STAR TREK
For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky

From Wikipedia:

"For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky" is the eighth episode of the third season of Star Trek: The Original Series. It was aired by NBC on November 8, 1968 and was written by Rik Vollaerts, and directed by Tony Leader.

Overview: The crew of the Enterprise rush to stop an asteroid from colliding with a Federation world, but discover the asteroid is actually an inhabited generation ship.

More here.

Watch it here.

Pics and notes:

* Very nice opening few seconds with missiles and cool dramatic music.

* McCoy and Chapel: this looks like it's turning into a Lifetime disease-of-the-week movie.



* McCoy is totally stoic about his impending death.

* Nice asteroid. Looks just like the one from "The Paradise Syndrome."



* Scotty in command!



* I'm very fond of Star Trek red skies.



* Okay, these suits are just goofy, but I like the weird entrance.



* Hot babe, bad hair.



* Cool stair shot close up.



* They all have bad hair. And bad hats.



* Silly ritual arm movement.

* "Oh, Oracle..." This is very Tarzan.



* Kirk: "We come in friendship." Oracle: "Then learn what it means to be our enemy before you learn what it means to be our friend." That's what I tell people when I meet them, myself.



* Okay, Spock's concern for McCoy, grabbing his shoulder to steady him, is quite nice.



* Wasn't the old guy in "Where No Man Has Gone Before"? Or am I just tripping on the buttheads music from that episode playing now?

* The wincing has always weirded me out a bit.

* "For the world is hollow and I have touched the sky." Bad space trash-poetry. Good name for a prog rock album, though.

* The red dot of death was a strong image to me as a kid. Still kind of interesting.



* What's-her-name is about as interesting as cardboard. Like a thirties lost civilization movie thingy.

* You know, McCoy's not half bad playing romance. Better than Kirk, actually. But man, she's just so awful. Not much for him to work with.

* She's proposing to him after like an hour? These people don't waste time.

* God, please end this scene. Poor DeForest.



* Spock: "The writing is definitely Fabrini." Nice little galactic history lesson. Good sci-fi shit.



* Is James Doohan, you know, Scotty, doing the Oracle's voice? Sure sounds like it.

* McCoy must "agree to the insertion of the instrument of obedience"? I met a woman dressed in black leather at a party in Austin years ago that said something like that to me.

* I do like the negative image punishment stuff. Again, I'm reminded of "Where No Man Has Gone Before."



* More bad ritual for the wedding.



* Uh oh. McCoy's getting hit by the red dot of death. Nice scream as he collapses.



* Kind of rapist creepy when Kirk grabs Natira.



* Kirk talking sense sets off her red dot.



* Cool red shift when the Oracle tries to bake everybody.



* Strangely, the Oracle's innards look just like a room on the Enterprise.



* Despite the hokey dialogue, and his scene partner's inability to connect with him, McCoy's got a really sincere approach to love scenes. Good stuff. At least his stuff. They should have had him falling in love at least once a season.



* McCoy's treatment: back to Lifetime territory.



* So how many stars does this one get? Tough call. It's not great, so it doesn't merit four stars, and it has some truly atrocious moments, which brings it down to two stars or lower. But it does have some really nice moments, worth watching if only to see them. Two and a half? Let's go with three. Just for Spock tenderly grabbing McCoy's shoulder.

So the great run does not continue. Oh well, you can't be great every week.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$