MAKE IT POLL: ILX Star Trek nominations thread at last! VOTING ENDS 2016/09/09

will get hi and choke up this and subsequent threads at some point but for now here's a block of advocacy from somewhere else:

"balance of terror" a big one for me despite its leaving out most of the usual star trek stuff in favor of what's basically a naval-combat drama. but its empathy for the romulans is very trek.

the diptych of s2's "a private little war" (allegory not for vietnam but for the self-exculpating american fantasy of vietnam; comes down on the side of the war but allows bones a furious dissent) and whatever that s3 one's called where the gas is making everybody hate each other (first line on return from commercial: "we must stop this war now") is pretty central

i love the colors and the kirk pauses in "the gamesters of triskelion" but the drag queen jokes are a drag

"the squire of gothos" a #1 contender imo -- weird, funny, has a nice after-school point to make about power and maturity, lots of fuck yeah kirk stuff. some people prob find the squire unwatchable tho.

spock character episodes always good: "amok time", "journey to babel", the one where he defects to the romulans.

"mirror mirror" the absolute peak of Goofy Trek, partly because it's not all goofy. evil spock -- so totally similar to good spock -- the scariest villain in the whole show. evil kirk on the other hand a hilarious idiot. spock's reply to "what is it you want, spock? power? i can get that for you, spock! I CAN GET THAT FOR YOU!" is nimoy's single best "fascinating."

― denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Thursday, March 3, 2016 1:12 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

whatever that s3 one's called where the gas is making everybody hate each other

(this is "day of the dove" btw and it's not really very interesting but i do still recommend "a private little war" which is a very vivid artifact. a piece of simplistic self-regarding propaganda with the weird decency to end in doubt.)

I wanna rep for Plato's Stepchildren

genuinely creepy one

"devil in the dark" is often and rightly cited as an excellent one but it can prob be pretty boring for an initiate -- no crew outside of the main three, no enterprise stuff to speak of or possibly iirc at all, dramatic climax a scene where leonard nimoy presses dramatic claw-hands to a shuffling carpet draped over some stagehands and howls "PAIN!!!!". still v empathetic, v trek.

it has a lot of my favorite Trek elements - classical allusions, characters being forced to act ridiculous, a couple genuinely moving monologues, a progressive groundbreaking TV moment, great supporting characters and of course it looks fantastic

xp

my favorite Trek elements - classical allusions

otm. soft spot for "who mourns for adonais?" (the One With The Hand) for this reason. whole premise of show obv pretty odyssey tho not i guess as odyssey as voyager.

yeah that one's great, although Adonais is not quite as engaging a character as Alexander the Dwarf.

I'm somewhere in the middle of TOS season 1 and it's gotten a lot more interesting than the first third of episodes. I like the Trelane one, and the one where "The Galileo Seven" are really fun!

i'm gonna take some time and sit down w/ it but at this moment were i forced to choose, i'd be hard pressed to put anything above balance of terror. what a great episode.

no. no. he's shrewd, this starship commander. he tries to make us waste energy.

Kinda wish this poll came out after the hella mega TOS+TAS+OG movies bluray set was available because that's when I was planning to properly dive into the old stuff.

OH YES "Balance of Terror"! Love Romulans.

OL I might extend the voting deadline just so I can finish TOS off myself.

I'll be voting. I've seen the first two seasons of TOS, all of TNG, a few random DS9 episodes and most of the first two seasons of Voyager. Is there anything in TOS season 3 I should watch before voting?

i'm gonna be that guy who has multiple Voyager eps on their ballot

good-to-great TOS S3 episodes:

Spock's Brain
And the Children Shall Lead
Is There In Truth No Beauty?
Plato's Stepchildren (as discussed)
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
The Way to Eden (SPACE HIPPIES!)
The Cloud Minders
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky

TOS had the best episode titles that's for sure

last battlefield will prob make my list. it gets a lot of flak for being heavy-handed, but i think it's great!

Frank Gorshin at his hammy best

Spock's Brain is the Showgirls of ST

(garbage, it is)

And the Children Shall Lead also krap

Belli is rolling in his grave

I have seen Spock's Brain and it is indeed crap. The Enterprise Incident is the highest rated S3 episode on IMDB -- I just watched it, and won't be voting for it.

Graph TV:
TOS http://graphtv.kevinformatics.com/tt0060028
TNG http://graphtv.kevinformatics.com/tt0092455
DS9 http://graphtv.kevinformatics.com/tt0106145
VOY http://graphtv.kevinformatics.com/tt0112178
ENT http://graphtv.kevinformatics.com/tt0244365

Hmm, my possible #1 (TNG) is rated only just above average.

I remember the "Nazi" one, did that ever get shown again?

I would vote in this poll, but I would only vote for the "Original" episodes, and the films at a stretch.

And, most of these I've not seen since 1968 or thereabouts.

My top two would be the Time travel/Joan Collins one, and "Mudds Women" probably.

Joan Collins one is "City on the Edge of Forever" and is just ok imo

Can I vote just to put all my points into "Darmok"?

that's def my highest tng ep.

"Amok Time" a #1 contender for Vulcan horniness, presided over by Peter Lorre's first wife

"city on the edge of forever" is hugely overrated i think, slow and schmaltzy, plus afaict the point of it is that if there's a really important war on (they pretend they're talking about ww2, but uh) it's best to kill pacifists? spock's outfits are funny tho

"spock's brain" is camp, essential in its way but not recommended in the earnest way i recommend most of this.

"for the world is hollow and i have touched the sky" is downhill from its title imo, but that's a big hill.

killing pacifists is standard liberal palaver, if you've been following social media this year

tho Ellison complained about his script as aired

why would i follow social media this year

Ellison complains about everything fwiw

"amok time" def great -- the most important kirk/spock bropisode (the smile), but also some great fantasy set design and space ritual. features the first appearance iirc of the lil vulcan meditation chamber in spock's otherwise federation-issue quarters which i think is so cool.

ellison later republished the original script of "city" w/ this hilarious cover:

http://harlanellison.com/review/covers/cvforever.jpg

i have no mouth and i must lol

Should we do a side poll for 'best Beastie Boys song in a movie reboot installment'?

share mark's fondness for "mudd's women" tho i like "i, mudd" a lot more. mudd btw would be #1 on my list of villains to resurrect if given charge of a star trek movie so be thankful there are people w worse ideas than jj.

i have no mouth and i must lol

lmao

btw i read the ellison "city" book when i was like 15 and remember very little about it other than the rather amazing fact that gene roddenberry went around for years (falsely) telling ppl that the reason they rejected ellison's original draft is that he had "scotty dealing drugs on the enterprise"

haha i just went thru the wiki section about the teleplay and it's... convoluted. much rancor over a proposed plot device involving mccoy injecting himself w dangerous drugs as well. as far as i can tell tho the distinct fuck-the-hippies vibe is ellison's.

(it's not that strident, kirk abandons joan collins w regret and admiration, etc, but idk it still feels nixonian to me. also not sure what exactly happens w/r/t pearl harbor in the joan collins lives timeline. usa turns the other cheek i guess.)

Ellison there looks like Michael Dunn in "Plato's Stepchildren"

Jeffrey Tambor IS Harry Mudd

i did always wonder why they didn't just take joan collins back to the future w/ them, but maybe that wasn't an option w/ that particular time machine

her absence from 1930 Chicago (or was it NY?) might've also caused the Nazis to win

idk if i like any episode that takes place on earth. spock peering through the goggles at a backlot set and saying "strange, captain -- it bears a surprising resemblance to mid-20th-century earth" -- that's fine. the planet of warners gangsters is fine. just as long as it's not earth. even star trek iv is working at a huge disadvantage w me.

IDW recently adapted Ellison's teleplay for a 5-ish series:

http://www.flickeringmyth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/cotef.jpg

idk if i like any episode that takes place on earth

the only good one is the Gary 7/Terri Gar one imo

eh the animated series really doesn't hold up imo

I mean it's fun in a campy Adult Swim way but the animation is terrible and the stories are uniformly sloppy/dopey

the thing i like about it is it's the only series that can have actual alien-looking aliens in it, like that yellow insectoid bird thing that's just hanging out w them at one point

haha yeah that's true it does go places the live action show couldn't

the episode where all the male crew get sirened and uhura takes command of the ship is really cheesy but on the other hand UHURA TAKES COMMAND OF THE SHIP

anyway it was admittedly hard enough making the last few cuts as it was.

Did you get my ballot?

the thing i like about it is it's the only series that can have actual alien-looking aliens in it, like that yellow insectoid bird thing that's just hanging out w them at one point

The unicorn dog in 'enemy within' not good enough for you?

i did think of "devil in the dark"'s snuffling carpet while posting that

Ledge, yes, got your ballot. We have all of 11 now! (May have miscounted earlier.)

Make that 12!

When's the reveal?

If people are OK with only 13 ballots, I'll work something out with Chuck Tatum for the reveal.

I'm always bummed when a poll doesn't break 20 ballots but that's just me

7 more may be asking a lot. I tried to get Carl to submit one but she never had the time.

Considering how many times I've extended the deadline, that's a lot of time!

I know, priorities, man.

can't make people vote whadayagonnado

Bumping to let you all know I'm collating the ballots now! Remember Me You are not forgotten!

Thank you sir.

And if anyone were to slip a ballot in the meantime, well, golly, I haven't been keeping track of datestamps or anything...

:D

Did morbz vote before he was banned

No. :(

Goddammit