I agree with you that it's ugly; when I heard that Richard Hatch, the winner on 'Survivor' won just such an SUV I wondered if they were rewarding him or punishing him.
Looks like the hippies in this episode, just like their 1960's Earth counterparts, ended up having a real bad experience with acid (groan!)
Pavel's full name in this episode is given as Pavel Andreovich Chekov. This makes him the first-ever Trek regular character to be given a full first, middle, and last name. (Remember, up to this point, only Kirk's middle initial T. is given, it's not until the animated series and movies that we learn it's Tiberius).
If I was on the Enterprise, I would be the guy that plays air guitar on the bridge during this episode.
I want to be the air drummer. If we could get Riva (the ambassador from "Loud as a Whisper" (TNG)), we could have an band.
So if the Tiberius thing didn't come along until the Animated Series and the Klingon moon is referred to later on, surely it should be considered canon?
As the Aurora flees from the Enterprise in the teaser, Kirk locks a tractor beam on the stolen ship. Trying to overcome the tractor beam, the Aurora crew end up destroying the vessel. Before it explodes, Kirk orders Scotty to beam the crew off, however, Chekov states that they're not yet in transporter range. Excuse me, did I miss something? The Enterprise has been holding this ship in a tractor beam, yet they're not in transporter range? Does this make sense?
I'm gonna crack my knuckles and jump for joy, I got a clean bill of health from Dr. McCoy!
Kirk tells the people on the Aurora to stand by to be transported to the Enterprise. Looooong pause. Then he tells Scotty, "Energise". What was with the wait? Did he want to punish the thieves by making them think they were going to die?
"Eden" is an Earth concept, yet there are at least two aliens in the group.
I notice that, like many love/peace/happiness/etc cults, these people have no problem justifying the use of theft and violence for their own ends.
The Federation appears to have various colonies that use little technology. Why doesn't this group simply petition to join one, or start a new one?
Severin's followers seem to equate youth with liberality and age with conservatism, yet they ignore the fact that Severin is quite older than they.
Nice going, Spock. You determine that Severin is insane, yet you allow him to have private discussions with his followers, casually accepting his word that he'll tell them to behave.
I'm not particularly impressed with Adam's singing.
They, of course, would never admit it, but Severin's group is just as inflexible as they claim the Enterprise crew to be.
Was the Security guard incapable of listening to music with his eyes open?
Tongo Rad's technique is as effective as Spock's, but it appears to be a little painful.
I thought that just being in the Neutral Zone itself was a provocation, but here they weren't worried until they emerged in Romulan space.
Spock and Chekov might have been able to extrapolate unknown planets from their studies, but how could they determine that a particular planet was the one they were looking for?
There was a nice touch of irony in the fact that Adam was singing of Eden while Severin was arranging the death of the Enterprise crew.
And by the way, did it take him three hours to make his adjustments? Right before he started, they determined that Eden was three hours away. Severin went over to the panel. Next scene, he is walking away from the panel and they are about to reach orbit. Also, it apparently took the crew three hours to decide how to cut into the door to Auxilary Control.
After the crew was knocked out, Kirk woke up. Spock's reactions seemed to indicate that the high decibels were still sounding. If that were the case, how could they wake up? Wouldn't it keep them unconcious? And if they left the sound on, how did the six hippies get out of Auxilary Control and to the shuttlebay?
After Severin attempted to murder them, and stole a shuttlecraft, Kirk elects to leave Security behind on the ship. Gee, they threw away a perfectly good chance to have another redshirt get killed! (Or perhaps that was why Kirk left the guards behind. No sense bringing them down if he's just going to have to beam ALL of them back again. The rule seems to be that you never bring all of your guards back from anywhere.)
I thought it was a shame that Tongo Rad didn't die instead of Adam. Rad was the only one who knowingly went along with Severin's plot to murder 430 people. Severin was insane, but if Rad was sane, then he was actively evil. Yet, aside from a few foot burns, he gets off scot free.
That fruit was REALLY poisonous. I don't think Severin swallowed the bite.
In searching for Eden, why didn't the Enterprise's computer screen out planets having only poisonous plants?
A sorta-nit...when Chekov is speaking alone with Irina, they're both talking in heavy Russian accents. So why would they be talking to each other in English, anyway?
Did anyone else, when watching this episode, find themselves unable to stop staring at Dr. Sevrin's ears, wondering when they were going to fall off of his head? :-)
Also, that "Heading out to Eden" song has a singularly irritating tendency to stick in your head for days!
Random casting trivia: the actor who played Adam (whose name escapes me at the moment) later played the lead singer of the Good Ol' Boys in "The Blues Brothers."
Yea, brother!
Adam was played by Charles Napier.
Re: casting trivia--his name is Charles Napier, a very prolific character actor. In addtion to appearing in such diverse films as "Philadelphia", "Supervixens", and "The Blues Brothers," he was Denning in DS9 episode "Little Green Men," and is the voice of Zed on "Men in Black--the Series."
GUEST STAR PATROL (I've got a clean bill...it's a 20)
Charles Napier (Adam) as we all know, hsa a long career, most of which noted above. However, he was in "Silence of the Lambs" as well. He is the guard who carefully rolls up Dr. Hannibal Lecter's paintings before being killed by the doctor.
To DK: It was stated in the episode that Sevrin was banned from visiting cultures that lived below a certain technological rating because these people wouldn't have the medical knowledge necessary to vaccinate against or treat the virus Severin carried. All of his followers were in fact vaccinated
Though I don't see why he wouldn't be able to colonize a planet of his choosing...unless these vaccinations required the occasional booster shots. That might pose a problem
The one redeeming value this episode has is that it seems to be an eerie premonition of the Manson Family murders. Think about it: a group of hippies with marks on their foreheads are led on a murderous rampage by an older charismatic psycopath. Just replace "Helter Skelter" with "Headin' Out to Eden" and you've got a show.
A very good point. But I found another good thing about this episode. Now, thirty years later, all the retired hippies can look back at how they dressed and wonder "What was I thinking??!!!"
In the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 fourth-season episode "Hercules Unchained," Tom and Crow sing snatches from the "Heading Out To Eden" song.
Pavel's full name in this episode is given as Pavel Andreovich Chekov. This makes him the first-ever Trek regular character to be given a full first, middle, and last name.
Strictly speaking, Chekov's internym isn't really a middle name as those of us in the West think of it. It's patrimonial, indicating that he is "Pavel, son of Andrei Chekov". If Pavel were to have a son named Ivan, that child's name would be Ivan Pavelovich Chekov. If Pavel had a sister named Svetlana, she would be Svetlana Andreiovna Chekov. Not to nitpick a nitpicker ; ), but just wanted to point that out.
Very interesting...
I think that Chekov's nonexistent sister might actually have the last name Chekova. It works the same way as Susan Ivanova (her brother's last name was Ivanov.)
Please correct me if I'm wrong. I know next to nothing about Russian names.
Nathan, you must be a mind reader. I was going to bring up Susan Ivanova, but didn't in the interest of space. If I recall correctly (and I may not, since it's been a few years since I've been able to watch B5), Ivanova's father's name was Andrei, so her full name would be Susan Andreiovna Ivanova (given name-patrimonial-family name), and her brother would more correctly be (whatever his first name was) Andreiovich Ivanova. If his (the father's) name was Ivan, and Ivanova is taken to be the family name, then her name would be Susan Ivanovna Ivanova (the second "n" in the internym isn't a typo). In the B5 universe, this tradition may have mutated, doing away with the family name and relying on the patrimonial name, and there may also be a rule for making family names gender-specific of which I'm not aware. I'm relying on what I've learned from Dostoevsky and Stolzhenitsyn.
If I was on the Enterprise, I would be the guy that plays air guitar on the bridge during this episode.
Here is the trivia challange! What's his name? The first correct answer will win a fantastic prize!
That's Mr. Lemli, I believe.
I wonder about the significance of the "Herbert" taunt used by the Eden group, the "official noted for his limited and rigid pattern of thought." There HAS to be some kind of an in-joke behind the name "Herbert". Perhaps it was the name of one of the NBC executives.
You are right, Todd! Go see your price at http://home.swipnet.se/ncc1701/tec/img/l/lemli1.jpg
Of course, everyone can see the prize...
Allright! I think it's time for a Roger Holloway fan club!
I thought my prize was gonna be a gold-plated recording of "Hey Out There" . . .
Maybe it's Herb Solow?
I said prize, not punishment...
Was Dr. Severin a wrestler before becoming a charismatic psychopath? Those ears look like cauliflower to me! Come to think of it, he would fit right into the WWF.
That "jam session" with Spock embarrasses me even when I see the show by myself! That is also true of all musical interludes I recall from Classic Trek.
On the planet surface, there's a shot of Shatner (Kirk)....it is flipped...and to make matters even worse, there's a shuttlecraft in the background and the numbers are printed backwards!
I think Dr. Severin wore the ears so that the Enterprise crew wouldn't recognize his true identity . . . as the evil Melakon from "Patterns of Force" come back to life. Trelane from "The Squire of Gothos" also disguised himself as a Klingon captain in "The Trouble With Tribbles" for the same reason.
Its too bad they had to make the "space hippies" so close in dress and behaviour to their contemporaries. Maybe they feared viewers wouldn't get the point if the ideas were more subtle.
I suspect Severin was at least in part supposed to be a poke at LSD guru Dr. Timothy Leary.
The Aurora model was basically the Tholian ship with some pieces from an AMT model kit of the Klingon ship. Back in 1968, you could buy a two box, two kit set of both the AMT Enterprise and Klingon ships for about four bucks.
Don't forget- both Dr. Severin and Timothy Leary made it into space, albeit the real life one was dead when he went up on the shuttle.
The Aurora model at one time hung (and I believe still does hang) in the National Air and Space Museuem in D.C., along with models of the Enterprise and a Klingon ship. I'll have to go back there soon and check if it's still there.
Is this episode a forerunner to Star Trek V: The Final Frontier?!
Certainly - they both even have the same line "It was so beautiful"
According to various sources, the character that became Irina was originally Dr. McCoy's daughter, Joanna (the original title of D.C. Fontana's story.) This idea was killed by the third season producer. Fontana had her name removed from the credits as a result. Is there anyplace the original story is available? Would Kirk have gone after Joanna? That would have changed the McCoy-Kirk friendship.
Charles Napier (Adam) did some films for Russ Meyer, but still had a career afterward. He was also in "Rambo II" and "The Silence of the Lambs", as a cop who suffers a brutal fate at the hands of Dr. Lecter.
Mr. Napier is also doing voice overs. Currently, he is the narrator on the Pontiac Montana minivan commercial.
We need a board about cars. As I am on the topic of Pontiacs, I would like to say this: the Pontiac Aztek hybrid SUV is the UGLIEST vehicle ever built, and that includes the Edsel.
I hear the Aztek is very popular on the planet Katula. I agree with you that it's ugly; when I heard that Richard Hatch, the winner on 'Survivor' won just such an SUV I wondered if they were rewarding him or punishing him.
Napier also plays the general in Austin Powers.
Hey I like the Aztek. It kinda grows on you. :-)
Napier also has a great role in the very entertaining (but not very well conceived) mosquito horror movie "Skeeter."
Phil, from his TOS Guide; CPP#1: The stolen spacecraft is a Tholian vessel flipped around with engine nacelles attached
They used the Tholian craft model, and added pieces from Klingon and Enterprise models.
Or does the Enterprise use foils and pistols to battle enemy ships?
When Sevrin meets with his followers before taking control of the Enterprise, Rad says Sulu is a specialist in weapons and navigation, and that his hobby is botany. What about his hobby of fencing, seen in The Naked Time, and of collecting ancient weapons, seen in Shore Leave? True, Rad did mention weapons, but since he mentioned his hobbies separately from navigation and weapons, I think he was referring to his duties on the ship when he said, "specialist in weapons and navigation."
Kirk: Tactical genius
After Sevrin and his followers take over the ship through auxiliary control, he contacts the bridge over the comm system, threatening to destroy the Enterprise if thwarted. When Kirk tells Scotty to see if he can bypass the circuits, I immediately thought to myself, why doesn’t he shut off the comm system before saying this aloud? Naturally, Sevrin hears him and threatens to retaliate if the bypass occurs.
Ear plugs. Standard issue for regular characters only
Why are Kirk, Scotty and Spock left conscious (though in pain) by the hypersonic attack toward the end of the episode, and everyone else knocked unconscious? If the attack centers on a person’s hearing, shouldn’t Spock be the most affected?
Kirk gives Chekov permission to leave his post to go see his old girlfriend, but doesn't bother assigning a crewman to fill his spot at navigation.
Spock seems to have considerably toned down the decor in his quarters since "Amok Time".
I'd rather have the creators make Kirk encounter a talking carrot the these dumb hippies.
BAD EPISODE! P.U.!
Another thought..."Star Trek" was on real late during the 3rd season....I can imagine a person who likes TOS turning on this episode and saying, "I stayed up late for THIS?" then click off the TV then go to bed.
Never felt that way, John, even during the worst episodes. I bagged an assignment for Biology class (some special that ABC had the nerve to run against Trek) to watch "Wink Of An Eye." I was close to failing Bio anyway, so I had nothing to lose.
True...however I think this episode could've been more dramatic by leaving the fact that McCoy's daughter Joanna was a part of the hippies...the creators still could leave in the fact that Chekov falls in love with her..thereby creating a little tension between McCoy & Chekov. (IE "What are your intentions towards my daughter?")
McCoy could've mentioned his divorce & everything...IMHO the creators missed a great opportunity to tell a great story.
PS...or better yet, include Joanna and add a story about drug abuse in the script. Drug abuse was going on pretty strong in the 60's and the creators missed a perfect opportunity to address the issue and create a drug abuse story in a disguised form then add a moral to the story...without being heavy handed about it.
A perfect opportunity indeed and they blew it!
::A perfect opportunity indeed and they blew it!::
-- Hey, John A. Lang, you know what ELSE was a missed opportunity?
Oh nevermind.
Drug abuse may be worse now than in the '60's.
As I said before, blame Freiberger. He dumped the Joanna angle, feeling McCoy was not old enough to have a grown daughter. Incidentally, I think De Kelley was my age (46) when this ep was shot, in which case he certainly WAS old enough to have grown children. (I do not-my only son is 11.)
Alternate title: "For the Script Writing is Hollow and It Has Reached Rock Bottom."
Then again, Maybe the writers were attacked by the Devevian Parasites from "Operation: Annihilate!" and are forcing them to write bad stories! (That'd explain a lot!)
RUMINATION: This episode shows us that playing the "air guitar" is still in vogue by the 23rd century.
Rock on, air guitar players everywhere!
(strum!)
A drug angle was dumped by TPTB from "The City on the Edge of Forever." Ellison had a minor crewman named Beckwith dealing in something called "Jewels of Sound."
I may be naive, but I would have guessed that very few folk in the TV/Film-making industry would want to make an anti-drugs episode. Wasn't it a fairly accepted part of the culture? Liberals such as the Trek people probably weren't against drugs (at least the softer ones). Maybe that's why it got dropped from COTEOF?
Lt. Palmer returns BUT Uhura is missing from this episode...I'm sorry...ANYTIME Uhura is missing from a TOS episode, it's a nit. Communications is HER job...nobody else's. (Hrmph!)
The drum that the drummer uses comes from "A Private Little War".
You'd think there'd be a PASSWORD or something to get a shuttle.
There's no beam when Scotty fires the phaser at the bulkhead.
At one point in the story, Spock says to Kirk, "Dr. Severin is insane." Um....who died & made him the Chief Medical Officer? Wouldn't that type of evaluation be McCoy's job?
Phil noted that during the scene in which the lights dim & everyone falls down (and goes 'boom'), the creators spliced in the same segment from "Spock's Brain" to save money....the funny thing is, the creators took a segment from a bad episode and made an even worse episode with it!
This episode just came out on DVD...
Uhura is missing...THAT is a nit...Lt. Palmer is back.
Who wrote the songs for this episode? If you find 'em...HANG 'EM!
It seems there was NO ATTEMPT to make this episode any good.
Why didn't Kirk use the "knockout gas" from "Space Seed" to arrest Dr. Severin & his gang?
BEST SCENES: None
BEST LINES: None
IMHO...I think the reason Nichelle Nichols wasn't in this was that she read the script and said, "I'm not being a part of this trashy episode" and din't show up for work...Either that, or, she didn't show up because she wouldn't get an opportunity to sing in the show.
If Nichelle had not shown up for work because of a bad script, she no doubt would have been fired and sued for breach of contract. Of course, she could have had a form of the "blue flu" and stayed away regardless.
James Blish, in footnotes for his adaptation of this episode, noted that the composer of the songs was not relayed to him, either. However, he liked the music.
Blish liked the music because he hadn't yet seen Charles Napier perform it.
I must note that the strumming noise in not in sync with the actual strumming.
There is one thing they did right in this show...(and only ONE THING)...Note the shuttlecraft...it has: "Galileo II" emblazened on the side. This would have been an EASY spot to make a mistake...but they didn't.
Other things worth noting that I saw:
Nimoy looks genuinely embarrassed or upset after the "jam session"...look at his face!
Nimoy & Shatner look completely disgusted at the end of the episode...it looks like they're glad it's over.
This is in my POV only...others are welcome to agree or disagree.
Mmmmmmm. Wonder what he thought afterwards? (He was at least impressed enough to leave his praise for the music in subsequent editions of the novelizations.)
This ep is so bad in so many ways...aka 'if MST3K ever did a TV ep, this would be it':
-The concept of 'using the outer space theme to explore current issues' thing just got pushed right over the top and down the cliff.
Did it occur to nobody (let alone William Theiss, the costumer) how horribly dated this 23rd-century story was gonna look in the next, say, 10 minutes or so from airdate?
-I mean, call me optimistic, but isn't it just possible that, in Roddenberry's 'Up With People'-esque 23rd-century society, wannabe radicals would have evolved more imaginative ways to rebel than dressing in paisley miniskirts, sitting around in circles and singing off-key? Or that they'd have a more advanced concept of 'peace and love' than 'we reach'? Or that music...ahh, forget it, the Chief already caught that one.
-Chekov is so wildly out of character as a conservative company man.
As Koenig pointed out in Star Trek Memories, he was supposed to be playing a freewheeling, fun-loving type designed to appeal to the youth market. Assuming there were any youths still watching by this point in the show's history, there probably weren't by the time this ep ended.
-The character of Spock, meanwhile, is just plain insulted. I'm amazed that Nimoy, so famously protective of his character, didn't flat-out quit over this one.
He busts out crying when forced to cope with his emotions in 'Naked Time' - and then passes up the 20-zillion or so obvious holes in the juvenile delinquents' logic (and the chance that same might endanger the Enterprise) because they make him feel sorta...warm and fuzzy inside. Uh-huh. You bet.
-Yes, Lea, Dr. Sevrin's ears are really silly. I personally wasn't in the least surprised when it was revealed he had a deadly disease...I'd already assumed it from those lobes.
In fact, Dr. Sevrin in general is really silly. Whoever that actor is, he's not getting that Intense Genius thing over at all. (The Thick Slice of Ham thing, though...schwing!)
One thing that should've instantly marked him off as insane: If you're gonna collect followers to make a perilous journey to an unknown planet, I'd personally make sure they're over 30 and reasonably good at not calling attention to themselves.
-Sheesh, Kirk & co. have faced so very many madmen-bent-on-taking-over-the-ship that you'd think stopping them would be more or less routine by now.
Even granted they didn't want to haul Sevrin into the brig for no reason, you'd think there'd be some sort of Evil Obsessive Guy security checklist, just in case. ("OK...Guards around all vital equipment - check. Computer set to log any unusual access - check. Password protection on the shuttle bay doors - check. Earplugs..." etc.) As the Chief once pointed out, there's no way a starship should be this vulnerable - unless IITS.
Um...the guy who I was wondering 'what he thought afterwards' is James Blish, re: Todd's last post.
This has got to be the first time in TOS history in which Kirk did not order someone to fill in the navagator's position while Chekov left to visit his ex-girlfriend.
Up until this point Kirk has ALWAYS had SOMEONE fill in BOTH positions.
Not even Mr. Leslie shows up in this episode.
He was so depressed by having to make this episode that he wanted the ship to ram into a planet.
At least we know what happened to Lt. "Bunny Hop" Mears from "The Galileo Seven"...she became a "space hippie" and joined Dr. Severin. (She's "Girl #2")
And hey...isn't that Melakon (Patterns of Force) that mutated into Dr. Severin?
I believe this is the last time we see Spock's quarters.
Until Wrath of Khan, that is.
The Vulcan harp won't return until STV.
Which just goes to prove; don't lend things to Herbert! He'll take forever returning your stuff!
And Spock uses the same tune-up riff to tune his harp for Adam that he uses in "Charlie X".
When Spock joins the "groupies" for the jam session, the cameras cut away to the Bridge for a few scenes...and for most of them, you can see Kirk (Shatner) LOOKING AWAY from the camera and looking at one of the monitors on the Bridge.
(Kinda makes ya wonder if Shatner is mumbling under his breath about the quality of this episode or something like that)
Spock pronounces Dr. Sevrin insane. Why can't they treat him with the drug from "Whom Gods Destroy?" That drug was supposed to quote "end mental illness for all time." and it worked on Garth and presumably the other Elba II inmates.
This episode marks the last time we see the Auxillary Control room.
CORRECTION: THIS episode marks the last time we see the shuttlecraft. (I originally said in was "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield", but a keen eye out there caught my error. You know who you are and thank you!)
Your welcome, John.
Who here thinks we should hunt down the writer of this episode and force him to watch it over and over again until he goes insane? That'll teach him!
Hey, I'm with you, Rene! We won't even have to show him/her the whole ep...just make him listen to the jam session. 
Dont forget the scpipt supervisor
NANJAO: I mentioned before that the lady who played Lt. "Bunny Hop" Mears in "The Galileo Seven" shows up as one of the hippies in this episode. You know what'd make this story more interesting? Have the lady portray Lt. "Bunny Hop" Mears AGAIN and put into the script that she dropped out of Starfleet & joined Severin's group. Then at the end, she decides to abandon Severin's group and stay on board the Enterprise & relist at Starfleet. It's add more drama, I believe.
What surprises me also that ANYONE---including non-Starfleet personel can just walk into Auxillary Control! You'd think with all the times that the Enterprise has been comandeered, they'd make the area off limits to non-Starfleet personel by posting a GUARD outside!
EQUIPMENT ODDITY: When Kirk, Spock, McCoy & Chekov arrive on Eden, Spock immediately activates his tricorder. The landing party fans out. Chekov screams. McCoy scans Chekov's hand and the plant life. McCoy determines that everything is covered with acid. WAIT A MINUTE! How come Spock's tricorder didn't detect that everything was covered with acid?
It's a good thing that Sevrin was established as mad and sinister. The whole plot seems to hinge on Sevrin being a hybrid of Dr. Leary and a shifty guru. Him being both mad and evil is the only way to account for his insane selfishness in stealing the Enterprise and flying it through the Neutral Zone into Romulan space on his quest for Eden. Nobody in the group brings up the ramifications of taking a Starfleet vessel into Romulan territory (3 letters, begins with W). Nobody brings up the distinct possibility that Kirk is right, and Sevrin will infect and destroy anyone they find on the planet they declare to be Eden. Nobody says or does a thing to stop him when he tries to murder the whole crew. Sevrin might be out of his gourd, but the rest seem perfectly capable of figuring these things out. Are they such self-absorbed sheep that none of them think to bring up the effects of their quest?
At one point, the Sevrin gang discuss their efforts to enlist the Enterprise crew to their cause. Adam claims that Spock is practically one of them. That seems pretty darn optimistic. Beyond playing music with them on his off-duty time and looking for Eden (probably under Kirk's orders, since Chekov helps him), he does little to indicate that they have swayed him from his duty to Starfleet. I don't see Spock donning loud clothes, painting flowers on his head and calling Kirk a Herbert any time soon.
I call the fruit of which Adam and Sevrin eat, the Painted Pears of Doom, since that is what they look like; they didn't do a great job making them seem alien.
I must say, I found one good thing about this episode. The acid in the plants of Eden seems like an interesting take on the Biblical image of the fiery sword defending the Garden of Eden.
Finally, it seems like the makers of the show do not like hippies. They seem to portray this group of people fitting every stereotype of hippies. Beyond the clothes, the hair, the music and the slang, the most egregious example of this portrayal is how all of them are either empty-headed followers or arrogant intellectual snobs. It gets even worse when you notice that all the women in the group fit the former description (none of them even question Sevrin trying to kill the crew) and all the men fit the latter (Rad and Adam seem to get what's going to happen and don't care). I don't think it's intentional, but it's hard to get around how sexist it looks.
It's pretty much endemic of episodic TV of the 60s to portray hippies in such a negative manner. I suspect that's because mainstream America felt very threatened by the hippie movement. The practice is one that is still pretty much in use today. Look at the character Leo on That '70s Show for example. Any evenhanded, balanced portrayal of hippies tend to be an exception.
When Chekov enters sickbay, he walks in and stops, then the scene changes and he stops again.
Kirk refers to him as Tongo Rad, Spock as Tong Rad
Sure'in he be that fine lad, Tong O'Rad from the green hills o' Ireland?
On Eden, you hear McCoy yell to Sevrin, "Don't bite into that!" Yet, his lips don't move! Yet another living proof that ventriloquism is a Starfleet requirement.
Phil mentioned in his book that the footage of the lake came from "Shore Leave". What he forgot to mention was there's also a shot of a forest-like area that comes from "The Apple"
Walter Koenig has gone on record several times concerning his dislike of this particular show and of his role in it. Basically, he seems to feel that Chekov is out of character because of his attitudes toward the Eden movement and Irina. In Koenig's own words, Chekov has suddenly become an "establishment type".
So when has Chekov ever been portrayed as anything else? In all the episodes he's been in up to this one, he is presented as a dutiful officer, and while he has a keen sense of humor, he is basically a straightlaced individual and loyal to the Federation and his superior officers. In "And The Children Shall Lead" it is revealed that his biggest fear is that he will disobey an order. Does this sound like an anti-establishment type?
Actually, I think the way Chekov reacts to Irina and his difficulty in understanding why she chose to reject Federation life is perfectly in character and exactly what we would expect from the Chekov we've come to know up until now. So I'm a little confused by Koenig's comments on the issue. Did he feel it would be more in character for Chekov to resign his commission, put flowers in his hair, and go traipsing off into Eden with his beloved?
In Koenig's own words, Chekov has suddenly become an "establishment type".
So when has Chekov ever been portrayed as anything else?
It's a little more complex than that.
Apocrypha starring Pravda and Russian representation in space aside, Chekov was - in theory at least - basically supposed to be a bright, with-it character that the Youth of America would take to their groovy little hearts, a la the Monkees (as per the Davy Jones-esque wig Koenig sports in his first few appearances). This is the character Koenig was told he was playing - the type of guy who, while not a hippie himself, certainly wasn't hostile to the concept.
In keeping with this persona, the creators subsequently gave Chekov most of the light-comedy bits. He's the one insisting that 'Ivan Burkoff' discovered Sherman's Planet; shopping with Uhura; being spooked by Tamoon's advances; yapping about being the guinea pig in 'The Deadly Years'; deciding that MuddWorld might not be so bad after all if it's populated with curvaceous androids programmed by 'that Cossack Harry Mudd'; romancing Yeoman Landon in the shadow of Vaal...etc, etc.
So dutiful officer he may be, but by the time this ep rolls around Chekov's also very definitely been established as a hang-loose, fun-loving sort of guy - especially where women are concerned. Heck, if Spock can jam with Sevrin and the gang, surely the Monkees-inspired Ensign can 'reach' a little!
The Space Hippies might have been doing some things *so* outrageous and over the top, it was too much for Chekov, and he liked the Starfleet lifestyle better.
I think a lot of Chekov's resentment towards the "hippies" probably has to do with his feelings for Irina. They were both in the academy together, Chekov obviously had strong feelings for her, and she left him to join the Eden movement.
And, yeah, stealing a spaceship and then recklessly destroying it is pretty outrageous and "over the top". It's like Kirk says in this episode, we all want a utopian existence, but we don't steal spacecraft and act like irresponsible children.
I still don't see how Chekov is "out of character" in this show. To me, this episode adds great dimesnion to his character.
Poor 'Way To Eden'. Never had a chance to be liked like so many other episodes of Trek.
Back in November 28, 2001 John A.Lang said there were no best lines. I disagree, my friend. I'd like to nominate Chapel's line (spoken with exasperation in sickbay);
"I thought all the animals were kept in cages!"
Probably her best line of the entire series.
Also, I thought Irina was very sexy, and pretty cute; as well as that blonde girl, especially when she watches Adam sing in sickbay. That's gotta count for something, doesn't it?
Why are Sevrin and his people being examined in the Intensive Care Unit? Shouldn't they be getting their check-ups in the Examination Room, which is where the hippies are standing around already?
If Sevrin and his friends thought the Enterprise crew were dead, then what was to stop Kirk from simply beaming up Sevrin and his people, and take them to the brig under guard? Then he just has to beam a pilot into the shuttle, fly it back to the ship, and run like h-ell outta Romulan space.
After Kirk, Sulu, and Chekov exit sickbay, and leave Adam, Rad and the 3 girls in the hallway yelling 'Herbert! Herbert!' at their turbolift, the next scene is the three of them returning to the bridge. Scott calls and says that one of the girls just had to be kicked out of engineering, because she was trying to get some of his men to join them. How was this possible? The turbolift ride must have been short from sickbay to the bridge, even with one interruption, let's say, if someone came aboard at deck 5 and left on deck 3. All three girls were yelling at Kirk, Sulu, and Chekov, so she would have had to run down the corridor (assuming sickbay and engineering are on the same deck, as the blueprints by Franz Joseph say they are), and couldn't have uttered more than a few words before Scotty kicked her out.
Weird special effects regarding the oceans of that planet seen at the end of the episode. The oceans are gritty-looking, as if looking through a lens with dust on it. I think the SFX guys enlarged a piece of film too much.
At one point, Spock suggests to Sevrin that perhaps the Federation will allow him to colonize Eden, provided he doesn't commit any criminal actions, because the Federation won't allow criminals to colonize planets. Of course, in "Space Seed" Kirk allows Khan and his followers to settle on Ceti Alpha V. Just an exceptional case, maybe?
Some of the "instruments" during the hippie jam session appeared to be a bicycle wheel and a frisbee. They look like something out of Fat Albert's Junkyard Band.
That's where they went!
I-ba sold-ba the stoffa for-ba couplea bucks, Fatba Albertba!
Hey Mushmouth! That was NC.
N-ba C-ba?
Yeah, "No class."
Wait, Spock said the Federation might let them colonise the planet? IIRC "eden" was in Romulan space. How nice of the Federation to let them colonise it.
Well, Spock said that before they found out Eden was in Romulan space, so he was being very hypothetical, me thinks. Just anything to keep Sevrin in line.
At one point Chekov chastizes Irina for the way she looks. (He says, "Look at you!)
Now...if >I< had a girlfriend dressed like that, you'd hear absolutely no chastizement coming from me!
The Jump The Shark TV book lists this episode as where the original series jumped the shark, under the citation "Spock sings with the space hippies". The author of the book obviously never saw the episode, and is relying solely on inaccurate secondhand information, because of course Spock does not SING in it, he merely plays his Vulcan harp as he does in several other shows. If you're going to slam the episode, at least watch it first and have your facts straight before you make yourself look like an idiot.
Good catch, Todd. It seems that the author got his information from the posters at his website, one of whom wrote: But if I had to pick one episode as the turning point for its descent into stupidity, it would be the one where Spock sang with the space hippies.
Too bad he hasn't had the pleasure of seeing the ep. He denied himself some real quality entertainment...well, entertainment, at least.
And not only that, but 'The Way To Eden' is the 75th episode-- that left just 4 more episodes to go at which point it supposedly descended into stupidity, and I wouldn't consider 'The Cloudminders' or 'All Our Yesterdays' to be shtupid.
Terrible research on the part of the Shark website and the guy that posted, who obviously had no knowledge of the series air dates.
Sometimes I wonder if some of those posters ever even saw an episode of the series they're commenting on; what you guys said above is a good example.
When Tongo Rad knocks out Sevrin's guard and the poor guy at Auxiliary Control, both their moans sound exactly the same.
Much was made about NBC censors prohibiting Barbara Eden from showing her navel in I Dream Of Jeannie. However, Mary Rapeleye's (Irina) navel is very much on display here. Maybe NBC's censors had loosened up by this time. Laugh-In, which had a lot of Goldie Hawn in bikinis, was in its second season when "Eden" was shot.
A lot of times, people mistake the term "jump the shark" as referring to the worst single episode of a series. As I understand it, this is NOT what "jumping the shark" means in relation to a TV show. "Jumping the shark" refers to a definable moment in any given television series (which may or may not be traceable to a specific episode) in which a change in the format of the show occurs so that the show is not as strong as it was before. One example of such a format change might be the loss of a popular character or the introduction of an unpopular one. At least that is what I understand "jumping the shark" to mean.
So as far as jumping the shark, I don't think you can say the original series really ever did that. You can say that "spock's Brain" (or whichever TOS episode you choose to name) was the worst episode of the series, but you can't say that the show shark jumped at that point because it did not introduce any format changes that affected succeding episodes, if I understand the term correctly.
Not necessarily a change in format, Todd. I interpret "JTS" as a defining moment, when a show has hit its creative peak, and it has nowhere to go but down. The term is taken from an episode of Happy Days, where Fonzie "jumped the shark." (I think he jumped over a shark tank in that ep; never having liked Happy Days, I'm not that sure.) I have posted on "JTS", too. My comments on thirtysomething, Once & Again and ER are there for the world to read. (Unfortunately, my hatchet job comments on Dallas never made it to post.)
For me, Trek never jumped. Sure there were some bad episodes, but I never gave up on the show. It was still more creative and absorbing than most of its contemporaries, and a lot of what passes for entertainment today (yes, even "The Way To Eden" passes that test, IMHO.) The fact that we're still discussing it, almost 35 years after its cancellation, speaks for itself.
John said: On Eden, you hear McCoy yell to Sevrin, "Don't bite into that!" Yet, his lips don't move! Yet another living proof that ventriloquism is a Starfleet requirement.
Don't forget Kirk's first lines in "The Cloud Minders", after the titles for the ep. ("Who are you? What is the meaning of this attack?") His lips don't move there, either. Maybe a descendant of Paul Winchell taught ventriloquism at the Academy.