(on edit: post title should have been: "The Cloud Minders - What a Gas!" )
I had completely forgotten Margaret Armen had to rewrite this story into a functional teleplay due to behind-the-scenes issues. I vaguely recall the original script had a much more downer ending. While it's still true that the story's conclusion is a bit pat and easy, it does retain Trek's hallmark of optimism - though Vanna is still certain nothing will improve.
And, of course, David Gerrold. It would be fascinating to read his original script with more dour ending. Especially since he's known for the comedy outing 'The Trouble with Tribbles'.
It's almost understandable that people are taken off-kilter when Spock freely tells Droxine about Vulcans' mating practices, given the claim that he preferred to risk death than to tell McCoy or Kirk because of "how personal" it was as exclaimed back then. The difference is, in "Amok Time", Spock was having to deal with the hormonal imbalance. In "Minders", he is not. Though at the same time, this is the 1960s and character development wasn't a thing. Going from season 2's opener to late season 3 to show Spock being freely discussing what makes him jolly is bizarre when there's been nothing to build him up between almost two seasons' worth of episodes, made when each episode was its own self-contained universe. Oh well, it's baby steps to arcing - Trek loosely pioneered it, I suppose.
On the other hand, what isn't understandable is how Spock does a captain's log stating they cannot contact the Captain without jeopardizing his life as a result. However, less than 30 lines of dialogue later, Kirk contacts the ship and Spock states how they've been trying to contact him.
Going back to Spock's libido, his chatting up Droxine with "Extreme feminine beauty is always disturbing, madam" is up for grabs, given that "Amok Time" tells of how Vulcans must do it every 7 years. (AT states only males have the pon farr urge, TCM states all Vulcans.) I am debating whether or not how much exposition-based reminding is needed, since Spock is repressing emotions all while trying to say "You're hawt" because of his Vulcan/Human differences. Or, more pertinently, the logic-vs-emotional. I still find it hard to believe that such a private ritual no outsiders know of is now tabloid fodder. Then again, maybe Spock noticed how Kirk is explaining lurve to every woman of the week and realized it's not a big thing because everybody does it. Again, ideally the story and fictional universe needs to do the setup and adherence. Making fans create canon becomes not only inconsistent, but sloppy after a while, nor are fans being paid to do the show's writers' work for them.
The Sentinels all wear mini kilts, not unlike TNG season 1 skant outfits. Nice to see Grace Lee Whitney's idea of using minis given to males, even if they're Stratos guards and not Federation blokes.
William Shatner and Charlene Polite steal the show in their various scenes together. Ditto for Jeff Corey. any scene involving any of them together - even if you dislike the rest of the episode, fast forward to when two of the three are on screen together. Or all three. Or when it's just Kirk, especially in the caves, but Kirk gets a lot of great commanding material.
It's easy to tell when a season 3 script is more than a bottle story since the actors exude a little more relish into their stories. Out of character or not, the big three are definitely enjoying the material and it's all lovely to watch.
Corey isn't quite at the sublime level that Frank Gorshin put in, though Corey didn't exactly have to battle against being typecast as Batman's Riddler either and Gorshin was superlative in that role. Corey's was an excellent performance, period.
Ditto for The Big Three regarding evolution, the effects of the gas, etc, on the bridge, and later in the transporter room. Indeed, McCoy makes a great comment about prejudice, which has much more positive effect than watching five times in a row "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" as a drinking game. Indeed, noting numerous episodes where McCoy pokes glib fun at Spock's mannerisms if not the entire Vulcan race, but McCoy has never been prejudiced in action.
It's nice to feel like a high school freshman again: When Vanna boasted with pride they have "something more valuable to bargain with than than mortae and thongs" to Anka, I burst out laughing. But it's actually realism, there are different languages where the same word has a completely different meaning... More giggling ensured, earlier in the story, when Vanna sneaks into the guest accommodation and tries to kill Kirk. She's foiled, Kirk has her pinned in bed and makes double entenres about how much enjoyable it is (a sentiment she clearly does not reciprocate)... and yet the juvenile levity was minimal: In the story, there's otherwise zero dialogue or chemistry between Kirk and Vanna, which is unusual for Kirk-era TOS for Kirk not to chat up the lady of the week to teach her love then go run away back to the ship, makes the attempted assassination scene that much more out of place. On the plus side, the episode was quick to get on with itself instead of spending five minutes in typical Kirk fashion of having Kirk teach Vanna what luuuuuurve is all about. And remember kids, get to the clinic the next day... (eww, cooties)
Speaking of pride, it is illogical for Spock to say Vulcans have pride regarding their logic. It's the same logic that tells them of Kohlinar (the process of purging emotion, not the brand of kitchen and bathroom faucets...) now being propped up with emotion. Makes for a lovely irony.
Manny Coto, for the fourth season of "Enterprise", stated he wanted to use the planet and city - as a two-parter (Wikipedia). I can't blame him, the story tells of previous issues that led to the city being created but it's all superficial and it's a shame he didn't get a chance to. If only he were hired earlier. Anyway, in a show from the 1960s that didn't do character or situation arcs, apart from how Spock likes to get busy of course, "Minders" focused on the current situation and left the build-up as brief exposition. Does "Minders" really need a prequel to set up the situation Kirk and Spock stumble into? Only if a whole series were to be planned, perhaps. Which remains one question: The people of Stratos, on the surface or in the cloud city, are they all able to sustain a season's worth of material or more? Well, if anyone can watch Vanna walk across a stage and turn letters that light up on cue and make gobs more money than people who do real work then anything's possible. Oh, wait, wrong Vanna. Whoops.
But I now remember, Spock has a different form of exposition where, in a guest accommodation while Kirk sleeps elsewhere, Spock does a recap for the audience that presumably just tuned in late about the Stratos society and situation. He might mention his drooling for Droxine, but there's a certain poetry that almost seems to work. As a whole scene, however, it was very well done and was engaging to watch. Had there been a season 4, and more budget to do more episodes where they - you know - actually get to leave the ship and explore, I suspect Spock would have had more such scenes. If Armen is responsible for this scene, it all adds up and makes sense as she was slated to become script editor had the show continued.
Vanna and Droxine could have a grudge match featuring solely their eyelid make-up. It would end in a tie game.
But Droxine would easily win the "my earrings are so big that in five years my lobes stretch so far that they will carry me to far off lands with a single gust of wind" award.
Awesome transporter effect for Stratos.
Ditto for the handheld camerawork, whether it's for fight scenes or any other scene where they switch to handheld.
The fights themselves - there's great use of stuntdoubles, who are well-concealed. While the fighting early on in the episode is a little too stagey in feel, the fighting inside the sealed cave looks and feels authentic. Especially Kirk kicking Plassus' thong (snicker). Or was it a mortae?
Another serious topic in this episode is very low key. That of resorting to torture. Plassus is not wrong in reminding Kirk the time crunch involved (how far away is Ardana from Stratos, since the episode ends with 3 hours to spare?) Kirk is not wrong about the (lack of) humanitarian aspects of torture, but he also asks "Surely there are better methods than this" as opposed to offering better methods. It's impossible to be anti-Plassus on this issue. Kirk needed to provide a solution, noting he had for almost every other problem posited in this episode. Right down to the filters to combat a gas that, thankfully, wasn't anymore damaging than it was. (But the gas and its effects were sold plausibly.)
As usual, another hallmark of TOS is the use of color. There are some well-placed camera shots while on Statos, using Kirk and crew in the background and letting the blue marbled corridors and orange/red artwork frame the outer portions of the screen. Later scenes mix sumptuous hues of yellow, orange, teal, and others. They also must have worked with the costume department because it's not often when a character wears the same color as a background set. Quite often, the colors are designed as contrasts and it's a visual treat.
I luvs me that color wheel... Modern TV shows are just so bland and I am not referring to TNG. TOS was an art form in so many ways, using not just wall paint but lighting to sell eye-popping scenes. Yes, color TV was new. But, yeah, the appearance - even if it's gray slats lit with different hued lights - still has a look that isn't busy but is engaging and compelling. The designers who worked with color definitely deserved awards for balancing so many hues in such a lively manner. Yes, I'm gushing, so there. 
One slight nitpick (like what else is new): When we see the art sculpture punctured by the thong (snicker), it's the music that cues. The artwork and thong (snicker) are both the same colors, making the mining tool blend into the artwork too much. Had the tool been sullied with dirt or a different color than silver/gray with a bronze/gold-colored handle, the vandalism with corresponding threat music would have hit home a lot sooner.
All in all, it's another episode that's above average for season 3, having potential as a general Trek episode, but still feeling like they could have done a bit more with it. But knowing the original ending was a lot more dour and she rewrote it to get it to fit into Trek's mold more appropriately, and it still felt appropriate and authentic...
Season 3 TOS grading: A-
General TOS: B or B+
I had completely forgotten Margaret Armen had to rewrite this story into a functional teleplay due to behind-the-scenes issues. I vaguely recall the original script had a much more downer ending. While it's still true that the story's conclusion is a bit pat and easy, it does retain Trek's hallmark of optimism - though Vanna is still certain nothing will improve.
And, of course, David Gerrold. It would be fascinating to read his original script with more dour ending. Especially since he's known for the comedy outing 'The Trouble with Tribbles'.
It's almost understandable that people are taken off-kilter when Spock freely tells Droxine about Vulcans' mating practices, given the claim that he preferred to risk death than to tell McCoy or Kirk because of "how personal" it was as exclaimed back then. The difference is, in "Amok Time", Spock was having to deal with the hormonal imbalance. In "Minders", he is not. Though at the same time, this is the 1960s and character development wasn't a thing. Going from season 2's opener to late season 3 to show Spock being freely discussing what makes him jolly is bizarre when there's been nothing to build him up between almost two seasons' worth of episodes, made when each episode was its own self-contained universe. Oh well, it's baby steps to arcing - Trek loosely pioneered it, I suppose.
On the other hand, what isn't understandable is how Spock does a captain's log stating they cannot contact the Captain without jeopardizing his life as a result. However, less than 30 lines of dialogue later, Kirk contacts the ship and Spock states how they've been trying to contact him.
Going back to Spock's libido, his chatting up Droxine with "Extreme feminine beauty is always disturbing, madam" is up for grabs, given that "Amok Time" tells of how Vulcans must do it every 7 years. (AT states only males have the pon farr urge, TCM states all Vulcans.) I am debating whether or not how much exposition-based reminding is needed, since Spock is repressing emotions all while trying to say "You're hawt" because of his Vulcan/Human differences. Or, more pertinently, the logic-vs-emotional. I still find it hard to believe that such a private ritual no outsiders know of is now tabloid fodder. Then again, maybe Spock noticed how Kirk is explaining lurve to every woman of the week and realized it's not a big thing because everybody does it. Again, ideally the story and fictional universe needs to do the setup and adherence. Making fans create canon becomes not only inconsistent, but sloppy after a while, nor are fans being paid to do the show's writers' work for them.
The Sentinels all wear mini kilts, not unlike TNG season 1 skant outfits. Nice to see Grace Lee Whitney's idea of using minis given to males, even if they're Stratos guards and not Federation blokes.
William Shatner and Charlene Polite steal the show in their various scenes together. Ditto for Jeff Corey. any scene involving any of them together - even if you dislike the rest of the episode, fast forward to when two of the three are on screen together. Or all three. Or when it's just Kirk, especially in the caves, but Kirk gets a lot of great commanding material.
It's easy to tell when a season 3 script is more than a bottle story since the actors exude a little more relish into their stories. Out of character or not, the big three are definitely enjoying the material and it's all lovely to watch.
Corey isn't quite at the sublime level that Frank Gorshin put in, though Corey didn't exactly have to battle against being typecast as Batman's Riddler either and Gorshin was superlative in that role. Corey's was an excellent performance, period.
Ditto for The Big Three regarding evolution, the effects of the gas, etc, on the bridge, and later in the transporter room. Indeed, McCoy makes a great comment about prejudice, which has much more positive effect than watching five times in a row "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" as a drinking game. Indeed, noting numerous episodes where McCoy pokes glib fun at Spock's mannerisms if not the entire Vulcan race, but McCoy has never been prejudiced in action.
It's nice to feel like a high school freshman again: When Vanna boasted with pride they have "something more valuable to bargain with than than mortae and thongs" to Anka, I burst out laughing. But it's actually realism, there are different languages where the same word has a completely different meaning... More giggling ensured, earlier in the story, when Vanna sneaks into the guest accommodation and tries to kill Kirk. She's foiled, Kirk has her pinned in bed and makes double entenres about how much enjoyable it is (a sentiment she clearly does not reciprocate)... and yet the juvenile levity was minimal: In the story, there's otherwise zero dialogue or chemistry between Kirk and Vanna, which is unusual for Kirk-era TOS for Kirk not to chat up the lady of the week to teach her love then go run away back to the ship, makes the attempted assassination scene that much more out of place. On the plus side, the episode was quick to get on with itself instead of spending five minutes in typical Kirk fashion of having Kirk teach Vanna what luuuuuurve is all about. And remember kids, get to the clinic the next day... (eww, cooties)
Speaking of pride, it is illogical for Spock to say Vulcans have pride regarding their logic. It's the same logic that tells them of Kohlinar (the process of purging emotion, not the brand of kitchen and bathroom faucets...) now being propped up with emotion. Makes for a lovely irony.
Manny Coto, for the fourth season of "Enterprise", stated he wanted to use the planet and city - as a two-parter (Wikipedia). I can't blame him, the story tells of previous issues that led to the city being created but it's all superficial and it's a shame he didn't get a chance to. If only he were hired earlier. Anyway, in a show from the 1960s that didn't do character or situation arcs, apart from how Spock likes to get busy of course, "Minders" focused on the current situation and left the build-up as brief exposition. Does "Minders" really need a prequel to set up the situation Kirk and Spock stumble into? Only if a whole series were to be planned, perhaps. Which remains one question: The people of Stratos, on the surface or in the cloud city, are they all able to sustain a season's worth of material or more? Well, if anyone can watch Vanna walk across a stage and turn letters that light up on cue and make gobs more money than people who do real work then anything's possible. Oh, wait, wrong Vanna. Whoops.
But I now remember, Spock has a different form of exposition where, in a guest accommodation while Kirk sleeps elsewhere, Spock does a recap for the audience that presumably just tuned in late about the Stratos society and situation. He might mention his drooling for Droxine, but there's a certain poetry that almost seems to work. As a whole scene, however, it was very well done and was engaging to watch. Had there been a season 4, and more budget to do more episodes where they - you know - actually get to leave the ship and explore, I suspect Spock would have had more such scenes. If Armen is responsible for this scene, it all adds up and makes sense as she was slated to become script editor had the show continued.
Vanna and Droxine could have a grudge match featuring solely their eyelid make-up. It would end in a tie game.
But Droxine would easily win the "my earrings are so big that in five years my lobes stretch so far that they will carry me to far off lands with a single gust of wind" award.
Awesome transporter effect for Stratos.
Ditto for the handheld camerawork, whether it's for fight scenes or any other scene where they switch to handheld.
The fights themselves - there's great use of stuntdoubles, who are well-concealed. While the fighting early on in the episode is a little too stagey in feel, the fighting inside the sealed cave looks and feels authentic. Especially Kirk kicking Plassus' thong (snicker). Or was it a mortae?
Another serious topic in this episode is very low key. That of resorting to torture. Plassus is not wrong in reminding Kirk the time crunch involved (how far away is Ardana from Stratos, since the episode ends with 3 hours to spare?) Kirk is not wrong about the (lack of) humanitarian aspects of torture, but he also asks "Surely there are better methods than this" as opposed to offering better methods. It's impossible to be anti-Plassus on this issue. Kirk needed to provide a solution, noting he had for almost every other problem posited in this episode. Right down to the filters to combat a gas that, thankfully, wasn't anymore damaging than it was. (But the gas and its effects were sold plausibly.)
As usual, another hallmark of TOS is the use of color. There are some well-placed camera shots while on Statos, using Kirk and crew in the background and letting the blue marbled corridors and orange/red artwork frame the outer portions of the screen. Later scenes mix sumptuous hues of yellow, orange, teal, and others. They also must have worked with the costume department because it's not often when a character wears the same color as a background set. Quite often, the colors are designed as contrasts and it's a visual treat.
I luvs me that color wheel... Modern TV shows are just so bland and I am not referring to TNG. TOS was an art form in so many ways, using not just wall paint but lighting to sell eye-popping scenes. Yes, color TV was new. But, yeah, the appearance - even if it's gray slats lit with different hued lights - still has a look that isn't busy but is engaging and compelling. The designers who worked with color definitely deserved awards for balancing so many hues in such a lively manner. Yes, I'm gushing, so there. One slight nitpick (like what else is new): When we see the art sculpture punctured by the thong (snicker), it's the music that cues. The artwork and thong (snicker) are both the same colors, making the mining tool blend into the artwork too much. Had the tool been sullied with dirt or a different color than silver/gray with a bronze/gold-colored handle, the vandalism with corresponding threat music would have hit home a lot sooner.
All in all, it's another episode that's above average for season 3, having potential as a general Trek episode, but still feeling like they could have done a bit more with it. But knowing the original ending was a lot more dour and she rewrote it to get it to fit into Trek's mold more appropriately, and it still felt appropriate and authentic...
Season 3 TOS grading: A-
General TOS: B or B+
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