The Yeoman
- Thread starter Falconer
- Start date
Ah but they pulled a fast one. Uhura, an officer is leading a team of white male non officers. They didn't draw attention to it and most people would never even put two and two together but that symbolism was huge at that time.
That, actually, is a really solid point. I’m ashamed I didn’t think of it myself.
Well admittedly, she wasn't very good at it. She had a tricorder and walked right past McCoy. If I can get my editing skills up to scratch, I might look to if I can edit Rand into the landing party as an homage to the original so we get two women in the landing party.
I've always assumed that the time displacement waves made the tricorders' sensor readings unreliable. But their inability to locate McCoy on the surface - not to mention locating him from orbit and, you know, beaming him back - is yet another reason why City is not TOS' best episode, not by a long shot. There are so many problems with the parts on the Enterprise that you can tell it was written by an outsider.
Then the transporter tech would have to work even harder to beam 8 people up and not 7 all at once. (yes I know the there are only 6 pads). Back to your point, Rand would have great to have her continue in a regular role but I think her character would need to evolve away from the love interest role she had; replace Chekov or Lt. Kyle for her for example. The Mirror Mirror episode would have been shocking with either choice.
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Don't they have a similar problem in the Apple? Clearly just proof of the second transporter room.
No, "The Apple" is the one where we first get six people beaming down, and then three more - thus an argument for there only being one transporter, and with a hard limit at a maximum of six customers per sortie. Both of these arguments are unique to "The Apple".
Although even there, we can simply say that the last three (McCoy and two redshirts) chose to arrive late, even though they also had the option of attending a single nine-person beam-down. Perhaps McCoy was delayed, or took his time to work up the courage, or wanted the others to test the waters. Or flat out stated "The only way you get me into that contraption again is at double gunpoint, Jim!" and got exactly what he wished...
Why does the party feature four redshirts? Might those burly guys for a change be yeomen, fulfilling the notes-taking, tricorder-waving task on this mission of verifying that the Garden of Eden is indeed suited for exploitation?
Timo Saloniemi
Although even there, we can simply say that the last three (McCoy and two redshirts) chose to arrive late, even though they also had the option of attending a single nine-person beam-down. Perhaps McCoy was delayed, or took his time to work up the courage, or wanted the others to test the waters. Or flat out stated "The only way you get me into that contraption again is at double gunpoint, Jim!" and got exactly what he wished...
Why does the party feature four redshirts? Might those burly guys for a change be yeomen, fulfilling the notes-taking, tricorder-waving task on this mission of verifying that the Garden of Eden is indeed suited for exploitation?
Timo Saloniemi
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The issue with the Apple is that the men are all officers and the only enlisted crewman is the woman. Celeste Yarnell was trained in judo, she could easily have been a security officer and one of the men could have been the yeomen.
The more pertinent question is why is the yeoman (or so many security officers) is there on a planetary survey mission in the first place? Surely you would want science specialists? Yeoman seem to me to be good back up, good as personal pilots, good for diplomatic missions but not really your first choice for dangerous or survey missions.
As far as editing Rand into certain landing parties goes, I will reserve judgment on a case by case basis. I doubt it would be easy. I'd love to beam down a version from Irma la Douce with Kirk and Spock in a Piece of the Action. :-D
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Honour Blackman's Dr Cathy Gale pre-dated them by quite a few years mind you.
Was Nichelle Nichols a day player or was she contracted for a certain number of episodes per season? If the latter, it would explain why she's featured in several episodes even if she doesn't have a great deal to do.
Heavily rewritten by ST staffers, though. So really, you should lay the blame for the plot holes at their feet.
It's a mix. They had to get where Ellison's plot kicked off, so the ship suddenly had the security of a Rabat bazaar and tricorders and sensors didn't function. Just a mess.
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Depends on the season. Season one, she was not under contract.
Thanks!
To the immense betterment of the episode.
I very much prefer the Guardian to the original aliens but I would have liked to see the actual city realised on screen. I would have preferred to see Rand live up to her potential and, while Beckwith as as a corrupt crewman may have rung a bum note, I could see him as a prisoner being transported to a penal colony who seizes an opportunity to escape. I think that giving him an arc of his own though would have added a layer of complexity to the story that would not have been well served in a one-parter. McCoy sobering up was much shorter than a criminal redemption arc. That said, done right, I could see that additional element adding a powerful layer to the story: heroic Kirk stopping the reformed criminal from committing a redemptive act. That's dark, tragic, and very reminiscent of themes revisited in TWOK and some of Trek's best episodes.
I'll say. Everything that keeps City on the very edge (heh) of my top 10, most of which occurs on board the ship, I blame on Ellison because they had to get K/S/M into the past as quickly as possible. And it's very clear that the masterpiece-level rest of the episode (just about everything involving the Guardian and New York) came from a structure by Ellison with most of the crowning touches applied by the fast-moving team of rewriters.
The title still works because the real city on the Edge of Forever is New York. The romance works because it builds gently over time. Kirk and Spock's working relationship is so fascinating because of their conflicting approach to their common goals. Then there is Keeler's astute, prophetic comment that Spock looks like he's always been at Kirk's side and he always will. It's not my absolute favourite but it deserves the credit it gets.
There are things I like better about the aired episode, and there are things I like better about Ellison's script. Do I think the rewrite got rather heavy-handed, though? YUP.
From Ellison's script, I miss the scene with Trooper, Kirk's nervousness when approaching Edith, Kirk & Spock's conflict, the Guardians, Beckwith and LeBeque, Beckwith's punishment, and the GREAT final, poetic line.
From the aired episode, I like the humorous moments, Spock figuring out the proper history with his tricorder, the chemistry between Shatner and Joan Collins, Shatner and Kelley's performances in particular, Kirk being the one to make the final decision in a split second, that utterly shattered look on Kirk's face at the end, and the final line.
The bits with McCoy accidentally shooting himself up, the goofy bearded bum, and Edith Keeler's WAY too on the nose "Don't give up, because men will split the atom, go into space, and solve all our problems" speech all make me cringe.
So it's a mixed bag for me. I think both the original script and the finished episode are worthwhile, though.
From Ellison's script, I miss the scene with Trooper, Kirk's nervousness when approaching Edith, Kirk & Spock's conflict, the Guardians, Beckwith and LeBeque, Beckwith's punishment, and the GREAT final, poetic line.
From the aired episode, I like the humorous moments, Spock figuring out the proper history with his tricorder, the chemistry between Shatner and Joan Collins, Shatner and Kelley's performances in particular, Kirk being the one to make the final decision in a split second, that utterly shattered look on Kirk's face at the end, and the final line.
The bits with McCoy accidentally shooting himself up, the goofy bearded bum, and Edith Keeler's WAY too on the nose "Don't give up, because men will split the atom, go into space, and solve all our problems" speech all make me cringe.
So it's a mixed bag for me. I think both the original script and the finished episode are worthwhile, though.
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