Robert Block gives us his third Trek episode and once again, it's only ok. The potential is there for a good murder mystery but the script falls apart by the end.
Plot:Scott is suspected of killing several women while on shore leave on Argelius II.
Guest Stars:John Fiedler as Hengist (I love he is in this, having Piglet's voice screaming that they're all gonna die is priceless), Charles Macauley as Jaris, Pilar Seurat as Sybo
Nitpick:This episode gets ridiculed because of the rampant sexism throughout it. The one that drives me crazy is at the start. We find out that Scotty is on shore leave recovering from a head injury. The injury caused by an explosion, caused by a woman. McCoy is worried this could lead to a resentment to all women. WHY??????????? Yeah I get it's to make us and everyone else suspect Scotty is the killer, still lame.
Summary:
Teaser-On the planet Argelius, Kirk, McCcoy and Scotty are watching a woman dancing. They are there for therapeutic shore leave after Scotty sustained a head injury. When she is done, the woman agrees to go for a walk with Scotty. As McCoy and Kirk walk outside, they hear a scream in the distance. They find the woman dead, stabbed a million times, and standing over her with the bloody knife is Scotty.
Act 1-At the club, Mr.Heingist has taken charge of the investigation. He explains crimes like this don't happen on Argelius, that's why the planet hires its investigators from other planets like Rigel 4 where he is from. Heingist questions Scotty, who claims to remember nothing. Heingist says only Scotty's fingerprints are on the weapon, and that he called other witnesses. Prefect Jarvis appears, saying the law is love. His wife, Sybo, is aware of the ancient empathic contact and will use it to investigate this matter. At Jarvis's home Sybo meditates for a time so Kirk brings down a tech with a psycho tricorder to analyze Scotty. Despite Heingists's objection Jarvis allows it. Heingist leaves to get the witnesses just as a female officer beams down. She goes to a private room with Scotty. McCoy discusses that the head injury Scotty suffered could have had serious consequences. When Sybo asks to see the murder weapon, they find it is missing. Just as the officer screams from the other room. Once again, she has been stabbed a dozen times and Scotty is unconscious nearby.
Act 2-When Scotty wakes, he has no idea what happened. Heingist returns with two witnesses. And, what they say is pointless so I wont bother summarizing it. Kirk's gets agitated as he tries to prove Scotty is innocent, but Heingist reminds him that Scotty is the prime suspect. Sybo is ready so the group gather around a table. Before they begin Spock calls to suggest not relying the Argelian empathic contact but Kirk reminds him that they are on the planet and subject to there laws. The contact (or séance) begins and Sybo says that there is a presence in the room. It is a hunger, with a hatres for women. It is a monstrous evil with a name. It has been called Beratis, Kesla, Redjac. She then screams, and is dead with Scotty standing over her with blood on his hands. Scotty still has no memory. Kirk says that they should take the investigation to the Enterprise, where they use the computer to conclusively prove if Scotty is the killer. Jarvis agrees, and informs Scotty the ancient penalty for the crime is death by slow torture if he is guilty.
Act 3-Kirk explains that the computer will take everyone's deposition. Scotty takes the stand and when he says he can't remember, the computer corroborates his testimony. Which Jarvis points out only means he isn't lying when he says he can't remember. Scotty says he didn't blackout when Sybo was killed, and explains that he moved towards her when she screamed but there was something in the way. Heingist keeps protesting but Jarvis is satisfied so far. The witnesses then take the stand, and again this is pointless. Kirk then wonders if they are approaching this the wrong way, noting that Sybo said there was a presence in the room. Spock checks the name Redjac and the computer finds it is the proper name of the unidentified killer of women known as Jack the Ripper. Who slew at will in the most populace city in the world sand was never identified. Spock checks the names she listed Beratis and Kesla and they are all names of unidentified killers of women on different planets. It seems clear an entity of some sort is responsible for these murders. An entity that feeds on fear and can take different forms. Apparently when man went out into space the creature went with him, and Heingist keeps arguing that this is all fantasy. The most recent killings happened on Rigel IV, just a year ago. McCoy notes that the murder weapon was missing right after he left the house, and then was not around when the officer was killed. Kirk then gets the report of the murder weapon, and it is a tribal weapon from the planet Rigel IV. Making it clear that Heingist is the killer. Heingist tries to make a run for it, but Kirk punches him. Suddenly, the computer goes crazy as Redjac takes over the computer. And the computer controls the ship.
Act 4-Redjac is trying to generate fear, so Kirk tells McCoy to sedate everyone so they will be happy. Kirk and Spock go to the Bridge and Kirk tells Spock to make the computer calculate a math problem that cannot be solved. That may drive the entity out. As the entity generates fear, Spock forces the computer to calculate to that last digit the value of PI. Of course, that's a transcendental figure without resolution. The entity is driven out of the computer. The entity tries to take over Jarvis but that fails and then he goes back to Heingist. Kirk pumps sedatives into him, and while he is happy Kirk and Spock take Heingist to the transporter room and beam him into space. McCoy and Scotty come in laughing and Spock explains the entity will die eventually. McCoy says that everyone will be blissfully happy for another four or five hours...which is stupid but whatever, Scotty is exonerated and episode over.
\
Final Thoughts:The dancer in the opening is Tania Lemani and she is fantastic. Sadly the episode itself isn't quite as great. The episode's first half is great, setting up a good murder mystery. The second half takes everything that we learned in the first and tosses it away. Act 4 especially gets downright silly. The solution to he murder is a bit easy and they bring Jack the Ripper into the story and do really nothing with it. You could have named the entity Bill for all the difference it made. To bad the episode had potential, and that final scene with everyone hopped up on the sedatives is to much for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment