Wednesday, November 16, 2011

The Mark of Gideon

* (1 star out of 5)
"The Mark of Gideon" is the first episode I've seen on this endeavour that made me alter the star rating of the previous one. I had to raise 'Let That Be Your Last Battlefield' by one star because NOW it doesn't seem so dull.

Kirk goes missing while beaming down to the zealously isolated planet Gideon.

From Kirk's perspective, everybody disappears from the Enterprise, and a cheerful blonde girl appears who moves at super speed... no, wait, that was 'Wink of An Eye". This blonde's called Odona instead of Deela.

Spock spars with the evasive leadership of Gideon. Oh, does it drag! How many times can you read out transporter co-ordinates, then verify and re-confirm them, guys? Verbally? The answer is seven, it only FEELS like a hundred.

As Kirk says of his mysterious bruise: "It is causing me some irritation."

The big reveal here is that Gideon is so hideously overpopulated that its habitable zones are covered in desperate, miserable people who live long, regenerative lives. Odona says any one of them would kill or die just to get some privacy. But her father Hedin says life is so sacred to them they cannot even allow the use of contraception- but they would rather instigate a plague!

O.K., like last episode's "racism sucks" I appreciate the moral of the story "don't overbreed". I truly do. But... but... as today's Guest Admiral said: "I am waiting for your explanation of why."

Why build a replica of the Enterprise? How did the Gideonites possibly find room for it? It's more than twenty stories high!
They bruised Kirk to steal his blood and infect themselves with his dormant strain of deadly Vegan choriomeningitis. They regret even bruising a stranger, but they want to have their kids volunteer to die? And THIS will make their world a paradise again?
What do they eat? If there's a mass of flesh from sea to people-covered sea, then I hope they like soylent green.
How do they hide so many billions of life-signs from orbital scan- under a really big tarp?
They dress in full body condoms already, but they won't stop having unprotected sex while apparently standing upright in crowds?!?

I swear, I usually like metaphors. I just want them to make some effort at believability.

2 comments:

  1. I always wondered why Kirk didn't just open a window a sneeze... a nice juicy one with a racking cough. I bet there was someone else on board that could have given them an even nastier disease like Swine flu. :-)

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  2. My God, I forgot how many bad episodes there were in the 3rd season.

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