 54:57

He's so happy. And Elias walks up and is like, You don't need to be the doctor anymore. So I gotta figure out what kind of job you're gonna do.

SPEAKER_01 55:05

Yeah, and McCoy is like, Bitch, I make and drink the mint juleps, that's my job. And he's a doctor. Well, he's yeah, he's now a doctor for mint juleps.

SPEAKER_03 55:16

And Elias is like, no, we don't need a doctor, so you need to be useful. And McCoy's like, I'll show you how much you need a hospital, and then he just says, He's just make me a mechanic so I can treat you like a little ten god, and then they get in a fight too.

SPEAKER_01 55:35

But of course, all of these fights have seemed to snap them out of the effects of the spores. Even Elias is snapped out of it, and just kind of comes to an instant realization there's no lingering effects of the spores. He instantly is in a state of regret saying that they've wasted the last three years of their lives doing nothing, not expanding, not accomplishing anything on the colony.

SPEAKER_03 56:00

Yeah, it was awful. It was so immediate.

SPEAKER_01 56:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 56:04

Like I felt really bad for him because he's like, We we did all this work, or at least in his head, and in reality, they've just been living. Right. But McCoy reminds him about the evacuation to Starbase 27 and Starfleet putting them somewhere else, and he agrees. So they start the evacuation plan to get everybody leaving, but of course the crew has to start calling in, you know, hi, can I come back to work? Right. And then we have a quick break, and we return to the bridge, everything is back to quote normal on the enterprise.

SPEAKER_01 56:47

Yeah, so I guess they got rid of all the hundreds and thousands of flowers that were beamed up to the enterprise. They've scrubbed the filtration system for the air ducts and gotten rid of all the spores. Sure.

SPEAKER_03 57:02

New filters, new toilet paper. They got it.

SPEAKER_01 57:05

Let's just pretend that that's the case.

SPEAKER_03 57:09

And I mean, they do joke um if McCoy has his tonsils, but we never really know. And McCoy is wearing blue eyeshadow.

SPEAKER_01 57:19

He's wearing blue eyeshadow the whole episode.

SPEAKER_03 57:21

But the I noticed it this time. It was so he's right.

SPEAKER_01 57:25

Definitely wearing eye makeup in a similar way that they make Spock up to do. So the twinsies. Weird, weird makeup choice.

SPEAKER_03 57:35

And so, of course, m McCoy always has words of quote wisdom, and he's like, This is the second time man has been banished from paradise. And Kirk, just as wise, answers, perhaps they're not made for a paradise. I mean, we fight and crawl and get to where we need to, and this paradise, we walked out on our own. And when asked, Spock admits that for the first time in his life, he actually felt that he was happy. And it's kind of like bittersweet, you know?

SPEAKER_01 58:09

Yeah, because he's lost his woman. We assume. We don't actually get confirmation of that.

SPEAKER_03 58:14

Maybe he makes her AI and she's like in her in his pocket.

SPEAKER_01 58:17

No, there's no AI in in Starfleet. We will get to that later in our Star Trek watch along as to why Starfleet doesn't have AI, but that's much, much later.

SPEAKER_03 58:28

There's so many things coming my way.

Final Thoughts

SPEAKER_01 58:30

Yep. But roll credits. So, Jackie, what did you think about season one, episode 24, This Side of Paradise?

SPEAKER_03 58:41

I really liked it. I know that there are plot holes, I know that there are questions, but I was smiling the whole time while I was watching it. Okay. You know? Okay. And I even laughed at the props.

SPEAKER_01 58:55

Yeah. So I don't think it's the worst episode of of the even the season. I don't think it's the worst episode we've seen recently. Correct. I just it's not an episode that entertains me a whole lot. It feels like too cheesy of sci-fi. I don't know how else to describe it. You've got these foreign plants, they make everyone super happy, like they're high and content, and you throw in some mixed plots of romance interest for Spock because he's becoming an audience favorite, so we have to show more of Spock. I don't know. It's just a lot, and it's just not not my cup of tea.

SPEAKER_03 59:36

Do you think it would be a bit better if the plants were not so blatantly fake looking? Like they did a better job making the flower?

SPEAKER_01 59:45

I would even say it doesn't really have much to do with the prop department. I don't really care so much about how the plants look. I don't even care that they came from outer space. I think that's a fun plot point. Yeah. I'm not even upset that the plant on the bridge, when it infects Kirk, seems to move by itself and consciously chooses to hone in on Kirk and and spray him with the spores. I might even think that that's a better plot point and a better uh episode. We'll get to it in the triple tidbits um a little bit more.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:22

Oh, like they're like a they're like a spaceship shaped like a flower. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:28

Ooh, I like it. Well, not quite, but we'll get to there. But nah, it's just not my cup of tea. So um, if you want to join us, just a quick plug, our bonus episode Star Note that we'll be publishing at the same time as this episode over our Patreon at patreon.com slash treks and tangents. We'll be doing a deeper dive into the specific question. Did Kirk save the colonists or did he take away their right to be happy? So we'll jump into that over on our star note if you want to join us over there. But we'll end our final thoughts with our favorite quote from the episode. Jackie, what's gonna be your favorite quote from the episode?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:09

I actually liked the one from Kirk when he's talking to Spock and Sandoval that man stagnates if he has no ambition, no desire to be more than he is. It really touched me because, like, why stay in one spot and just enjoy basking in the sun when if you keep moving forward, there's so much more sun and possibly a rainbow at the end. Like, keep moving forward and growing. Okay.

Tribble Tidbits

SPEAKER_01 1:01:43

Well, my favorite quote, uh, Jackie already touched on it at the end of the episode description, but it's at the very end, and Dr. McCoy says to Kirk, Well, that's the second time man has been thrown out of paradise, and Kirk says, No, no bones, this time we walked out on our own. Uh, I think it's an obvious reference to the Garden of Eden, of course, and the biblical reference, but I like to think of it also kind of just thinking to the episode of Shorelave, because this that would have been the first time they would have been in quote unquote paradise. This is the second time that they've been in paradise, quote unquote. One could argue whether they were thrown out of the planet on Shorelave or not. They certainly were humbled and put in their place because all of the danger that they experienced was their own creation by their own mind. And so I just kind of think it's a fun little tie-in between the two similar episodes. So I, of course, do have just a couple triple tidbits or fun facts to the episode. And why do we call them triple tidbits, Jackie? Because they're the best. Because tribles are both fun, but can be not so fun. First airing, March 2nd, 1967. The original draft of the script, which is what I kind of think would make a better episode, or it would have been more entertaining for me, the spores would have created a telepathic link between the hosts. The spores would have had far greater supernatural abilities and healing properties to the point where they were able to heal uh dead individuals so that they made people eternal and immortal. The there would have been an immunity against the spores for certain blood types, so that could have created an interesting contrasting plot, subplot to the episode where there could have been a resistance to the spores by colonists and enterprise crew members who had a specific blood type. And the cure to the spores was not strong anger or emotions, it was alcohol. So I don't I don't know. I think that could have been a fun episode. I think you could take some of the elements of that and turn it into an episode without maybe take out the fantastic spores from the plants and make it something else, but I think that would have been more entertaining. Uh, the episode in the original script would have ended by revealing the spores, specifically the plants that the spores came from, were benevolent and intelligent. And they willingly released the human hosts from control of the spores because they were made to understand by I assume Kirk and Spock and McCoy that in fact they weren't creating paradise for the colonists, they were holding them against their will. So the plants were like, Oh, we didn't mean to do that, we're so sorry. Again, very similar to Shorelave, where at the end it's like, sorry, we thought you guys recognized what the planet was. Why did you keep throwing yourselves into these situations? I think it would have been a better episode. I would have preferred that script over what we got.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:56

You have an episode to write.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:58

This is number three. Yes, Paramount, I'm available. You can hire me to write episodes. I'm here. This is wonderful. We touched on it. The fight in the transporter room between Kirk and Spock obviously showed that they were stunt doubles doing all the major fighting. It was supposed to be shot with wider angles to better conceal that they were stunt doubles, but the set for the transporter room was so small and so narrow they couldn't pull off the wider angle shots.

unknown 1:05:26

Ah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:26

And my last triple tidbit, the large open meadow that we see in many of the scenes. Yes. I think it's the one where we meet McCoy beaming up the plants to the Enterprise, later where McCoy confronts Layla and gives her the communicator to talk to Spock toward the end. That meadow is in Malibu State Park here in California. Again, this was shot over the outside exterior shots were filmed on like three different set locations, and it had to do with the actress who played. Layla getting sick and they had to reschedule and change the order in which they filmed things, but then they ended up losing their reservation on the set to film because it didn't belong to them. Long story short, it this scene is from Malibu State Park, and it is the same setting uh from the 1968 movie The Planet of the Apes, where they're hunting the humans in the beginning through the cornfield and capturing them. It's the same set. I haven't seen that movie either. Alright. We definitely have some movies to catch up on. But those are your tribal tidbits.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:38

And the actress getting sick could also explain why she was kind of off.

Episode Ranking

SPEAKER_01 1:06:43

No, she's just dead inside. That's just how she played the character. And this is where we give our episode ranking, where we pretend the episode is a member of our crew for our fictitious starship, and we assign a Starfleet rank to the episode. A higher rank means we not only found the episode more entertaining, but we find them to be a more important crew member for our starship. The opposite is true. A lower rank, of course, means that we weren't as entertained by the episode, and we find the episode to be a more disposable member of our crew. Our ranking system has three enlisted members, starting at the bottom, ensign, lieutenant junior grade, and lieutenant, and then we have our officers, lieutenant commanders, of which we can have seven, five commanders, one captain, and one admiral. If none of this makes sense, you can go to our Patreon at patreon.com/slash treks and tangents, where we will post a visual representation updating, showing the episode rankings, and we update and post a new ranking every Wednesday, the day after the episode goes live. So, Jackie, for this episode on the USS Galactic Glitter B, what rank do you give this episode?

SPEAKER_03 1:08:02

Okay, I'm going to uh put them as lieutenant commander, but I am full. So I have to sadly demote the Corbonite maneuver and put it down in my unlimited lieutenants.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:18

Okay. Why are you giving this episode the rank of lieutenant commander?

SPEAKER_03 1:08:23

Frankly, because I quite enjoyed it. And I would watch it again and again, probably.

Turbolift Tease

SPEAKER_01 1:08:31

And for fun. Alright. I'm gonna be simpler. I'm simply gonna put this episode in the lieutenant junior grade spot, one rank above Ensign. Again, it's just not my cup of tea. I don't know, again, really why it doesn't hit as well as Shore Leave. They seem like they're both incredibly similar in episodes, but again, I think ultimately what makes Shore Leave work is the writers in the episode really lean into the fantastical slapstick bits throughout the episode. And here they try to inject the same kind of idea and the same kind of bits, but ultimately they try to serve a different purpose with them and try to keep the episode and the plot moving along instead of just calling them out for what they are. Really weird, silly mo moments in the episode. I I guess the episode either should have been more comical, or they should have leaned into a different plot and script for it. So ultimately, again, Lieutenant Junior grade is where we're going to leave it. Again, as a reminder, we will post a visual updated representation of our rankings over at our Patreon, patreon.com slash treks and tangents, on Wednesday, the day after this episode comes out. For reference on IMDB, as of recording this episode, it is ranked 7.8 out of 10. I will be in the minority then, I guess. We'll be back next week to trek through another episode, but before we go, this is where we'll give our turboliftees or elevator pitch to the next episode's plot. I'll give Jackie the title of the next episode, and Jackie, with no other information, will give a brief pitch to the plot. Jackie, next week's episode is entitled The Devil in the Dark.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:30

Somehow, when the Enterprise crew has already closed out one of their missions, they are going on their next traveling experience, but someone stows away, and this little guy, or gal, creates havoc, and we actually have to get rid of them and send them back to wherever they came from.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:57

And tune in next week to see how close Jackie's guess is to the actual plot. If you want more show information, you can find and directly support our podcast on Patreon at patreon.com/slash Treks and Tangents. Again, we post every week a bonus episode, our Star Note episode, where we dive uh deeper into a single topic or a couple topics, depending on the episode. This star note this week on This Side of Paradise is going to focus on whether Kirk actually saved the colonists or whether he took away their right to choose to be happy. We're also working our way through our back catalog of episodes to record a Star Note episode for everything we've already done. We're working backwards, and we're doing about one a week. So we'll also have a bonus episode, a bonus bonus episode, if you will.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:49

It's been really fun doing those because you get to go back in time and like, oh yeah, that happened.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:55

Right. So those are over on our Patreon. Those are free for all Patreon members, patreon.com slash treks and tangents. We have other content over there as well. I mentioned the episode rankings. We'll post the visual representations. For our crew members, we have all of our test episodes that we ever recorded to prepare for our podcast. We also once a month do a deeper dive into the animated series for Star Trek on the fourth Friday. So we just had a new episode come out for that if you're listening to this live when it comes out. And we have some other ideas as well. Maybe something that's gonna springboard off of an episode that'll be coming out very shortly after this episode.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:38

I was wondering perhaps some of our audience could tell us why in the animated series the navigator isn't alien.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:46

Jackie's still confused as to everyone's a human but him. Right. Not everyone. There's that eagle-looking guy.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:54

But like, can someone help me, please?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:56

Yeah. So help. But we also appreciate, again, all of your support to the podcast. We appreciate everyone who listens, likes, subscribes, shares the episode. Tell your mama. Yeah. And um comment uh down below wherever you consume this podcast, your thoughts to the episode. Um, any any topic that we covered, uh, any of your own fan theories to the episode. I think that's one of the greatest things about being a Star Trek fan, or really any science fiction fan, is we get to fill in the holes in the plots in our own head and we get to come up with our own thoughts and stories, of course, until they come out with a new episode and screw it all up. But yeah, anything at all, comment below what you think. Love to read your comments and love to see that engagement. You can also follow us on x.com at treks underscore tangents where we post updates. Uh, we're also on Instagram and Blue Sky at Trucks and Tangents, Jackie. Where can people find you? And what are you up to?

SPEAKER_03 1:13:55

I am working on my Instagram. I am so close to a thousand followers and tenth, please go. You can find me under Jaboom, J I B B O O M. I talk about disability advocacy, service animals, music. I play the tuba, the flute, you name all of them. Uh fashion, makeup, and I mean, I'm just curating it all. And I also have a whatnot shop. It's Glitterbow Boutique. And I should start running that back up middle of April.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:35

And you can watch me stream a variety of video games over at twitch.tv slash piratepoundtown. On YouTube I post video games and other random content on my main channel at PiratePoundtown. And coin collecting and hobby content can be found on YouTube at Pirate Treasure Hunting. I post socially on Blue Sky at Pirate Poundtown, and every once in a while I'll post something on Instagram under Pineapple Cannibal. Links to all social media mentioned can be found in the episode description. Thank you everyone for tuning in to this week's episode. We hope you had fun like we did, and we will see you all next week.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:10

Beware of wear booking flowers. End transmission