July 2017 – Organizing Principles

ST01 013: The Conscience of the King

In this episode:

Star Trek does Shakespeare for the first but by no means the last time.

Kirk continues his habit of seducing women to get close to a criminal mastermind–this time with another TOS sexist female stereotype character.

And she hides a phaser on overload in the most easily foiled murder plot ever.

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In this podcast:

Another case of the producers hammering home the idea that Star Trek should not be be written as straight Science-Fiction

An exploration about how this episode used the parallel Earth trope, and how future Trek writers tried to explain/retcon its use for Miri’s World

A takedown of the episode’s premise: 300 year old children would not act this… childish.

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In this podcast:

A fascinating window into the producers’ views on how to avoid technobabble and other science-fiction cliches

The first episode that depicts Kirk as a cad, and not just because he kisses a sexy android

Another average episode about a mad scientist who lacks clear motivation for his dastardly deeds–didn’t this happen in last week’s episode?

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In this episode:

Why this TOS episode earns its reputation as one of the most disappointing–it could have been great but unravels in the last act.
Poor Nurse Chapel–why she is not well loved, even by the actress who played her.
But it can’t be all bad when you have a dead alien race called the Old Ones killed off by their android progeny (Take note Silicon Valley singularity hustlers).

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In this episode we discuss:

Why this classic is good but by no means perfect
Roddenberry’s explanation of why NOT to use technobabble and HOW to avoid it
More world building: still no mention of Starfleet or a Federation
More on Kirk’s inner conflict and how it explains his deep friendship with Spock
Oh, and we get one of the best alien species introductions in all of Star Trek: the Romulans

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