Plot – ‘Follow the rabbit…I’ll backtrack the girl’ When the White Rabbit and Alice in Wonderland show up on the planet you know that you are in for an interesting time. It’s one of the first times that Star Trek has let its hair down like this and so it is worth watching as an exercise to see whether that is something the show can successfully do or not.
It does take quite a while for anybody to say ‘what the hell is going on on this planet?’ It takes an astonishing 35 minutes before anybody posits that the very thing people are thinking about are becoming reality. Say what you will about If Wishes Were Horses…at least they reached that conclusion in the first five minutes.
Character – Kirk getting a massage on the Bridge from his Yeoman? Why does it have to be a woman who does this? Wouldn’t it be far more amusing if it was Bones?
There’s an emphasis on the strain that the missions have caused the crew of the Enterprise and the fact that they need a rest. Why Kirk would think that that doesn’t include him baffles me but Spock knows better. The huge smile on his face when he sees Ruth isn’t the usual Shatner lust but genuine affection and love. It’s a side to Kirk I haven’t seen before and I really like it. All Kirk needed was a slugging match with his old Academy rival to iron out the knots in his back.
Take away all the melodrama and the romance and it leaves you with a cast who have been acting together for some time now and luxuriate in some gorgeous chemistry. The sense of fun in the cast is infectious and it’s wonderful to see them smiling so much, cracking so many jokes and simply enjoying being together. That infectious spirit that people claim that TOS has a monopoly on is in abundance in Shore Leave.
I’ve heard much of Bones the romantic and it is nice to see him in action here. He’s very charming and has a completely different approach to women than Kirk, working those warm blue eyes and lots of subtle touching.
Finnegan is a proto Joker all hooting laughter and bullying ways. He’s pretty creepy in his relentlessly cheerful, unpredictable way.
Production – TOS is known for its outrageously theatrical planetary landscape sets and so it’s a delight to be able to watch the crew having an adventure in such luxurious location surroundings. The director shoots the hell out of the paradise planet and it holds up as classy location work to this day.
The tracking shot when Kirk runs away from Finnegan and towards the scream. This is directed with some serious panache. Apparently, the director (Robert Sparr) upset the actors because he was more concentrated on bringing this bizarre piece to life than stroking their egos and so he never directed for the series again (although there were plans for him to do so). I wish more directors had taken this approach if the results were as pleasant on the eyes as this one.
I find the music on TOS veers between the obvious (usually during romantic moments) and the atmospheric and exciting. It is entirely dependent on who is scoring the episode and the tone and the execution of the piece. Gerald Fried not only understands the attitude of this episode and how to enhance but he also delivers some of the most memorable music for the Original Series.
Best moment – ‘Captain take cover, there’s a Samurai after me!’ sums up this episode rather well. Isn’t great that the rock lifts so insanely from the ground and the warrior pops out?
Sir Lancelot impales McCoy and Kirk brings him down with a six shooter? What is this madness?
Worst moment – Visible stuntmen in an otherwise stunning action sequence on the rocks. Kirk is dirty, bloody and tired. It’s the most realistic ‘school rivalry’ fight on film.
I wish they hadn’t done that – Yeoman. It’s the personal assistants of the TOS universe and they are all women (except a few rare occasions). They are treated as serious members of the crew (which is a relief) but there is something outdated about the idea of women, dressed up to look attractive, delivering coffees, giving massages and passing equipment to much more senior and capable men. ‘Even before my tunic was torn…’ – there is a massive difference between tearing off Kirk’s shirt and flashing a bit of chest to stroke Shatner’s ego and tearing a Yeoman’s top and almost exposing her breasts!
A reason to watch this episode again – This is an episode that could happily be called ‘Quirky Shit Happens’ because there is no real dramatic or comedic impetus for any of this to happen beyond giving the cast (and the show) the chance to relax and enjoy themselves. I can’t say I didn’t find it thoroughly enjoyable though because on a scene by scene basis this is outrageous, silly and a great deal of fun to watch. The definition of an enjoyable adventure on a planet. Utterly disposable and yet in the first season, absolutely essential. Poor Uhura though, she doesn’t get to have any fun at all.
**** out of *****
Clue for tomorrow's episode:
Check out Random Trek if you are looking for a Trek podcast that studies Trek episodes in a terrific amount of detail but does so in an entertaining and brisk way. A podcast that has new guests on every week and they each bring a new perspective on the episode that has been selected for them and the franchise as a whole. I've trawled through many Trek podcasts, this is by far my favourite:
https://www.theincomparable.com/randomtrek/
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