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Wolf in the Fold

Wolf in the Fold
Rating: “Fascinating”

Synopsis: Kirk, Dr. McCoy, and Mr. Scott are on Orgellius 2 enjoying some time off, having drinks, and watching a belly-dancer. Scotty, being vaguely referenced in the episode as having issues with women, takes a walk with the bellydancer on a foggy night. A scream is heard, the bellydancer is found stabbed, and Scotty is discovered with the knife.

While the murder is being investigated by the chief administrator of Orgellius, Jaris, and a lawyer-type named Hengist; Lt. Karen Tracy is beamed down from the Enterprise to give Scotty some vague psychoanalytical test. However Lt. Tracey, like the bellydancer, is stabbed as well. Sybo, Jaris’ wife, is called to give a séance to discover the truth of the murders. But in the dark she too is stabbed to death after describing an ancient evil and screaming out the strange words “Rejack, Boradis, Kesla” with Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, Jaris, Hengist, and the bellydancer’s fiancée and father present.

Scotty is then brought to “trial” for the murders on board the Enterprise. Scotty testifies that something cold and evil passed by him in the dark. Kirk asks if it was “someone” and Scotty re-iterates that it was “something.” Scotty gives a lie detector test that says he is telling the truth and that he doesn’t remember anything that has happened, having blacked out during the two murders previous to Sybo’s murder.

Kirk asks the computer to identify the words uttered by Sybo before she was killed- Rejack, Boradis, and Kesla. The computer identifies them as names given to past mass murderers. It identifies more specifically Rejack as an alternate name given to an unidentified early 20^th Century mass murderer called Jack the Ripper. Spock identifies the murderer as an alien presence that feeds on the emotion of fear, having traced murder records in star systems that follow a specific pattern. They also identify the murder weapon as one used by a tribe of people on Rigel 4.

“Mr. Hengist”, of course, is your murderer.

However, the alien leaves “Mr. Hengist,” leaving him dead after a simple punch from Kirk. But the alien enters the ship’s computer, leaving it out of control. In order to kill the creature or get it to leave, Kirk and Spock hypothesize that the crew and all on board must drive out their own fear to destroy the creature.

This had the dangerous potential of being just another murder mystery in space. I am not educated enough in literature to know if the murder mystery is one of the basic plotlines of literature, but it seems like every show has one, and Trek is no different. The most compelling points of the show are the breaking down of what or who the “killer” is. At times, the show contains a lot of mundane spookiness, especially the séance scene. I’m intrigued by the recasting of Jack the Ripper as an evil alien who travels through time and space, creating murder and havoc. That’s pretty imaginative. The worst part of the episode is the whole thing with Scotty blacking out, having issues with women, and the like. It is really kind of silly. I understand that you have to have a hero in peril, but it really becomes a bit ridiculous. I have not yet decided if the crazy voice used by Rejack in the computer is creepy or just silly.

The high point of the episode, as you may have guessed, coming from me, is a demonstration of Trek’s not-so-special effects. The actor who plays Hengist is a man named John Feidler. Mr. Feidler is a slight man who typically plays very mild-mannered, sort of wimpy characters. If I am not mistaken, he was the voice of Piglet on Winnie the Pooh. That should give you some idea of who the evil Rejack is. When Hengist is being revealed as the murderer while on the “witness stand,” he is supposed to explode off the stand, beating up everyone on site. However, as the camera pans away from his closeup, the slight Hengist played by John Feidler all of a sudden becomes a very muscular guy made bald like Feidler with a ghastly, obvious skull cap.

Just another example of the awkward special effects of Star Trek.

Mirror, Mirror

Mirror, Mirror

Rating: “Jim!”
Synopsis:

Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, and Uhura are caught in the energizer during an ion storm, and wind up on a different Enterprise than the one they had left. Spock now has a beard and salutes him in a sort of Nazi-istic fashion. Errors are also punished with a device called an agonizer, which Kcops uses on what appears to be Lt. Kyle.

Kirk and the other three discuss the strange things they see, and Kirk orders Uhura to go to the bridge to look at the latest logs. While there, Uhura is met by Sulu. But Sulu is very amorous and has somehow acquired an ugly scar on the side of his face. Kirk comes onto the bridge and Kcops is there, too. Kirk, instead of annihilating the Halkans, as ordered by……The Empire?…for not giving up their dilithium crystals gives them a little more time. Kcops is unsure of this, and says he will have to report Kirk. Kirk then leaves the bridge and is joined by Chekov. Strangely, Chekov, along with a few other men, attempt to kill Kirk. Vokehc is knocked out by what appears to be some of Kirk’s own henchmen. Eventually, the heroes figure out they are caught in some sort of parallel universe, and with the help of Kcops, are brought back to their own Enterprise.

There isn’t really much to say in terms of plot with this episode. I wouldn’t begin to know if this is the original “mirror universe” science fiction story, but it’s the first I’ve ever seen of it. I’m a huge fan of mirror universe stuff. I love the dynamic of the familiar being unfamiliar. I gave “Mirror, Mirror” a rating of “JIM!”, but I have always felt it could have been much more. There have been other episodes in comics and novels that have revisited the mirror universe, but I haven’t read them.

The fun of this episode for me has always been to imagine what the other crew members are like. Sure, we see that Spock has a beard, Sulu has a scar, and Chekov has no physical changes. But like Sulu, he is vicious. We see a short bit of mirror Kirk, or Krik, as I might like to call him, but it’s rather unremarkable. I imagine Krik would be closer to the animalistic side of Kirk that we see in the episode “The Enemy Within.” Krik is probably a womanizer, maybe even guilty of rape and alcoholism. Eh, I don’t know. Maybe that’s a little too dark. I also, for some reason, imagine him to be a heavy cigar smoker. I can’t imagine what Dr.Yoccm would look like or Aruhu would look like. I imagine Aruhu wearing slightly heavier, darker eye makeup. I imagine Yttocs to be bald and go a few days without shaving.

My favorite component of this episode, however, is a little more subtle. At one point, Ulus is subtly threatening Kcops with assassination, but Kcosp says that his associates would surely avenge his death. He informs Ulus that his associates are, “…..as you know………Vulcan.” That is TOUGH.

My Forbidden Love

I’ve got a confession to make.

I am in love with R2D2.

Alas, mine is a forbidden love, twice over. For one thing, he is a droid. And I am a man of fleshy stuff-skin and bones. If that wasn’t enough, R2 is also a dude, like myself. I realized it when C-3PO referred to his companion as “he” when talking to Luke-“Oh, he excels at that.” I also put two and two together when R2 whipped it out to access the mainframe of the Death Star to shut down all the garbage smashers on the detention level.

I wonder which is the greater no-no: love for “fellow man,” or love for droid. In the hi-tech times to come, I wonder if the taboo of a homosexual relationship will be a thing of the past and the real threat will be relations of flesh to metal.

One thing is for sure. R2 surely has it going on. There’s no situation for which he is not prepared. Did you see how he flew with rocket boosters in the apocryphal trilogy? Or how he was able to slice through the Ewok’s rope net at a moment’s notice? And where would Luke be without R2 in the back of the X-wing fighter? I’ll tell you where: lost in space with a damaged power coupling, that’s where. Being with that spunky little robot would inspire such a feeling of security to well up in my heart that I scarce could keep it in.

And there’s something about his bobbling way of walking and cute little egg-headed, milk-carton shape that reaches out to me and says, “Welcome home, friend.” I’m not ashamed to say that many is the time I have dreamed of running a damp cloth over his dusty metal frame, intoning “Well done, my faithful little servant.” And then there’s his mellifluous voice, which is like so many exotic birds singing in my brain.

Like I said- mine is a forbidden love, an impossibility. For not only are R2 and I separated as man and machine, but also as man and fictional character. He doesn’t even really exist. But if I could somehow escape this present reality, if I too were a figment of George Lucas’s imagination, there could be no restraining bolt strong enough to keep me from R2D2.