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The Empath

KirkSpockTOSFan

KirkSpockTOSFan

Captain
Captain
What do you think of this episode?I think it's great episode as it's another episode that has "the big three" all way through it and shows how thier friendship is with one another just like "The City of the Edge of Forever","Plato's Stepchildern","All our Yesterdays","Amok Time".I think it's great they look after one another and it shows how deep thier friendship goes.Plus I like the girl in the episode who is a healer can feel the other persons pain as she heals them.What do you think?
 
I remarked on another thread that “Spectre of the Gun” was almost a triumph of style over substance. “The Empath,” on the other hand, is all style and no substance whatsoever. The very theatrical look of the episode, with minimal sets on a darkened soundstage, is interesting at first, but the novelty wears off quickly. As for the story, it makes absolutely no sense. I mean, if two worlds were about to be destroyed and the Vians were capable of saving only one, why didn't they ask Kirk to call for the Federation's assistance? Why gratuitously torture Kirk and McCoy just to test Gem's capacity for compassion and self-sacrifice?

Really, the whole thing is just an excuse to show a sweaty, bare-chested Kirk chained up. Come to think of it, the Vians do look kind of like a couple of old queens! :p
 
Yeah, this episode is a weird one. The story does not make much sense. What I do like is the interaction between Spock and McCoy - Spock's bedside manner, and all that.
 
Remarkable how things we loved as kids, we can pick apart as adults and find then wanting.

And a it's bit depressing, too. :(
 
Very stylistically different. That's why it's good. Not same old same old planet with rocks and colored sky.

Plus it's about self-sacrifice.

Spectre by the way, also cool stylistically, makes me wonder about the nature of reality, so it's about something (with this viewer, anyway) too. With minimalistic sets, accordian, and out of tune piano.
 
Forbin said:
Remarkable how things we loved as kids, we can pick apart as adults and find then wanting.
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“The Empath” is one episode I disliked when I first saw it more than 40 years ago, and age hasn't improved it. But that's true of pretty much the entire third season.
plynch said:
Spectre by the way, also cool stylistically, makes me wonder about the nature of reality, so it's about something (with this viewer, anyway) too. With minimalistic sets, accordian, and out of tune piano.
Click to expand...
And probably best appreciated while under the influence of certain mind-altering substances. :rolleyes:
 
KirkSpockTOSFan said:
What do you think of this episode?I think it's great episode as it's another episode that has "the big three" all way through it and shows how thier friendship is with one another just like "The City of the Edge of Forever","Plato's Stepchildern","All our Yesterdays","Amok Time".I think it's great they look after one another and it shows how deep thier friendship goes.Plus I like the girl in the episode who is a healer can feel the other persons pain as she heals them.What do you think?
Click to expand...

I think this is my second-favorite Trek episode, just behind "Amok Time." And you're right about the friendship among the Big Three. And the first time I saw this, I was smitten for life because not only was Gem beautiful, but she made something that should have been silly into something beautiful. Yeah, I was in serious lust for Gem.:vulcan:
 
It's very theatrical. Almost ballet at some points.

I liked the aliens. I can remember hating that the labels on the giant specimum jars were written in English and not some alien script - I'm often troubled by little things like that.
 
I really liked it. It's one of the underrated gems (no pun intended) of season 3. The minimalistic setting really made it look different than the cliche TOS episode, the friendship between the big 3 was wonderfully presented, and Gem was great and really well acted. I loved her scene with Spock, when she felt his real nature and the look on her face said so much about what she saw inside him.
 
Something I noticed abput this ep is how different fans react to it. I've met some female fans who absolutely love it, while a lot of male fans abhor it. I'm kind of in the middle. It's true that some of what the Vians did makes no sense, but the ep is about sacrifice -- Gem's willingness to sacrifice herself to save strangers, McCoy's willingness to sacrifice himself to save Kirk and Spock. I recently rewatched it and liked it better than when I was a kid. Not the best, but it has some heartfelt messages to it.
 
I really like this episode. It's one of my favourites. I didn't see it for the longest time because it was one of the "banned" episodes in the UK and so never screened. I think it has an odd atmosphere to it, that I think works well because it reminds me that space is alien and not everything is going to be familiar. I really don't care for the torture, though, especially of McCoy. I find that disturbing. I think it's because we're used to seeing Jim being beaten up and things like this happening to him, and somehow, it seems worse to be happening to McCoy because it's so unfamiliar.
 
Kelso said:
It's probably my favorite episode of season three.

Faint praise?
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Season 3 is not that bad as people say. Is There In Truth No Beauty?, The Tholian Web, All Our Yesterdays are among my favorite episodes, and besides The Empath, The Enterprise Incident is also quite good, and Day of the Dove has a lot of things going for it.
 
Always loathed this episode. GR's first rule was that Trek was action-adventure, then the message. This one is neither action nor adventure... discuss. The structure and substance of this on is paper-thin, seems almost like a cop-out. I'm surprised there is much love for this one, but I'm glad people can find pleasure in it.
 
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