Amok Time

An *Opinionated Star Trek Episode Guide* review.

Review of a Season 2 episode of *Star Trek: The Original Series*.

## Episode information

* **Season:** 2
* **Episode:** 1
* **Original airdate:** 15 September 1967
* *Amok Time* at StarTrek.com, the official website
* *Amok Time* at Memory Alpha, a canon *Star Trek* wiki
* *Amok Time* at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
* *Amok Time* at the Internet Movie Database

## Review information

* Review link
* Published: June 29, 2013

## SF Debris synopsis

*Opinionated Star Trek Episode Guide returns with a look at the season 2 opener, wherein Spock has an embarrassing problem, and takes it out on his soup. Plus, Chekov appears and Scotty vanishes, although possibly with good reason.*

## Post-Episode Follow-Up

### Final Score: 8

***Skillfully overcomes potentially ridiculous story***

"Final score for 'Amok Time' is 8 out of 10.

It should have been a tremendous flop - I mean, Spock gets horny, silly rituals and battle to the death. But what turns that into a success is that the character material and great performances stop this from becoming camp. It's like if *Spock's Brain* had zigged every place where it actually zagged.

Spock is changed from an alien with a few quirks, into an alien whose actions are unfathomable. He's unsettling in his aggression and secrecy, and in hindsight, we see his story as a struggle between the unwanted demands of his body and the self-image of Spock. That chink in his armour that shows, despite his claim that he has no ego to bruise, he most definitely places his pride over the logic of the situation.

Kirk's story is of a man who must balance between loyalty to Starfleet and loyalty to his friend. Not just the decision to detour to Vulcan, but in letting an increasingly erratic Spock continue at his post. And his loyalty to Spock is so great, that he does that detour against orders, *only because* he can't give a satisfactory reason to get permission to do that. He could've just told them the truth and obviously, they could have said, 'Well, we're not going to let Spock die.', but he would rather risk his career than betray the secret that Spock gave him. Even if that would have saved Spock's life. And the final scene, with Spock's elated reaction to Kirk being alive, shows that his own feelings trump that pride. That, even for a moment, he'll drop his defences for his good friend.

And even McCoy, who so frequently takes shots at Spock, makes only one remark in this entire episode, and that's after everything is fine and Spock had that huge emotional display. But in all the instances, he shows respect for a man and a culture that he has so frequently attacked in the past. That the barbs, even in anger, are only cover for genuine admiration and friendship.

*Amok Time* is all about the execution. While there are some lighthearted moments, they're mostly for Chekhov and just to keep the tension from becoming too much. The episode never winks at the camera. It is, even at its potentially silliest moments, possessed of a sincerity that keeps things serious. And that is its saving grace. From this, we get things like the Vulcan salute and 'Live long and prosper...', and further background on Spock's family and homeworld. It was a landmark episode for its time, and even today, when all those things are so commonplace they might shrink to unimportance, the episode itself still holds up.

A final note. Curing Spock's condition by having him fight Kirk might seem off-putting, but it turns out that there might actually be a real world connection. From an *actual article* in the *official* journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, about 'blue balls', and I quote: 'The treatment is sexual release, or perhaps straining to move a very heavy object.' I applaud their attempts to not only address this issue, but to obviously phrase it in a way to show just how serious a matter this is..."

### Annoying Character

***Duckman***

"Annoying Character goes to Daffy Duck Face. Yeah."

### Lazarus of the Week

***Kirk***

"Tough call, but I'm awarding Kirk a Lazarus of the Week this week, since he died enough for Spock to get over his blue balls, so I'll say that counts."

## See also

* Opinionated Star Trek Episode Guide
* Star Trek Season 2 reviews