November 6, 2006

Star Trek moment #1

A "Star Trek moment" is a moment where, because the actors are so believable and characters so authentic, the show transcends itself, the medium (television), and genre (sci-fi). During the doldrums of season three (think "Spock's Brain"), or any other of the more far fetched, awkward, cheesy, Lost in Space-type episodes, these quick, seemingly insignificant moments pop up.
The first is from the seventeenth (wow! no wonder they ran out of money so frequently) episode of season one, "The Squire of Gothos." The moment comes right towards the end, just when the camera rests on Shatner. Alexander Courage's music kicks in, and suddenly, it's one of those brief, yet transcendent moments that never fails to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It's 1974 again, and I believe in Santa Clause, I believe in Captain James T. Kirk, and I believe he is in charge of a huge space ship named Enterprise. Spock has just asked the Captain how they should categorize the episode's antagonist, Trelane (the squire of Gothos), in the ship's library banks. Kirk suggests first "god of war," and finally "small boy":

4 comments:

Becca said...

Great moment, it's moments like these that always bring me back to TOS.

And as usual, beautiful scans.

Chris said...

Yep, I like it. I think I might do a series of these. Thanks for the compliment! I'll take what I can get.

Lisa said...

Is "Star Trek Moment" going to be a series? Cause I like where you're going with this.

Chris said...

Yes, lisa, I plan to do many of these. There are enough of these little moments, as I described them, peppered throughout the three seasons to do a series.