The Baron Watches Star Trek (SPOILERS)

[The Baron]

What I've got is the new releases with the enhanced special effects - I'll comment on these as best I can, shame I haven't got the originals to compare and contrast, but such is life. I put up the "spoiler" just on the off chance that there's someone here that hasn't seen all these a million times - you never know, I suppose.

[Philip Portelli]

Yes it was the same actor.

And Kirk's head was echoing from all those Tribbles bouncing off his noggin!

[The Baron]

I had heard that in the sequel DS9 episode "Trials and Tribulation" that they got the exact same actor to play the Klingon spy again. But when I finally got to see that episode, I didn't recognise him. Should I have?

I didn't recognize him, either - I guess he's changed alot in thirty years.

[The Baron]

I, Mudd:

Written by Stephen Kandel

Directed by Marc Daniels

 

Synopsis: Harry Mudd returns, in command of a planet full of androids.

 

Thoughts:

1)"He's probably terrified of your beads and rattles."

 

2)"I am not programmed to respond in that area."

 

3)Good to see Harry Mudd again - he's almost like a Batman villain in this. Of course, he was a Batman villian at one point.

 

4)"You know this man, Captain?" Ah, good, Chekov doesn't recognize Harry.

 

5)You know, even if (if?) I was a deviant, middle-aged lech, 500 of the same "woman" seems a bit extreme to me.

 

6)"Who caught you?" "That, sir, is an outrageous assumption."  "Yes. Who caught you?"

 

7)"Spock, you're going to love it here, the all talk just the way that you do."

 

8)The business with Stella is funny at first glance, then becomes creepy the more you think about it.  Also, leaving a man with 500 of his ex-wife seems like cruel and unusual punishment.

 

9)"It is necessary to have purpose."  Really? Uh-oh.

 

10)"This place is even better than Leningrad."

 

11)I like how Kirk steps out of the way when Harry is knocked down, rather than catch him.

 

12)"How do you know so much?" "I asked them."

 

13)"I fail to understand why I should care to induce my mother to purchase falsified patents."

 

14)"Harry, I do beleive you're putting on weight."

 

15)"Next, we take the Alices on a trip through Wonderland."  I like how our heroes win through being silly and absurd.

 

16)"Logic is a little tweeting bird chirping in a meadow. Logic is a wreath of pretty flowers which smell bad."

 

17)"That sense of ... enterprise..."

 

18)"Now listen to me carefully, Norman: I am lying."

 

19)"No, you're an irritant."

 

20)Is it really within Kirk's purview to just leave this known felon on a planet full of andorids like that?  Surely there are authorities on various plants that might want to have a word with him?"

 

21)Also, if they discovered these quite "human" androids in the Twenty-Third Century, why is Data considered so all-fired marvelous in the Twenty-Fourth?

 

Overall:

A fun episode - another all-time favorite of mine.

 

 

 

 

 

[Henry R. Kujawa]

"Also, if they discovered these quite "human" androids in the Twenty-Third Century, why is Data considered so all-fired marvelous in the Twenty-Fourth?"

Because ST:TNG really sucks?

[The Baron]

I wouldn't go that far, but the first couple of seasons of TNG were often pretty brutal.

[Henry R. Kujawa]

The funny thing is... about a year ago, I watched the entire run of ST: TNG for the first time since it was first-run.  And I enjoyed the 1st season more than any of the later ones.  GO FIGURE!

[PowerBook Pete, the Mad Mod]

Did you have the flu at the time?

[Commander Benson]

The Baron said:

 

Is it really within Kirk's purview to just leave this known felon on a planet full of andorids like that?  Surely there are authorities on various plants that might want to have a word with him?"

The question might better be---does Captain Kirk have the authority to take Harry Mudd into custody? 

 

If I remember correctly, Mudd was a wanted felon, which would mean outstanding warrants for his arrest.  If Mudd were aboard Enterprise or on Starfleet property, then Kirk would have jurisdiction to toss him in the brig and turn him over to the cognizant law-enforcement authorities.

 

However, on Mudd's Planet (for lack of a better nomenclature), Kirk has no jurisdiction over non-Starfleet personnel.

 

Of course, I am analysing this from the U.S. military/civilian precipts of the twentieth century.  It's a given that things could be quite different in a fictional universe set in the far future.

 

In the real world, there is a clear line drawn between the U.S. military and civilian jurisdictions.  My first command tour was as C.O. of a training facility set in a city with no supporting military infrastructure.  In other words, the only military property was that upon which my facility stood.

 

Even though my command lied in the heart of a civilian city, the state and municipal police had no jurisdiction there.  A local cop, for example, could not enter my facility to serve a warrant on one of my crew (for a crime he had committed in town) and forcibly remove him.  Not without my permission.  (Which, of course, the lawman would receive; the point is---he had to have my permission, since he had no authority on military soil.)

 

By the same token, I had no authority when I was off-base, except over military personnel.  If I encountered a civilian with a stack of warrants extant for him, there was nothing I could do, other than what any other non-law-enforcement person could do.

 

Which raises the question of a citizen's arrest.  Each state has its own parameters for "citizen's arrest".  In most cases, it boils down to the citizen may only detain the offender and he may use force to do so only if the offender has committed, or is reasonably suspected of committing, a felony.

 

This is what I figure Captain Kirk did.  He had no authority to take Mudd into custody, so instead, he detained Mudd, by the simple expedient of leaving him on the planet with no way off.  Then, once back on board Enterprise (and after the episode had concluded), Kirk contacted the cognizant law-enforcement authorities and informed them where they could pick up Mudd.

[The Baron]

Interesting, that makes sense. Of course, by the nature of their mission, Kirk and company probably spend more time in territories not under any established jurisdiction than Twenty-First Century military personnel do. To an extent, there must be times when they're so far from any established authortiy that Kirk effectively is "the law", for all intents and purposes. Thinking about it, I imagine that, depending upon where he's assigned to patrol, a given starship captain might have a good deal more leeway in how to handle given situations. That is, Captain Smedley of the USS Indecipherable, who's patrolling the Home Systems That Have Been Thoroughly Explored and Well-Settled for Many Years Now, probably has less call to take extraordinary or extreme measures than would Captain Kadiddlehopper of the USS Lower Slobbovia, who's exploring the Unknown Outer Expanses That Are Really Far Away.

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

...Does anybody have anything to say about STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE ?

  I caught a lot of it on SyFy last night , I could not stay up long enough - I saw it theatrically when it was out .

  I know its " Star Trek - The Motionless Picture " rep but , in fact , at least the first hour or so's stately pace seemed sort of nice !!!!!!!!!

  A real look into another universe of no-longer existent SFX , too , models and background paintings ( I've forgotten the word for backdrop paintings . ) , a lost kingdom.........

( ooh , matte paintings !!!!!!!!! - that's the phrase . )

[PowerBook Pete, the Mad Mod]

This thread is a review of the original series as the Baron watches each episode in order. We have not gotten to The Motion Picture yet.

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

...Especially if I had managed to see it all , then , perhaps this could be its own thread , I wasn't aware that it was meant as chronological all 79 of TOS .