Star Trek: Season Two
Two seasons into this terrible idea of watching every episode and movie of the Star Trek franchise, I’m beginning to feel the incline of the mountain that I thought would be fun to climb. For every sense that the original series of Star Trek was ahead of its time — and it truly was! — there’s also the sense of the original series of Star Trek being very much of its time; and oh boy, how it loved the 1960s.
VH1’s “I Love The 1960s”
One of the more encouraging things about the second season of Star Trek is seeing the show’s world start to expand. Even as Gene Roddenbery and his writers could never have imagined that we’d be talking about Star Trek (as a franchise, let alone a TV show) over half a century later, it’s remarkable to note how they, as far back in 1968, were aware that their sandbox was growing. The second season of Star Trek sees the return of the Klingons as more than just the first season’s villains of the week; but perhaps more poignantly, it also sees the beginning of Captain James Kirk’s antipathy for them. For a show that, per convention at the time, hit the reset button at the end of every episode, it’s fascinating to see this character development for the otherwise flawless Kirk (in a show, and in a time, that didn’t really deal in character development).
Looking back on it 56 years later, it’s still a little clunky; notwithstanding the return of the Klingons making the world of Star Trek a little bitter, they don’t get a fraction of the writing that will eventually make them much-loved allies in later series, and still come off as one-dimensional bad guys to make our humans look good. Nonetheless, it’s hard not to take notice one of the defining elements of the entire Star Trek franchise take form.
Those Two Episodes We’re Contractually Obligated To Have to Talk About
Maybe that’s what makes Season 2 all the more frustrating. Because for every sense there is that Star Trek was planting the seeds of a legendary and universal (no pun intended) cultural touchstone, there is also the sense like it was actively trying to undo its own hard work.
There are no brownie points to be had for saying that Star Trek was progressive in many ways — there arguably would never have been a future franchise if it wasn’t — and that makes the places where it fell short all the more baffling. “Patterns of Force” tries to preach the evils of fascism, but it comes horrifically close to complementing Hitler’s Third Reich (or, at the very least, damning the Nazis with faint praise). “The Omega Glory” — already a contender for one of the worst of the series — tiptoes towards something approaching an insightful commentary on the nature of racism, before veering towards a full-throated defense of American exceptionalism (replete with the episode ending on a shot of the American flag).
For a show that based its world on the premise that humanity had moved past nationalistic trumpeting, it is a very jarring choice.
The Kirk Directive
“Patterns of Force” and “The Omega Glory” are two of a number of episodes of Season 2 (“A Piece of the Action” and “Bread and Circuses” among the others) that have the crew beaming down to the planet of the week to solve internecine conflicts that so closely resemble human history. Boring as the trope quickly becomes, it’s hard to overlook the bigger problem of colonial entitlement that Kirk and crew bring every week. While Spock diligently reminds Kirk of the non-interference directive, Kirk finds some loophole to very much interfere, solving the planet’s problems with just enough time to get a Spock and McCoy routine (more on that in a minute) before the end credits roll.
And, yes, I know; in 1968, the idea of “colonial entitlement” was better known as “what, that’s a bad thing?” One reason I’m doing this franchise marathon insanity is to see how Star Trek grew up, and how it handles the fact that, as much as none of us would be here without James Kirk and his interpretation of the rules, we’ve also come a long way since the Kirk Directive.
Kirk’s Perks
Maybe I don’t understand the conventions of TV writing from the 1960s, but there were so many tonally-odd choices for humor; in otherwise dramatic episodes, scenes end with a quip and a light-hearted piece of music; or the episodes themselves still ending with Kirk chuckling at McCoy and Spock going at it (when Spock is obviously right and McCoy is being a jerk for no reason). Again, “Patterns of Force” is a baffling choice; not just to reduce the Nazis to being really effective administrators (if not for the whole mass murdering thing), but still finishing the episode with Kirk lovingly telling his boys to stop fighting.
If I keep harping on “Patterns of Force,” put it down to me not understanding how the decision could have been made to set an story in (for all intents and purposes) Nazi Germany, and then fail to treat either its setting or its subject matter with anything resembling an appropriate degree of gravitas.
“Bread and Circuses” stands out as a similarly egregious offender; another “Earth history” planet, another contrived McCoy/Spock quarrel (albeit this one with a decent resolution) but this time, Kirk actually makes time to sleep with his assigned slave! Even knowing his friends were locked up! The perks of the job!
The Bad Doctor
And, oh yes, the McCoy/Spock thing. This won’t win me any fans in the Facebook groups, but sometimes, like in “The Immunity Syndrome,” the friction between Spock and McCoy seems more antagonistic than good-natured. McCoy, particularly, does not come off well in Season 2, often being sullenly put in his place by Spock’s cold (and, ultimately, effective) logic. McCoy’s characterization swings from him being a crusty country doctor, to him being a cantankerous grump who signed up to see the stars and then hated every minute of it.
I know many writers better than me have cited the Spock/McCoy relationship as one of the reasons the original series of Star Trek is still so fondly remembered; and I’m aware that the movies had more breadth and scope to expand that relationship, with bigger stakes. But to see the two go at it episode after episode, with the needle not moving an inch, makes the interactions look like a pointless exercise in padding. As a Starfleet officer and a doctor, McCoy’s inability to understand non-human perspectives (at best), or his simple antagonism towards Spock (at worst) does not cover him in glory.
These Are Still the Voyages…
It is, perhaps, an exercise in futility to look at the second season of Star Trek with modern goggles; but how else to watch the episodes ever again? As much as it is possible to see the seeds that would grow into a franchise, it’s equally true that the original Star Trek series didn’t get everything right, regardless of the context in which we watch it.
So as frustrated as I am, I remind myself: there’s just one more season to go.
