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Star Trek - Journey to Babel
episode 2.10
Raumschiff Enterprise - Reise nach Babel
USA 1967
produced by John Meredyth Lucas, Gene Roddenberry (executive) for Desilu, Norway Corporation/NBC
directed by Joseph Pevney
starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Jane Wyatt, Mark Lenard, Nichelle Nichols, William O'Connell, Majel Barrett, Walter Koenig, John Wheeler, James X. Mitchell, Reggie Nalder
written by D.C. Fontana, created by Gene Roddenberry, music by Gerald Fried
TV series Star Trek, Classic Star Trek, Star Trek (original crew)
review by Mike Haberfelner
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The Enterprise is tasked with taking a (literal) shipload of diplomats
from conflicting parties to the planet Babel for a piece confernce - and
Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and company have their hands full
preventing war from breaking up aboard the ship already, as the diplomats
seem to enjoy measuring each other in verbal skirmishes. One of the
diplomats is Spock's (Leonard Nimoy) estranged father Sarek (Mark Lenard),
arriving on the ship with Spock's human mother Amanda (Jane Wyatt). And
before long, Sarek is under suspicion of murdering a diplomat from another
planet (John Wheeler), a man he has had an argument with, and he hasn't
got an alibi for the time of the crime - so he only finds the suspicion
"logical", but then breaks down from a heart condition, and he
needs a blood transfusion pretty much immediately. Of course, the
Enterprise doesn't store Vulcan blood, and Spock is the only one sharing
his blood type. Spock agrees to a transfusion, but then Kirk is attacked
and gravely injured, so Spock "logically" has to assume command,
also because the Enterprise is under attack from an unknown vessel.
Ultimately to get Spock to donate blood to Sarek, Kirk and Dr. McCoy
(DeForest Kelley) have to pretend that Kirk's fine again - and Kirk plans
to give up command again as soon as Spock is on sick bay with his father,
but then things develop rather rapidly, and the man who attacked Kirk,
Andorian Thelev (William O'Connell), is found out to also be the killer of
the diplomat, and no Andorian even but a Romulan spy in league with the
attacking ship. Of course, with all that combined knowledge, Kirk is quick
to destroy the attacking ship, upon which Thelev kills himself swallowing
poison, and pretty much everyone returns to sick bay ... Reggie Nalder
plays an uncomfortably slick Andorian diplomat. Ok, there are
plotholes and leaps of reason in this episode, and not everything makes
perfect sense - but that said, it's really one of the most fun episodes of
the original series, as it has suspense and humour in all the right
places, doesn't show the universe as a good vs. evil entity but
diplomatically murky ground - thus giving the episode satirical context -
and really has its main characters' traits carry the story. And of course,
a strong cast really helps to pull this off, too.
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