Enterprise is taken over by a race of people who exist at a faster speed.
This is reasonably enjoyable episode that for me has more positives than negatives.
The main premise of the story is a brilliant sci-fi concept, but unfortunately it generates a Grand Canyon size plot hole that requires a generous nature to suspend the disbelief.
Luckily, I have a generous nature and made my self focus on the positives. In true Star Trek style, it involves some quite clever moments of characters thinking their way around the problem and using the higher rate of speed to their advantage.
From a character perspective, I enjoyed the exchanges between Kirk and Deela. Despite being a romance of the week, there is a clear screen chemistry between William Shatner and Kathie Brown. Even though she falls for a seduction tactic, Deela is an relatively interesting and strong character, who leads her people and has some quite memorable dialogue.
Leonard Nimoy is as great as always playing the 'fascinated' Mr Spock as cool and industrious as ever. When Kirk and Spock glance at it each other in the corridor, you know all will soon be well.
I like the cinematography, which tells the story visually through good use of angles and character body language. One moment where Kirk is visible in the mirror as Deela brushes her hair works very well, as does the fairy risqué post-coital sequence. I love the costumes and not just for the awesome dress worn by Deela, but that transparent garment worn by the men which looks very uncomfortable on Jason Evers, but is hilariously memorable.
Where it fails is in the obvious problem of the plot threads involving characters moving at different speeds progressing alongside each other. Plus there is too much repetition and virtually no mystery. Personally I would have written it in a way that showed Kirk disappearing first and then we see Spock, McCoy etc figure it out via a series of clues. They could have shown everything from Kirk's perspective much later after the reveal. The ending feels pretty cold and uncharitable with no signs of Kirk or the Federation looking to help the Scalosians.
This is reasonably enjoyable episode that for me has more positives than negatives.
The main premise of the story is a brilliant sci-fi concept, but unfortunately it generates a Grand Canyon size plot hole that requires a generous nature to suspend the disbelief.
Luckily, I have a generous nature and made my self focus on the positives. In true Star Trek style, it involves some quite clever moments of characters thinking their way around the problem and using the higher rate of speed to their advantage.
From a character perspective, I enjoyed the exchanges between Kirk and Deela. Despite being a romance of the week, there is a clear screen chemistry between William Shatner and Kathie Brown. Even though she falls for a seduction tactic, Deela is an relatively interesting and strong character, who leads her people and has some quite memorable dialogue.
Leonard Nimoy is as great as always playing the 'fascinated' Mr Spock as cool and industrious as ever. When Kirk and Spock glance at it each other in the corridor, you know all will soon be well.
I like the cinematography, which tells the story visually through good use of angles and character body language. One moment where Kirk is visible in the mirror as Deela brushes her hair works very well, as does the fairy risqué post-coital sequence. I love the costumes and not just for the awesome dress worn by Deela, but that transparent garment worn by the men which looks very uncomfortable on Jason Evers, but is hilariously memorable.
Where it fails is in the obvious problem of the plot threads involving characters moving at different speeds progressing alongside each other. Plus there is too much repetition and virtually no mystery. Personally I would have written it in a way that showed Kirk disappearing first and then we see Spock, McCoy etc figure it out via a series of clues. They could have shown everything from Kirk's perspective much later after the reveal. The ending feels pretty cold and uncharitable with no signs of Kirk or the Federation looking to help the Scalosians.