Episode of the Week : Metamorphosis
- Thread starter Botany Bay
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For me, this one is a solid ten. Too many good moments and touches for it not to be. Which is funny, because as a kid, I used to dread this one. Silly young me!
I don't even know where to begin. I loved Kirk's 'we're on a thousand planets' speech, but even better is prior to that. Cochrane asks what it's like out there, and Kirk's brief expression reveals that Cochrane just opened the door to being persuaded. A very brief expression, but watch for it next time. Kirk is ready to seize this little window of opportunity, and it shows.
The 'love' speech by Kirk is a real winner, too. I don't know if Shatner particularly enjoyed this script, but I'm inclined to think he did. He was really good in this one all around.
Spock and McCoy's conversation about electricity sits well with me. All those who criticize McCoy for being abusive of Spock need to see this one. It's not a big scene, but really highlights how the two men are mutually respecting colleagues, above all else.
Eleanor Donahue sold Nancy Hedford's illness quite well. When I was young (i.e. when girls had "cooties"), she came across to me as simply whiny and complaining. Somehow my dense little skull didn't get that she was very ill, feverish and quite possibly delusional. Now, she really seems to be a self-tortured character who is actually quite sympathetic.
Cochrane's well-intentioned mention of being able to offer a hot bath, and her reaction of "How perceptive of you to notice that I needed one" is actually quite funny to me, in the way that sometimes people under duress say unintentionally funny things.
I could go on and on, but I think voting a ten pretty much sums up the gist of it for me.
I don't even know where to begin. I loved Kirk's 'we're on a thousand planets' speech, but even better is prior to that. Cochrane asks what it's like out there, and Kirk's brief expression reveals that Cochrane just opened the door to being persuaded. A very brief expression, but watch for it next time. Kirk is ready to seize this little window of opportunity, and it shows.
The 'love' speech by Kirk is a real winner, too. I don't know if Shatner particularly enjoyed this script, but I'm inclined to think he did. He was really good in this one all around.
Spock and McCoy's conversation about electricity sits well with me. All those who criticize McCoy for being abusive of Spock need to see this one. It's not a big scene, but really highlights how the two men are mutually respecting colleagues, above all else.
Eleanor Donahue sold Nancy Hedford's illness quite well. When I was young (i.e. when girls had "cooties"), she came across to me as simply whiny and complaining. Somehow my dense little skull didn't get that she was very ill, feverish and quite possibly delusional. Now, she really seems to be a self-tortured character who is actually quite sympathetic.
Cochrane's well-intentioned mention of being able to offer a hot bath, and her reaction of "How perceptive of you to notice that I needed one" is actually quite funny to me, in the way that sometimes people under duress say unintentionally funny things.
I could go on and on, but I think voting a ten pretty much sums up the gist of it for me.
I give it a nine. I always liked the George Duning music score, but not until my more mature years did I feel the emotional impact of the story. Shatner deserves his praise for this episode, but the other standout, and for me the greater one, is Elinor Donahue. Her portrayal is extremely touching.
As much as I love James Cromwell, I could never reconcile his portrayal of "crazy rock-n-roll drunk" Cochrane in FC with Glenn Corbett's thoughtful sensitive version here.
This is a good episode, definitely outside the box, the kind of story that could have stood alone outside of the Trek framework and worked on its own.
This is a good episode, definitely outside the box, the kind of story that could have stood alone outside of the Trek framework and worked on its own.
Gotta point out once more that Hedford is really getting a treatment here. She's painfully dying yet getting little or no attention let alone sympathy - until the heroes feed her to a space monster and marry her body (and trapped and screaming soul?) to a random space vagrant. I guess people in the 23rd century have to write very detailed and extensive last wills and organ donor cards to protect themselves against all the possible horror scenarios...
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
Timo, you have such incredibly wonderful observations sometimes. I'm really glad you are here.
I don't like to be a sour note, but I never liked this one so much. Like LMFAO, I didn't like the cooties aspect, I'm past it and I appreciate the story much more now, but the favor hasn't appreciated, I vote 7.
And yes, I voted the same for Catspaw. Please do not judge me too harshly.
Well, they didn't feed her to to space monster, the space monster decided to save her by merging with her. Darn nice of it, I Thought.
My question is: Cochran asked Kirk not to tell anyone about him. Okay, fine - they can say they were marooning for a while until they got the shuttle running again. But what did Kirk tell the Federation about their suddenly missing ambassador?
My question is: Cochran asked Kirk not to tell anyone about him. Okay, fine - they can say they were marooning for a while until they got the shuttle running again. But what did Kirk tell the Federation about their suddenly missing ambassador?
But it was the monsters fault she died because it was the one that pulled them off course and forced them to land.
They probably used the "Galileo Seven" defense; the ambassador died on the planetoid while they were making repairs, and in order to save fuel, they left all the extra weight behind, including her body.
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It's not as if Starfleet would be in the habit of hauling bodies back home in the general case. Space burial seems to be practiced for abstract reasons, not because the fridges of a Constitution or Intrepid class vessel would be too small.
I wonder what the deal was with Spock in ST2. Had he made a will requiring space disposal of his body and ensuring that his hated father would never gain access to his katra? Or is space burial simply the default, and Spock (conveniently for the ongoing feud with his father) failed to notify Starfleet of the special circumstances relating to a Vulcan dying aboard a ship full of humans?
Default disposal might have befallen Hedford for various reasons. How long was that shuttle ride going to take? Perhaps dumping the body would have been necessary for practical reasons already.
Timo Saloniemi
I wonder what the deal was with Spock in ST2. Had he made a will requiring space disposal of his body and ensuring that his hated father would never gain access to his katra? Or is space burial simply the default, and Spock (conveniently for the ongoing feud with his father) failed to notify Starfleet of the special circumstances relating to a Vulcan dying aboard a ship full of humans?
Default disposal might have befallen Hedford for various reasons. How long was that shuttle ride going to take? Perhaps dumping the body would have been necessary for practical reasons already.
Timo Saloniemi
Yep. For that reason, among some others, this episode is a mixed bag for me. There is quite a bit to like in this episode, but the Companion commited a crime that is too easily dismissed. There is at least some poetic justice for what in our justice system would be murder in the course of a kidnapping, in the Companion having lost her immortality in the course of events. Also on the downside, most of Nancy/Companion's dialog is cringeworthy.
Among the things I like, I like the look of the episode. This planet set is probably my favorite. And I absolutely love the serendipitous shot of Nancy/Companion looking through Nancy's scarf shown on this page.
Also, Elizabeth Rogers is outstanding, as the Companion voice in the universal translator.
Six.
I always thought the poetic aspect of this episode lay elsewhere. Nancy Hedford had never known love. When you scratch the surface, you find her life has been empty.
When the Companion hijacks the shuttlecraft, Nancy is being swept away, in effect swept off her feet (she is the VIP; Kirk and Spock are just her chauffeurs).
At the end, although she is parting with her prior life, she is becoming a part of something bigger than herself and she's very happy about it. So the whole story can be taken as an allegory for someone finally finding love and getting married.
"Metamorphosis" is NOT about an alien life form that runs a kidnapping operation. It's an allegory for the big, sweeping events that lonely people dream of.
Ugh.
I still find it hard to believe that wasn't intentional. It's so perfect.
The planet set is nice, but I hate the shot where Cochrane runs across the clearing to greet them, and we see the studio lights glaring above the sky cyclorama. That was just sloppy.
Or about forced marriages. Here she was, perfectly happy and willing to live a life of solitude, and now she has been married off and has to smile to her husband every day (not even lest she be beaten, but because her body isn't free not to smile ever again).
Timo Saloniemi
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