Yet another stardate conflict! The stardate given for "Dagger in the Mind" puts in smack dab in the middle of the stardates given in "Miri."

Was Dr. Adams the same guy who played Deep Throat on X-Files?

-12-

No. Dr. Adams was played by James Gregory, who you may also remember as Inspector Luger on "Barney Miller." Deep Throat is played by Jerry Hardin, who was on the Next Gen episode "Time's Arrow" as Samuel Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain.

BTW, the best place to find the answers to these kinds of questions is at www.imdb.com

Guest Star Patrol--Morgan Woodward (Van Gelder) WAS on the X-Files as Old Harry Cokely in "Aubrey".

The beginning of Act Two shows Kirk recording his log into a tricorder even though he is sitting in his captain's chair. In the recorder on the arm of his chair not working?

Kirk and Dr. Noel beam down to a penal colony and no one, not even a guard is there to greet them?

Doctor Noel acts very unprofessionally in this episode. In this day and age a psychologist can lose his or her license to practice if they try to force someone to become their lover. (I know, this was made in the 60's before professional conduct in psychology became a big deal.)

On page 38 of the Classic Trekkers Guide, Phil wondered why the neural neutralizer has a hinged door instead of a sliding door. Well, considering how valuable and potentially dangerous this piece of equipment is, who would want it to have a door that would just open when someone walked up to it?

The light up Off switch reminded me that a few years ago an executive at a company that produced battery powered computers wanted to add a light that would come on so people would know that the computer was off.

On page 37 of the Classic Trekkers Guide, Phil wondered why Dr. Adams is torturing Kirk. When I watched it this last time I thought of the Nazi doctors who had been given carte blanche to conduct any kind of medical experiment they wanted on Jewish prisoners. Clearly Dr. Adams thought he had the same kind of right. (Which says a lot about the rights of a convicted criminal in the 23rd century.)

Kirk tells Spock to leave orbit, "Warp factor 1.", but I thought it was supposed to be dangerous to use warp in a solar system?

The Enterprise was orbiting Tantalus V sideways, but when leaving orbit the Enterprise seems to be flying over the planet. (Was Kirk dropping off his Christmas list to that planet's Santa Claus?)

Keith,

Your sideways orbit thing is a generic nit that I don't thing Phil even commented on. It is endemic to ALL incarnations of Trek (TOS,TNG,DS9,VOY).

The ship is shown orbiting a planet "sideways", that is, with vertical relative to the ship shown as perpendicular to the plane of the orbit. Therefore, since we seem to orbit counter-clockwise (except in "Mirror,Mirror"), the planet should appear on the viewscreen as occupying the left hand side of the screen. Yet the planet always occupies the lower half of the screen, which would indicate that the ship is orbiting such that vertical (relative to the ship) is specifically the vector from the center of the planet to the ship.

That one has ALWAYS bothered me for some reason (but then again, I was a math major many moons ago in college...)

ScottN: I said "sideways" because I couldn't think of another word. I suppose equatorial orbit would sound better, especially since my point was that the ship flew around the planet, but then flies over the pole.

However the sideways orbiting is also odd because the transporter must turn the transported person 90 degrees before rematerializing them.

I think Dr. Adams was torturing Kirk so he would'nt file any report to Starfleet about what's going on at the penal colony.

Remember...Dr. Adams brainwashes Kirk to "Trust me"

When the power gets shut off by Helen Noel, Kirk makes his escape by knocking Adams out as well as another physician dressed in blue.

When the power gets turned on by Spock, Kirk, Spock, McCoy & Noel re-enter the room.... only Doctor Adams is lying on the floor...

What happened to the man in blue?

CUTE MOMENT:

I love the look on Spock's face when he catches Kirk & Noel in a passionate kiss.

Morgan Woodward's talented brother, Lee, was a Tulsa TV weatherman and puppeteer for many years on the local CBS affiliate. Check him out at:

Tulsa TV Memories

James Gregory also would go on to play General Ursus in "Beneath the Planet of the Apes"

According to Whitfield's The Making of Star Trek, the Vulcan mind meld came about in this episode because the original script had McCoy hypnotizing Van Gelder to get the information out of him. However, the network standards and practices people said that they could not show a hypnotism scene on TV for fear of people being hypnotized.

Why does Kirk record his log with a tricorder when he's sitting in the captain's chair?

James Gregory recently had a birthday, I think he is 89 now. Congratulations.
How many other episodes did the chair appear in? I only remember "Whom Gods Destroy."

Keith Morgan said "Penal Colony." HEH HEH HEH HEH.

When Van Gelder attacks a crewman and steals his phaser, the alert siren is going off in the background, but the alert panel in the corridor-- isn't flashing.

After Van Gelder is subdued on the bridge, Kirk turns the ship around back to Tantalus. Too bad he didn't call a medic or check on the poor security guard layed out on the floor by Van Gelder's karate chop.

Kirk refers to penal colonies as 'more like resort colonies'. I thought CRIMINALS wound up at penal colonies, and the mentally disturbed in a mental institution? So why are criminals entitled to a relaxed resort environment?

Van Gelder says he was 'subverted' by Dr.Adams. I can just picture this scene; Van Gelder's in the neural neutralizer room, sobbing on his hands and knees (as Adams quoted), while Adams is ordering him, "You will vote for George W and like it! You will vote for George W and like it!"

Judging by Spock's expression upon seeing Helen Noel is Kirk's assistant, I can't help but think that he knows something about that Christmas party where Kirk and Noel met, and he's embarrassed about it. That must have been some party!

The matte painting of the Tantalus power plant (I'm guessing it's a power plant), looks a bit like 5 Lost In Space Jupiter 2's lined up on a launch pads.

When the elevator door slams shut on the surface, it's KIRK who leaps into Noel's arms! He might be a macho guy and say he was concerned for her, but he was pretty quick with the leap towards her.

During the tour, Kirk, Noel, and Adams walk past a man and a woman; the man is wearing the same clothing (shiny top, and plaid shorts) as the man being tortured by Adam's assistant. Is this Tantalus haute couture? Or could they be twins?

I don't think I've seen someone in any Star Trek episode that was rudely interrupted in mid-sentence as often as poor Noel. Kirk constantly does it, and even Adams does it.

The matte painting of Tantalus is a revision of Albert Whitlock's matte painting of Delta Vega in "Where No Man Has Gone Before." Whitlock was probably the best in the business, working for Alfred Hitchcock numerous times. He even acted once-in Mel Brooks' Hitch spoof/tribute "High Anxiety." (Too bad they couldn't get him for "ST-TMP"; we might have been saved from that awful side view matte painting of the Enterprise hull. I hope the forthcoming DVD reissue improves on it.)
Marianna Hill (Helen Noel) was in Russ Meyer's "The Seven Minutes." This, I think, was Meyer's only studio picture.
My wife has been in and out of mental hospitals for the past year. While she is in, sometimes she acts like Lethe.

RUMINATION:

There's a little joke the creators threw in on this episode....where did Kirk meet Helen Noel? At the Christmas party!

At the end of the episode, Kirk orders course set at Warp 1, and when Spock responds, he smirks.

Actually, I have a 250 CD Cd-Player that has a light that turns on when the player is off.

This is one of the few episodes that does not have the Orion Slave Girl at the end of the closing stills during the 1st season.

Dr. Van Gelder is Capt. Tracey's twin cousin!

Naw...same actor...different guy.

GREAT SCENE: Noel crawling through the ventilation.
(or should I say, "Ven-titillation"?)

MMM! She's yummy too!

MISSED OPPORTUNITY:

Rand barging in on the Noel's "test" of the Neural Neutralizer and beating her to a pulp, yelling,"Hands off! He's mine!" then seizing the controls and brainwashing Kirk to do her wishes.

You just knew that John would post that here sooner or later No offense, John.

None taken.

I enjoy "creating" my own TOS episodes

NIT...

At the start of the show, Kirk has to remind the transporter dude to ask the Penal Colony to lower its screens. However, when Kirk & Noel beam down, there's no mentioning of any screens going down or needing to be lowered.
(I know, it happened when we weren't looking)

GREAT LINE: "My crew is sworn to secrecy."
Kirk to Noel in Noel's version of the Christmas party...she suggested that Kirk swept her off of her feet & took her to his quarters and Noel was wondering what the crew would think if they saw Kirk doing that...I think the crews' thoughts would be, "There he goes again!"

(I read somewhere that Rand was supposed to be "the main squeeze", but the creators tossed out the idea in favor of giving Kirk another woman to romance...somehow I feel Rand would've been better...IMHO)

James Gregory is playing a man who is busy brainwashing the people under his care. He also starred in The Manchurian Candidate, a film about .... brainwashing!

The most annoying thing about this ep is that Dr Adams behaviour is never explained!

Were the Van Gelder/Tracey cousins related to the Lane identical cousins of Brooklyn Heights? Or maybe both Capt. Tracey and Dr. Van Gelder were descended from Punk Anderson of "Dallas" (also played by Morgan Woodward.)

In the transporter room, when Kirk tells Spock that Noel had better be the best d@mned assistant he ever had, it looks like Spock is trying to keep from laughing.

Leslie alert:

Once again Eddie Paskey (aka Mr. Leslie) is on the Bridge. I must note that he is not mentioned by name nor mentioned in the credits AGAIN!

(Does the Screen Actors Guild know about this?)

In this episode, Mr. Farrand claims that in one scene you can clearly see Dr. Helen Noel's unmentionables, only he refers to them as "items of clothing not normally seen on a regular basis on Star Trek" and "good taste precludes a detailed description". How is that? Why is mentioning that you can see Dr. Noel's bra and panties not in the interest of good taste? Putting aside Troi and Seven of Nine's revealing costumes as a regular feature of Trek (not to mention alt-Uhura's amazonian outfit in Mirror, Mirror), everyone wears underwear...it's common knowledge. Not to be presumptuous, but Mr. Farrand is a married man, so it's not like he's never seen women's underwear before. I agree that going into extraneous detail about the exact measurements or color of said Dr.'s underwear would be outside the boundaries of good taste, but to dance around the word itself is absurd. It's unnecessarily coy.

Also, he's hardly refraining from mentioning the word in the interest of delicacy: at various points in the book he mentions rape, fan dancing, pleasure and slave girls, and the mating rituals in pon farr, not to mention the absolute loads of violence that took place in the show (which to me is a LOT more objectionable and unnatural than underwear), and also makes a big deal that they never showed Scotty's missing finger (I'm sorry, but that probably WOULD gross out a lot of people, whether it's fair or not). I think that underwear is a trifling matter compared to those subjects. Besides, when I think of all the times Kirk ran around without a shirt on, one woman with a bra strap peeking out just evens the score a bit.

Sorry for the rant, but this just kinda bugged me...it was the choice of phrase more than anything. I applaud Mr. Farrand's obvious respect for women, but I think that in this case it's better to admit that women are people with bodies also, and wear underwear like anyone else, instead of adding to the false mystique. I'll get down off my feminist soapbox now.

Freya, I always wondered why Phil singled out Dr. Noel as revealing (the phrase he used) "items of clothing not normally seen on Star Trek." With the female members of the original Enterprise crew wearing skirts about three inches shorter than your average cheerleader's, such items of clothing were CONSTANTLY seen on the original series (to the delight of every red-blooded male viewer). Every time a comely yeoman bent down to hand Kirk a fuel consumption report she'd flash the entire bridge. So why pick on Dr. Noel?
I wonder if Victoria's Secret or Jockey For Her are still in business in the twenty-third century? Hmmm . . . something to ponder.

Nope. If you look close enough, you'll see that none of the women on Star Trek wear a bra. Check out Rand's pink nighties in "Charlie X". Also, Chapel is DEFINITELY missing her panties in "Journey to Babel"

Looking a little too closely there, aren't you, John? Almost clinically.

It is the DUTY of every Starship Captain to explore the heavenly bodies.

Sigh...you do get used to him after awhile, Benn.

The worst case of testosterone poisoning I have ever seen.

Get laid, John. That's an order.

None of the women wore bras or underpants? Not to be indelicate, but how did they acheive such evident, uh, boyancy (if you will)? Their figures seemed far too perky--I strain for a euphamism--without some kind of physical support. Were the outfits lined, with built-in shelves and padding like swimwear or exercise clothes? Otherwise, and I think I speak for all females here, it would be extremely uncomfortable to walk around all day sans support, especially for the more amply endowed members of my gender. And I wouldn't want to even try running in such a situation. *shudder*

My wife is a c and doesnt even own a bra, she just exercices a lot.

Lucky Man that is a bit too much TMI if you get my drift. And I have to agree with Freya about the female crewmembers undergarments. It looks like some of them seem to be wearing undergarments that could probably be used to help make hull repairs.

You also have to remember, undergarments in the 1960s were a lot more complicated and uncomfortable than they are today, with enough wire to run through a small ranch-style home, and loads of padding. And let's not forget corsets, which unbelievably enough were still in use back then. They were designed to squish the hapless wearer's anatomy into the (then) ideal hourglass shape. Things were easing up by the late '60s, with more modern women eschewing said garments, but I doubt such a fad would have crossed over into the television shows of the day.

In a more literal sense, I doubt that Starfleet, which has been often likened to a military-style organization, would make their female members go without undergarments. I don't know about men, but women's garments serve a very practical purpose: they allow a protective barrier during menstrual periods and are a convenient device for adhering sanitary equipment (tell me if I'm getting too explicit). I think Starfleet, being alledgedly a democratic organization, would take measures to allow for the comfort and convenience of all of its members.

You also have to remember, undergarments in the 1960s were a lot more complicated and uncomfortable than they are today, with enough wire to run through a small ranch-style home, and loads of padding. And let's not forget corsets, which unbelievably enough were still in use back then.

LOL!
I'll add my agreement to your arguments, Freya. I know some women do enjoy going without (notably movie star Jean Harlow) but for the vast majority of us some sort of, erm underpinning is a must, especially around the bustline. As odd as it may seem from a male perspective bralessness can be really, really uncomfortable.

I guess my wife hasnt complained about it and says she would rather go without than ever be strapped into one of those torture devices as she calls them. And there are a few of her girl friends who feel similarily about bras.

Can you introduce me to some of them, Lucky?

Fortunately, your wife isn't quite, ehm, endowed enough to need a bra. For some larger, more "blessed" women, it's almost a medical necessity, and to go without can result in serious, near-crippling back pain or even scoliosis. Heck, even with support it's painful, and may require reductive surgery. Without going into detail, let's just say I fortunately do not happen to be among them, but still, it's far more comfortable than going without.

Also, may I remind you that going sans support for one's lifetime can result in a rather unflattering "droop" later in life. Read any National Geographic article on primitive cultures, and you'll see what I mean.

Actually this website www.geocities.com/ultimatebras
has a lot of information about both sides. Including articles about the health problems of bras and how it might be better to go without as well as the other side of the issue as well.

After the Dr. Adams makes his speech to Kirk and Noel over drinks, the scene ends with Lethe staring blankly ahead. The next scene is superimposed over her face, and starts with a black vent in a hallway, then the camera moves and people are seen walking by.
I believe the intention of the director was to show that poor Lethe's mind is a big, black empty space, like the black area framed by the vent.

Nicve subject change after that conversation stopper.

James Gregory (Dr. Adams) passed away in September, 2002.

When Dr. Adams said that Van Gelder had stubbornly used the neural neutralizer with no one to snap it off in case he got into trouble, I assume he was lying, since he mentioned later that he had used the device on Van Gelder himself.
But it is rather ironic that his own death occurred exactly that way, all alone in the room with no one to help (the assistant probably saw his chance to get away from that maniac and left him in there--maybe even turned the knob up as he left).

Maybe somebody can explain this: When Van Gelder says that Adams will destroy, Spock says something like "Destroy what? How?" Closeup on Van Gelder as he says "Right...death..." Dramatic, but to quote Trip, "What's that supposed to mean?" Am I missing something really obvious here?

I always thought he was saying; "Bright...death!"

hey, can we get back to the lack-of-bras discussion, please? Thanks!!

Wrong thread, Doggie. In fact, I strongly suspect wrong board altogether.

Nope, kerriem, look up at your own post of August 14.

Oops! Yeah, OK, you got me.

Anyway, Doggie, sorry. I think that discussion is about all played out...but if you want I'm sure John A. would be thrilled to have your email address and you-all can compare notes...

eh, no thanks. Based on what I've seen, John would just fill my in-box with reams of data on bra sizes, colors, stunt-double bras, bras seen in other series/episodes, bra bloopers, stock bra footage used to save money, etc...

No I wouldn't Doggie. Because the women of Star Trek DON'T wear bras! So how could I give you any data on that subject when no such data exists?

I do not exist? Oh, dear.

Nit. "No such data exist". The word "data", when not used as a proper noun in reference to an android, is a plural noun. The singular is "datum".

FYI: Lethe is the name of the mythological river of forgetfulness

Anti-Nit: "No such data exist" is the proper phrasing. The singular form would be "No such datum exists."

Dr.Adams; Have to ever you had amnesia?
Lethe; Maybe. I can't remember.

Marianna Hill(Dr. Noel) later had small roles in 2 of the best films of the 1970's:
High Plains Drifter(as the b!tch Clint Eastwood assaults)
The Godfather Part II(as Fredo Corleone's b!tchy wife)

Dr Helen Noel: Merry Christmas Captain!

Kirk:She better say that Noel...get it Spock?

Spock:Uh?

Writer Shimon Wincelberg (who here goes under the strange psydounym of S. Bar-David) outlined the first five episodes of Lost in Space and scripted the pilot. He also wrote the pilot episode for Irwin Allen's Time Tunnel series.

Not strange when you consider that Mr. Wincelberg is Jewish, (and his father was named David Wincelberg, I assume) thus his pen-name is S(himon) Bar-(Son of) David.

Sir Bar-William Rhosis

Ah! That clears that up. Thanks SR.

Ditto for me. I wondered for years where Mr. Wincelberg's S. Bar-David pen name came from. Thanks.

Glad to help, and I don't even look Jewish!

Sir Rhosis

When Noel throws the main power switch to the "Off" position, Spock beams down...ALONE!
He knows the Captain may be in danger and he beams down ALONE? Where's the logic in that?

Later in the same scene, Spock smashes a lock and presses some buttons and tells the Enterprise that the force field is disabled. EXCUSE ME...the force field was already disabled when Noel threw the main power switch!

yeah but it was only disabloed while the power switch was set to OFF. If someone reset it to on then it wouldnt be disabled anymore. What Spock probably did waspull the fuse (flip the circuit breaker) and make it so it wont work no matter what the switch position is.

Didn't Spock turn the main power switch back on before he disabled the force field?

Nope. Here's the sequence of events:

Noel shuts off high voltage switch- all power goes off....the shields are now down.

Spock beams down and breaks the lock & turns off the shields

Spock turns on the high voltage switch that Noel had switched off. (So the lights can be on)

Good reuse of a matte painting, but does Tantalus V have a lithium cracking station, too? Maybe they take the ore shipped by Klingon traitors from Rura Penthe.


CG enhancing: Following up on an idea in the Space: 1999 threads, if Star Trek the Classic Series could be enhanced with CG, these are ideas I have for this episode.


When the Enterprise is approaching Tantalus V, prior to Kirk beaming down, the Enterprise is flying on an angle instead of straight ahead. Is the helmsman banking into the wind? (We can see a "full" planet, therefore the Enterprise must be coming in almost directly from the sun. Hmmm... maybe the solar wind is pushing the Enterprise while the helmsman is trying to fly past the planet?!)

The neural neutralizer control panel could use some attention. The flashing light display for the patient/victim is suitable. However, the control panel is ghastly: a huge light that lights up to tell you that the unit is "off"! I suppose it could be edited in a manner similar to how movies are colorized, inserting a more realistic panel to replace the "off" light, although leaving the two main knobs in place.

Why is Eli turning up the neutralizer beam level while Kirk, Adams and Noel are talking right outside the door? I assume that the loop of sound effect didn't stay at the low level long enough for the entire scene. I honestly think it should be changed; if I were Kirk, I'd ask why the beam level was being increased.

As Spock prepares for the mind-meld with Van Gelder, the Enterprise is seen in deep space instead of in orbit around Tantalus V.

When Van Gelder hollers "NO!", and his heartbeat increases, the med panel light blinks steadily as before; that ought to be fixed.

The male hands that operate the "Chamber Of Horrors" appear to be the same ones throughout, no matter whether Kirk, Eli or whoever is supposed to be at the controls.

How come Kirk doesn't take at least one Security Guard with him when he beams down to Tantalus with Helen? I mean, SOME---THING happened to Van Gelder & Kirk beams down with no guards! If Riker were Kirk's First Officer, he'd be hopping mad!

I must add Spock makes the same mistake when he beams down. Sure...the Security Guards beam down a few minutes later, but, A LOT CAN HAPPEN in a few minutes!

Maybe he didn't want to offend Dr. Adams or make him suspicious, since he hadn't been proven to have done anything wrong at that point. Adams could have just kept the forcefield up, claiming it was out of principle, and then Kirk wouldn't be able to find out anything.

OOPS! Wrong episode post above!! sorry about that! Removed by the moderator

Intended post:
Upon beaming down, Kirk offers to hand over his phaser. Dr. Adams says something like, "That's not necessary, Captain. I know you people feel as naked without a weapon as we do without (something or other)." Then they share a big chuckle. Considering how Kirk sort of chided the transporter guy in the beginning of the episode about proper procedure regarding transport to such a facility, why did Kirk later beam down with a weapon at all, considering that they wen't permitted there? Not to mention Kirk on the planet, trying to contact the ship unsuccessfully, then Adams reminded him of the security screen and shut it off. Sounds like someone else besides Mr. transporter needs to brush up on protocols, eh, Captain.

Speaking of the beginning of the episode, they beamed up a box which was stated to be delivered to some facility in Stcckholm. I hope the box is intended to be off-loaded to some ship heading for Earth, otherwise its delivery is a good five years away.

Check out the "mailing address" on the box: Stockholm, Eurasia. Interesting.

I know you people feel as naked without a weapon as we do without (something or other)."

The "something ot other" is "a medikit." And, Mr. Transporter's name is Berkley. (I should know - TV Land ran this ep this morning.)

GREAT MOMENT:

After Uhura announced "General Quarters", a Redshirt from Security appears on the Bridge to guard it.

(A concept that Picard's, Sisko's, and Janeway's Security Squads couldn't grasp)

Just curious- Dr.Alzimer discovered his disease, did Dr.Amnesia find his?
(not joking either).

No. Amnesia is from the Greek. A- for opposite, and mnesia meaning memory (from Memnosyne, if I remember correctly).

...if I remember correctly - ScottN

no pun intended right ScottN?

I posted this way back when:

>According to Whitfield's The Making of Star Trek, the Vulcan >mind meld came about in this episode because the original >script had McCoy hypnotizing Van Gelder to get the >information out of him. However, the network standards and >practices people said that they could not show a hypnotism >scene on TV for fear of people being hypnotized.

I just had to repost that, because every time I read that story, I double over howling in laughter.

The remastered version airs this weekend.

Another one that doesn't have a bunch of potential changes. The one glaring item is the reuse of the lithium cracking station matte painting (from "Where No Man Has Gone Before") -- I always wondered why a psychiatric facility looked like a chemical plant.

However, the preview shows this shot is still in there.

Despite the preview, they did create a new matte painting after all.

It seems cruel to treat these patients with emotional/mental disorders by placing them on a remote planet & in an underground facility.How often can they receive family or friends for visits,& what about being in the outdoors with sunshine? The support of both family & friends,as well as being in nature are crucial to a person's mental health.The Tantalus Colony offers neither,sad commentary on the future treatment in the mental health area.

A planet-sized deflector shield seems to be overkill for a mental hospital, too.

After watching this episode, it's not clear whether it's supposed to be a prison or a mental hospital. We don't really get much background on why the people are there. Elba II seems to be the maximum security mental hospital for the Federation; has everyone at Tantalus been cured by the third season? Re: the planetary security screen, who do they expect to bust these people out?

(From outside the story, they needed the mental hospital angle to explain Kirk's treatment, but also needed the prison angle to keep him from the ship. There's also a 1960s view of mental illness and the "criminally insane", of course.)

The status panel from engineering makes a cameo appearance in the transporter room, just in time to distract the technician while van Gelder gets out of his box. When Dr. Noel hides in the power room, the panel next to her looks a lot like the android duplicator panel from "What are Little Girls Made Of?"

Slight continuity goof: when Kirk first sees the neural neutralizer, it's running at low power on a patient. However, when he asks how it works the technician turns it on. NANJAO: the sick bay bed is pulled out from the wall so Spock can go behind van Gelder during the mind meld.

Dr. Noel certainly does hit on Kirk. Not only the suggestion in the neural neutralizer, but she also wants him to call her Helen and remarks on Kirk entering her room room that he could have waited until morning to ask her about the inmates -- I think she's implying Kirk had something else in mind. (For once, however, Kirk did just want information.) It sounds like she's had a crush on him since they danced at the Christmas party.

For what it's worth, the use of first names between officers is pretty rare on the Enterprise, so much so that Uhura and Sulu never had a first name on screen in TOS. Kirk does use the nicknames "Bones" and "Scotty" in lighter moments, but when it's serious he almost always calls them McCoy and Scott. So Dr. Noel's request for her commanding officer to call her "Helen" is a bit personal.

The remastered episode has new orbital shots, giving Tantalus V rings. As mentioned above, the surface entrance to the Tantalus facility has a new entirely different matte painting.

The opening and closing credit sequences of the re-mastered episode are almost exact duplicates of the original. One of the orbital shots of the ship was so tight, we should have seen people through the windows.
I like that the first season re-mastered-s keep the same font style for their title sequences.

I think the closing credit sequences are identical. I believe they leave them untouched.

It seems that they remastered the unsyndicated version this time. The cuts Phil mentions are all there.

I think the closing credit sequences are identical. I believe they leave them untouched.
I meant that the end titles (the ones that end with an Enterprise flyaway) of this episode was almost a carbon copy of the original. The final credits are unchanged from the original episodes on all the re-mastered episodes. And, the station here runs those intact and uncompressed. With no voice overs either. The same can't be said for TV Land.

GREAT ENHANCED MOMENTS

New planetary shots of the planet...both from space (The planet has rings now) and on the surface. (Far away shot of Tantalus Penal Building)

Great U-Turn done by Enterprise as it heads back to Tantalus.

ENHANCED MOMENT MISSED OPPORTUNITY

The Red Alert light is still burned out in the corridor. That could've EASILY been fixed}

I have a question, why are the staff of Tantalus V willingly going along with Dr. Adams and his experiments (such as the security personal who escort Kirk to and from the treatment room). This is clearly a criminal act going on here, and don't they know that they will be held accountable. Why didn't they turn on Adams when he started his experiments? This ain't Nazi Germany here, you don't have to follow orders if said orders are wrong, which they clearly are here.

The only other example of a large group of Federation personal willingly committing amoral acts I can think of is the crew of the Equinox (VOY). However, this was a unique case, the Equinox was stranded thousands of light years from home, they had lost half their crew, the ship was practically destroyed, and supplies were dangerously low. For this reason, I can see the crew willing following Captain Ransome in torturing the other dimensional creatures to get home. They were in a desparate situation.

This does not apply to the staff of Tantalus V. Did Adams manage to brainwash all of them?

James Gregory played Matt Helm's boss in the Matt Helm series of secret agent films of the 60's starring Dean Martin as a superspy.

Apparently, Doctor Tristan Adams had a great-great-great-great-great-great grandson in the publishing business, back in the mid-19060's and '70's that looks and sounds just like him!
James Gregory portrayed MISTER ADAMS on 'That Girl', as Don Hollinger's boss at Newsview magazine!

Grand-son? Or Grand-father?

OOOOoooooooooooooooH
My bad!
Yes, Grand-FATHER!!!

ScottN - "The ship is shown orbiting a planet "sideways", that is, with vertical relative to the ship shown as perpendicular to the plane of the orbit. Therefore, since we seem to orbit counter-clockwise (except in "Mirror,Mirror"), the planet should appear on the viewscreen as occupying the left hand side of the screen. Yet the planet always occupies the lower half of the screen, which would indicate that the ship is orbiting such that vertical (relative to the ship) is specifically the vector from the center of the planet to the ship."

I always assumed it was a view from a camera on the Enterprise's port side, showing the wide angle view of the planet, since the main viewscreen isn't a window. But, you're right, even with my explanation. Why not always show a camera view of straight ahead with the planet in the bottom left hand corner?

Merat - "Actually, I have a 250 CD Cd-Player that has a light that turns on when the player is off."

My DVD player os the same, but I think the point is that the light goes OFF when the unit is used, which my DVD player doesn't do. It's red when it's off, and green when it's in use.

Tim - "I have a question, why are the staff of Tantalus V willingly going along with Dr. Adams and his experiments (such as the security personal who escort Kirk to and from the treatment room). This is clearly a criminal act going on here, and don't they know that they will be held accountable. Why didn't they turn on Adams when he started his experiments?...Did Adams manage to brainwash all of them?"

I think you more or less answered your own question, Tim. That one guy at the controls definitely looks brainwashed by the neural neutralizer (as does Lethe), but I think a minimum number of staff knew what Adams was really doing with his machine. I think Van Gelder wanted to put a stop to it, and Adams (with his brainwashed assistant) put Van Gelder in the chair and went beyond anything Adams intended. Van Gelder was the guinea pig for the most extreme type of conditioning Adams could imagine and that damaged him to the point of near insanity.

I wonder if it's too late to ask John A. Lang whether he prefers Helen Noel or Deanna Troi as his favorite lady psychiatrist?

Helen says that Kirk 'talked about the stars' during the Christmas party. Uh, I thought he was a smooth ladies man? I don't think talking about how Rigel is visible in small telescopes and 500 times fainter than Rigel A, Rigel B is itself a spectroscopic binary system, consisting of two main sequence blue-white stars of spectral type B9V that are themselves estimated to be 2.5 and 1.9 times as massive as the Sun.
Way to turn her on, Jim!

Well, this was Helen's version of things. Perhaps her memory spiced it up a bit.

When Kirk and Spock are discussing Doctor Van Gelder's identity and occupation as Adams' assistant, there's a close-up of Spock that doesn't make sense.
His head is tilted towards the right, but the bridge panels behind him are facing the wrong direction. It's because the panels behind Spock are actually those above Uhura's station (the two viewscreens match hers), and not the ones towards the front of the bridge, which is what should be seen from that angle.

When the transporter officer tries to beam the containers down to Tantalus, the walls flicker off and on (because the planet's force field is blocking the beam), but shouldn't the containers have been turned into glittering pillars of light that remain in the chamber? Because it's the force field, not the transporter, itself, that's preventing the beam-out.

And speaking of that, Kirk chides the officer about protocol and penal colonies regarding beaming and the force field, and not long after he's trying to use his communicator from inside the penal colony, and is a little surprised that he can't get through to the ship.

So this force field surrounds the whole planet. Must take up wads of power.

I like the remastered version of Tantalus Five.

The force field surrounding the whole planet is also used in Whom Gods Destroy for a world which is also a mental institution.
And that's not the only thing from this episode reused in that future episode. The chair in the neural neutralizer room in which the patient sits is the one used for the special treatment in Whom Gods Destroy as well. Of course, it was also used in Operation Annihilate--Spock is sitting in it when he is blinded.

A force field around a whole planet must consume a massive bit of power.

Would it have made more sense to just have the force field around the prison itself?

Actually, guys, I don't recall any dialogue stating that the force field over Tantalus surrounded the entire planet. The technician couldn't beam directly down to the penal colony, and Kirk couldn't transmit from the colony, with the field in place, but the whole planet? I don't think so.

Then why didn't Spock and the rescue them transport down to another location and then head for the penal colony on foot?

What would that have accomplished? They would still not have been able to reach the colony throught the force field.

Couldn't they have tunneled under it?

That's assuming it does not extend underground.

Good point.

Helen Noel says "To continually pump chemicals into a person's bloodstream...". Well, I'm doing almost the same thing, with the four prescription drugs I take for various ailments. And, there are plenty around who do pretty much the same thing. Even someone who's reading this post.

Yeah, but this is centuries in the future.

To them, it's like how we react to using leeches.