Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current
Subject: Re: The Man Trap
From: ace@kryton.UUCP (Catherine Beckstead)
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 92 13:32:34 PDT
Organization: Paradox Alley F&SF BBS 805-492-8789

atb@gserv1.dl.ac.uk (A.M.T. Bell) writes:

> hi
> 
> The Beeb showed the TOS episode *The Man Trap* last night, this was the first
> TOS episode to be broadcast on TV in america. Good to see Kirk, Spock and
> Bones together with the old polystyrene rocks and stuff. As usual the unknown
> crewmen got bumped off by the alien creature, it was after the salt in their 
> bodies. There were some strange things though. At the start of the episode
> Uhura was shown driving instead of communicating, Sulu was in the botany lab
> instead of driving. McCoy was in the dispensary, not in sickbay.
> Spock survives being de-salted by the creature as he's supposedly not
> got any NaCl in his body. If he's half human surely he should have some NaCl
> in his body, does Spock have any non-Vulcan body parts?

Pretty good catch.  Maybe at this point the writers had not quite decided that
Spock was going to be half human.  Just this alien guy with the ears.  The
character is obviously not fleshed out.

> 
> There's a scene with Spock and Uhura when Spock is being *logical*, presumabl
> this is to say to the audience, "look how strange the alien pointy-eared guy 
> Spock hadn't been seen before on TV when this episode was first shown. At the
> end when the alien creature is about to de-salt his friend the Captain he's
> acting rather *emotionally*. I imagine that someone somewhere has a list
> of Spock's illogical/emotional behaviour in TOS.

Again, Spock wasn't totally fleshed out at that time.  He also smiles in
"Where No Man Has Gone Before", the second pilot, 3rd or 4th episode shown,
back '66.  I'm not sure exactly what episode he becomes the Spock we 
all know and love.  Does anyone know what episode we find out that Spock
is half human?  My guess is that it is "Journey to Babel", where we first
see Sarek and Amanda.  But it may have been before.  Me being the young'en
that I am, (born the same year as Star Trek), I don't remember ever NOT
knowing that Spock was half human.
> 
> One other strange thing. In TNG we always have a few minutes of action
> before the credits, at some dramatic point the action stops and
> Jean-Luc says "Space, the final frontier......". Well in last nights
> episode we had a pre-credit sequence before Jim says "Space, the final fronti
> I always thought that TOS didn't have these pre-credit sequences. Am I wrong
> or did the Beeb rearrange it to make it like a TNG episode??
> 
As far as I know, there was always a teaser before the credits.  And if you
get the episodes on video, they still include the trailer for "next week's
episode".

> Please don't flame me for posting this to r.a.s.c., it may not be current for
> you folks over the pond awaiting season 6 of TNG but it is for us Brits!

Yeah, it's too bad you guys have to wait so long for TNG.  But then again,
you've seen season 5 of Red Dwarf, and are, I think, one or two seasons
ahead of us in Lovejoy.  So maybe it's a fair trade. ;-)

> 
> tony bell                 ! keep on running   live long and prosper
> serc daresbury laboratory ! "back off man, i'm a scientist"
> atb@uk.ac.dl.gserv1       ! bill murray - ghostbusters



-------------------------------------------------------------------
Catherine Beckstead                    ace@kryton.uucp
"Do you want to argue with a can of deodorant that registers
NINE on the Richter scale?"        --Ace, in "Dragonfire"
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current