Not a lot of subtext here; in fact, not a lot of interesting shots either. Despite the fact that all the male crew (sans Spock) are supposed to be hot for these women, close viewing revealed not one EVE, or even a decent basket shot. Dang. Uhura (wearing an ill-fitting gold uniform here - guess her red one was in the wash) seems mildly irritated by the whole situation. And why does Spock have this weird almost-smile on his face throughout the entire show? Even when they're talking about dilithium crystals, he looks like he's about to nudge Kirk in the ribs and wink at him, say no more. Two interesting things: In one shot, McCoy is wearing a Celtic-looking pinky ring on his left hand - there's gotta be a story behind that; and when Mudd's ID information is flashed up on the screen in the briefing room, it lists his "Future Police Record #". So is that a number in case he becomes a criminal, or is that the number assigned to him by the Future Police (who I guess are there to make sure we don't tamper with the future - no wait, weren't they the Time Cops who showed up on DS9...)?
OK, I'll skip right to the good stuff, which
is an (implied) naked Kirk stretched out on a table, and then
*two* naked Kirks...ohhh, be still, my beating heart. There's
that annoying body makeup again (what, did they think the Kirk's
nipples were too dark?), but as the turntable rotates for the
first time, you can see a prominent hip bone, the curve of his
butt, and a very flat abdomen - in fact, you can see clear down
to where I would expect a treasure trail or some nether hair to
be peeking out. Also, when it rotates later to reveal the android
Kirk, you can *just* catch a glimpse of white underwear between
his thighs. What I want to know is: Who got to shave him, how
far down did the shaving progress, and what kind of little thong
was he wearing??!? (Has there been any shaving slash around? I
don't remember reading any, except in the P/C "Mommy"
stories)
One wonders if Kirk had sex with his android, just to see what
it was like...
A few other points: the stalactite Kirk is holding when he's about
to attack Ruk is remarkably phallic, esp. when he's holding it
in front of his crotch. Kirk's kiss with Andrea (the second one)
is very intense, and her lips look really swollen when they break
it off - and her lipstick is all over his face. Mmmm. (Sherry
Jackson confirms that it was a real kiss. Lucky woman.)
Oh, and this was another of the "Didn't I used to fuck you?"
episodes: McCoy and Nancy Crater, Chapel and Korby, Kirk and Areel
Shaw, Kirk and Mitchell, Kirk and Finnegan, etc. etc. Geez, now
that I think of it, even Chekov got to have one of these in Way
To Eden!
So, aside from the Kirk/Rand stuff (she
finally confesses that she's been trying to get him to look at
her legs), there are two good moments.
1. Spock points out that altho he isn't suffering from the disease,
he's a carrier, and can't get back to the ship. Pause. "And
I do want to return to the ship...*Captain*." Long pause.
Long meaningful exchange of looks between Kirk and Spock. Kirk
smiles warmly. Nuff said.
2. After McCoy doses himself and collapses, Spock checks his vital
signs. However, he also continues to hold his hand after taking
McCoy's pulse, and then puts *both* McCoy's hands together and
holds them. All this while wearing a *very* concerned look. It's
especially jarring because it comes after an earlier scene in
which he attempted to bait McCoy about the lousy lab equipment
they're forced to use.
Kirk's pants are tight enough in a coupla scenes to reveal that
he dresses to the left. This is confirmed in a big way in Trouble
with Tribbles.
I wonder why Kirk's shirt has zips up the sleeves (look carefully
- the sleeves are unzipped, not ripped!). Probably for the same
reason he has a little tiny zipper on the back of his pants' waistband
- easy access, all around.
So Kirk walks into the transporter room
and sees Helen Noel and immediately acts like, well, like he picked
her up in a bar and had drunken sex with her and never expected
to see her again. Then later she says that they only "talked"
at the Christmas party - what, did her tell her about his crush
on Finnegan and now he's all embarassed about it? Nope, they did
it, and Kirk just doesn't want Spock to know. Spock, on the other
hand, seems rather amused by Kirk's reaction to Noel (and later,
when he catches them smooching); he can afford to laugh, since
he knows the captain will be in his bed soon enough...
Why is everyone so oily in this ep?
There's something about the first act of this ep that I really, really like..hmm, could it be the first scene in Sickbay, where Kirk is getting his physical? Could it be the fact that he's lying on his back, all sweaty, with his legs in the air, panting and gasping and begging for mercy? I had to go put ice on my face after viewing that scene. Other than that, I just felt really sorry for Uhura having to open those dang hailing frequencies every three minutes. And whose idea was it to let Bailey drive the ship, anyway? You could tell the guy was a wingnut from the minute he opened his mouth. Jeez.