I always wondered why Kirk bothered to inform Starfleet of that rogue comet, but then it hit me; the planet and the comet crossed through each other's orbits, narrowly avoiding a cataclysmic collision that would have made Gamma Hydra IV uninhabitable (if stories of what could happen to the Earth is the same ever happened are true). At that rate, the science team on the planet were dead, anyway, even without radiation, as the planet and comet would eventually line up again, perhaps closer this time. Therefore, he was probably taking the first steps to get them to destroy it, even thougyh he could have done it himself.
Listening to Kirk's dialogue after he's infected makes me think he's a Grumpy Old Man. He became sarcastic, said what was on his mind without thinking, he was callous and rude. Quite out of character, but maybe not when you consider he was angry that he was going to die of old age at just 34.
Why does McCoy say that Spock is in good shape for a Vulcan on the high side of 100? How old was Spock to begin with that he reached 100 before the rest of the landing party? The oldest Kirk, McCoy and Scott could have gotten by the end of the episode was about 100, but for most of the time they were closer to their 60's or 70's.
Unseen scene during Stocker's uselessness on the bridge, doing his Uhura imitation...
"Captain...I...I'm frightened!"
In part 1 of this Deadly Years thread others were talking about the Klingon ships in The Wrath of Khan, in the Gamma Hydra sector, which didn't make sense. However, it occurs to me that this is a great test to throw off the cadets; a Klingon ship in Romulan space would distract them or they'd manage to try and save the ship, overcoming the distraction. Kinda like being attacked by an Andorian ship along the Organian Treaty Zone, instead of a D-7.

He became sarcastic, said what was on his mind without thinking, he was callous and rude.

Sounds like a perfectly normal human

John A. Lang stated that "Dr. Wallace marks the 2nd woman that Kirk almost married... the other being Carol Marcus." Gary Mitchell speaks of a blond lab technician and Kirk says that he lamost married her.

Very true, but a lot of people think that Dr. Marcus might actually be the blonde lab technician.

Janet complained to Kirk that she'd only heard from him once in the time that they'd broken up, and even then it was just condolences for the death of her husband.
Perhaps relationships change by the 23rd century, but here in the 21st I don't think girlfriends should expect to stay in touch with their old boyfriends, especially if said girlfriend has moved on and gotten married.
I really didn't get a Jerry / Elaine vibe from Kirk and Janice and think she never got over him or seems to think that you never really break up with an ex.

The remastered episode airs this weekend.

The preview shows at least two Romulan warbirds attacking the Enterprise. The footage seems to fit in better than the reused footage from "Balance of Terror" in the original.

Alan- my
station list showed Metaphorsis, twice..Doomsday machine this week.

The official list is showing "The Deadly Years" this weekend, and "The Doomsday Machine" rerun next week. Local stations have the option of airing each episode twice each week.

Just watched the Deadly years, not doomsday machine..Still like the orignial grumpy old men.


Bones: Well, welll, welll what's happening!

Shatner said he spent all day to made up and he didnt do any shooting that day, for the make up!

New orbital shots of Gamma Hydra II..., uh, IV.

We now see three Romulan warbirds attacking the Enterprise. The new footage fixes one of Phil's nits - the plasma weapon turning into a photon torpedo when it strikes the ship. The shots are now consistent.

I always wondered why Dr. Wallace wasn't in uniform. There didn't seem to be any explanation on why she was on the Enterprise.

Spock suffers chills in his old age, but never considers wearing a sweater.

A lot of people think that Dr. Marcus might actually be the blonde lab technician.
From what I've read (on Memory Alpha) the character of Dr. Wallace (instead of Marcus) was supposed to be in Star Trek II, at least in early script drafts.

There a movie out now called Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but it doesn't look like it has anything to do with the actress in this episode.

GREAT ENHANCED MOMENT:

The Enterprise vs. the Romulan fleet. Too cool.

The restraining straps on the Sickbay bed appear to be made of the same material used in car seat belts.

Maybe they appear to be made of the same material because they are?

The "fuel consumption report" that Kirk signs appears to contain maybe a dozen words or so, handwritten, and possibly a signature (before Kirk signs it). If anyone has a DVD, maybe they could actually read it (hint, hint).

Kirk was told that he could cross-examine all witnesses, once they're finished with the prosecution. However, once Spock questions Yeoman Atkins about the fuel consumption report, he dismisses her, giving Kirk no chance to cross-examine her!
Trek did this alot with minor characters-- they'd give their lines and then leave the scene. In 'The Gamesters of Triskelion', the female navigator gives a report at Spock's science station, then returns to navigation without being dismissed. In 'The Trouble With Tribbles' the security guard can't open the storage compartment hold so Kirk takes over, and the actor just backs up out of sight of the camera (so the Tribbles will only fall on Kirk but nobody knew that was going to happen). He backs up like it's going to explode (which, ironically, it was going to if Sisko and Dax didn't find the tribble with the bomb inside it in the DS9 episode, 'Trials and Tribble-atinos'). Same thing here.
My beef is that Atkins is just so cute that that eye candy should have been allowed to remain in the background for the rest of the scene.
I gotta wonder why McCoy developed such a thick Southern accent as he aged? You'd think he'd just sound older, not more Southern. After all, he hasn't aged 60 years in 60 years, he's aged 60 years in a couple days.

McCoy at his oldest looks so much like Andy Rooney from 60 Minutes does these days, especially when he wants to take the first shot of the cure.

Alan Hamilton - "I always wondered why Dr. Wallace wasn't in uniform. There didn't seem to be any explanation on why she was on the Enterprise."

I guess an edited-out scene stated that she was a civilian scientist assigned to Commodore Stocker on the Starbase. She's clearly a civilian, since she's never in uniform, but still kinda lacks professionalism, walking about in those dresses.

In the new CGI version, the Romulan projectile bolts are able to curve and strike the Enterprise, instead of flying straight at a target. That makes them an effective, unpredictable weapon, which makes you think the bolt/missile/torpedo is going to miss you, until it swings around at the last second and hits your ship.

It might be my imagination, but it looks like they gave Shatner a slightly-baggy uniform (at least in the arms) as if to simulate an aged-related loss of muscle mass. Seems to me that his unform arms were usually tight to accentuate his muscles (and that sagging belly in later years--which I've inherited myself ).

Three times Stocker addresses Kirk as 'Sir', and Kirk sneers at Stocker once saying, "You have a reason for being on the bridge, Commodore?" as if the man doesn't just not belong there or is allowed to be, but also that Kirk's rank is above Stocker's. I'm guessing Stocker excelled in paper-pushing in an office, and gained a Commodore-ancy that way. Is it possible, in real life, to promote an officer to a high rank, when all he ever did was oversee a naval base?

I noticed a bit of music editing in the remastered version.
When the Enterprise takes a hot from the Romulans, and Kirk says, "Greenhorn, up there ruining my ship.", the remastered version has a rift from 'The Doomsday Machine', which the original never did.
The music rift that's played is the one where Spock says "He's gone.", referring to the suicidal Decker, is played between the hit and Kirk's line.

Janet Wallace tells Kirk that the only time she heard from him since she last saw him is when he sent her a "stargram" after her husband died. A stargram? Is that anything like e-mail?

Lt. Galway says that the door of sickbay is a stupid place to hang a mirror. Apparently others agree with her, since this is the only time we see one hanging there before or since.

A stargram? Is that anything like e-mail?

I would think so. When I watched this episode, I would equate a stargram to a telegram. But, telegrams are yet another item relegated to the dustbin of history. Like dial phones, CRT-type TV sets, and the Edsel.

Yeah, but the Star Trek universe had the Eugenics War in the '90s and one or two (or more?) wars later on that would have derailed or completely wiped out any computer & other tech we have.

Then again in Star Trek's universe they had a working eugenics program in the 1960s, & in the early '90s working cryogenic tech & spacecraft that turned out to be capable of going into interstellar space, soooo... judging Star Trek's technological development based on ours is a bit dicey.

Mr.Picky here.
Actually I believe she called it a 'star cry', and not a 'stargram'.

That's even stranger. (But I'm pretty sure "stargram" was what was said.)

I think this is one instant where we have to realize this show was made almost half-a-century ago. When computers filled entire rooms. When Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were just 12 years old.

We are nitpickers, we don't deal with reality! ;-)

---

quote:

I think this is one instant where we have to realize this show was made almost half-a-century ago. When computers filled entire rooms. When Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were just 12 years old.

---

We are nitpickers, we don't deal with reality

I think we have to be a little more flexible in this regard. There is no way a 1967 writer could know of something that wouldn't come into use until the 1990's (unless said writer had access to a crystal ball or a time machine).

When this episode was made, the PC Revolution, which ushered in the age of the Internet (including e-mail), was years away. As I said, when Classic Trek was made, computers took up rooms!

My apologies, guys, but you were right!
Wallace DOES say 'stargram' not 'star-cry', which is what I've been hearing all these years!
Weird!
It makes nme wonder what else I've misheard. Just don't tell me that the characters aren't called Captain Kick, Mister Spark, or Doctor Mookie, because I'm so used to those names by now !

In the famous scene of Chekov beside Sulu ("...give us some more blood, Chekov...breath deeply, Chekov, skin sample, Chekov..." etc) you can see Sulu fiddling with a handhel device, which he puts away when Kirk arrives on the bridge. Was he texting Uhura or playing Grand Theft Starfleet on his Enterprise X-Box?

It's official; Commodore Stocker is a Romulan spy!
Let's examine this...
1. He wanted to leave Gamma Hydra IV BEFORE Spock discovered the comet's radiation, knowing that the Johnson's died because there was no explanation as to what happened.
2. He brought an old flame of Kirk's (Janet Wallace) with him to distract Kirk from his duties.
3. He initiates a Competency Hearing, knowing full well that he was ranking officer and would assume command of the Enterprise.
4. He orders Sulu to fly directly into the Neutral Zone, which is against Federation laws and treaties,...when he already knows it has a FLEET of Romulan ships waiting.
5. Once under attack, he doesn't issue a single order. Not even to back up and return to where they came from.
6. He says all they can do is surrender. Surrender the Starfleet's flagship? Riiiiight.
7. He doesn't understand Starfleet rankings. He's a Commodore and Kirk is a Captain-- Kirk should be addressing HIM as 'sir', not the other way around.
8. Stocker is given command of a starbase that's very close to the Neutral Zone. This would allow him to create all manner of malfunctions or contradictory orders, creating a 'hole' in Starfleet security, and allow fleets of Romulan ships to pass into Federation space, as Stocker 'looks in the other direction'.

Looks like Lt.Stiles was right in 'Balance of Terror', just not at the right time. There ARE Romulan spies in Starfleet!

McCoy, after Kirk jokes that he's getting gray, complains that he doesn't like how Kirk "has been running this ship lately."
It got me thinking, so I did a little research, but am still not sure what McCoy's problem is.
If you go back the previous five episodes, using a numerical stardate or using the original broadcast date, these are the previous 5 missions leading up to The Deadly Years;

Stardate;
1. Metamorphosis
2. Operation: Annihilate
3. Amok Time
4. This Side Of Paradise
5. Who Mourns For Adonais?

Broadcast:
1. Catspaw
2. I, Mudd
3. Metamorphosis
4. Journey To Babel
5. Friday's Child

I wonder how Kirk was failing in McCoy's opinion?

Benn Allen on Wednesday, November 24, 1999 - 5:35 pm: I believe Spock says he's having troubles concentrating and that his mental capacity is down. Yet Kirk and McCoy trust him to have accurately computed the anti-aging formula? They must really trust Spock. (Does bring up the line in "The Voyage Home" where McCoy comments that Kirk trusts Spock's guesses. [Not sure of the full quote.])

In The Voyage Home, McCoy says to Spock 'He (Kirk) has more faith in your guesses than in most other people's facts.'

Commodore Stocker is a Romulan spy

More likely he's just an incompetent moron.

I'm sure that's what the writers were trying to depict, but I like my theory more, and it makes more sense to me.
For a guy that's such a stickler for regulations, he was pretty lose with them when it came to crossing the Neutral Zone. Spock, himself, said in 'Balance of Terror' that entry into it, by either side, constitued an act of war. Were 4 officers worth starting an interstellar war over?
Kirk increases the orbit around Gamma Hydra IV to 20,000 miles perigee part way through the episode, but after he does it, it doesn't look different. Shouldn't the planet appear to be further than before when we see the Enterprise in orbit?
After they escape the Romulans, Kirk orders a course change to Starbase 10, but he doesn't ask for a reduction in speed! The ship is heading for the base at warp 8!
We see the Enterprise take 13 direct hits from outside and inside the ship. THIRTEEN! Either the Romulans are shooting rocks at the ship, or they're just toying with it, using it as target practice. Maybe they won't take prisoners, but they probably wanted to preserve the Enterprise as a trophy.

Where did they dredge up this Stocker guy?

After this fiasco, he's be lucky to be busted down the cabin boy.

It's kind of interesting to look at the aged characters and think of what the actors looked like as they aged.

Kirk and McCoy seem much different from older Shatner and Kelley. Spock is much closer to Nimoy, but that's because the make-up people didn't go as overboard on him since Vulcans live longer.

Of course, the characters were aging much faster than the real life actors did.

Kinda.

There's an issue of Starlog with an article on DeForrest's early career. He was a good-looking young actor in cowboy movies and was on the path to be a lead when in the space of a few years his face aged about 40 years to have the look we think of when we think of DeForrest Kelley.

Only one R in DeForest

All the DeForest Kelley jokes have been moved here:

Nitcentral's Bulletin Brash Reflections: ClassicTrek: The Classic Trek Sink: Star Trek Humor

84-year old Felix Locher would play Robert Johnson, and would have two more roles in 'Gunsmoke', then 'Love American Style', before he passed away at the ripe old age of 86 in 1969. He was born in Berne, Switzerland in 1882.
Ironically, according to imdb.com, Locher started acting very late (unless he was a stage actor in theaters). His first credit is for 'Hell Ship Mutiny' in 1957 when he was 74!

Of the Enterprise personnel that are affected by the aging disease are four regulars (Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty) and one guest character (Lt. Galaway).

Guess which one doesn't survive.

And she wasn't even a redshirt! It's a Space Festivus Miracle!

Yeah, but she didn't have Regular Character Immunity.

The computer stated Kirk's physical age to be "between 60 and 72", and he is supposed to be going senile. People's minds tend to remain pretty sharp between 60 and 72. While senility can occur during these ages, it is viewed as unusual and premature.

Yes, but McCoy does say that this disease affected the mind at a greater rate than the body, so Kirk may have had a 90 year old mind in a sixty year old body.

Yes, we're not talking normal aging here.

We saw Kirk and his crew age gracefully, over the years, and none of this bad stuff happened to any of them. Heck, McCoy was alive and kicking at 137.

I was watching the latest Comics Matter with Ya Boi Zack video on YouTube, when Zack asked 'Does Captain Kirk wear a toupee?', but I think this episode kind of proves that "No! Captain Kirk's hair is real." because if Kirk did wear a toupee, then why does his hair change in this episode?

If Kirk's hair was fake the toupee would remain unchanged so he'd look 90, but with a thick full head of dark hair.

I suppose one could argue that Kirk is so egotistical that he made-up a series of toupees showing his hair getting thinner and greyer throughout the episode, but that seems out of character for Kirk.

Fascinating.