Ideas may be bulletproof, but nobody’s tried plasma rifles

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L.I. Underhill is a media critic and historian specializing in pop culture, with a focus on science fiction (especially Star Trek) and video games. Their projects include a critical history of Star Trek told through the narrative of a war in time, a “heretical” history of The Legend of Zelda series and a literary postmodern reading of Jim Davis' Garfield.

5 Comments

  1. Adam Riggio
    October 16, 2013 @ 7:57 am

    All I really remember about this episode was that Diana Muldaur was in it, and that it didn't really make any damn sense. It really is true that the story feels like an explosion of insanity. It's almost as if the first half were written as a meditation on the nature of truth and knowledge, how we can become devoted to them as if through love, and how love can interfere with understanding knowledge. Then the writer makes all the characters explode to create some kind of adventure, as if the producers had no idea how to make exciting things happen from those themes.

    Sad, really.

    Reply

  2. Flex
    October 16, 2013 @ 9:52 am

    This episode is like a puzzle where none of the pieces seem to fit and you get the feeling the picture you'll find once it's all together won't be worth the effort it took in the first place, so just bin the damned thing and go find out where that leak in the corner is coming from because I don't think the pipes go by that corner and it really doesn't make any sense and oh lord how much is this going to cost me?

    That got away from me a little bit, but you get the idea.

    Reply

  3. Josh Marsfelder
    October 16, 2013 @ 10:21 am

    No, no, that's a very apt simile.

    Reply

  4. K. Jones
    October 19, 2013 @ 4:58 am

    I've got to go over the episode, but either way Muldaur gets pretty high marks; this might be her most miscast, and least effective character, but she's still as memorable as ever. Kollos is a less effective take on the Mother Horta parables, but there's a sort of pseudo-psychedelia to go along with the heavy emphasis on psychic contact, gender ideals and outer versus inner beauty that is at least poignant and apropos, aesthetically.

    I did like the covert expansion of Vulcan that came in this episode quite a bit – it not only gave us the IDIC, it also informed us that inexperienced telepathic species go to study with the Vulcans.

    Reply

  5. BerserkRL
    December 20, 2013 @ 5:06 pm

    we all carry inner ugliness we're continually fighting against. In that case I have two things to say: One, that's intolerably pop Christian. It's just demons and original sin with the serial numbers filed off.

    Well, it's not specifically Christian; it's a common theme in many belief systems around the world (Neo-Confuciansim, for example).

    Reply

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