For Trekkies one of the worst episodes, but for me this is the campiest of them all; not as much regarding what happens but what is being said. There are Edwoodesque dialogues here that had me in stitches.
Listed below are some lines/dialogues from TWS. See if you can figure out where the actual dialogue ends and where invented parts begin... (perhaps not that easy!).
1. Sulu: "The Enterprise must have blown up, Captain!" Kirk: "Yeah, well, who cares...?"
2. Helsmwoman: "Mr. Spock, the planet's gone!"
3. Sulu: "Captain, the ship simply disappeared! What does that mean??" Kirk: "Well, it means we're stranded here." Sulu: "But, Captain, aren't you worried about the lives of 400 of your crew??" Kirk: "I already told you: I ain't. This is Season 3, and I'm a little more apathetic about things."
4. Helmswoman: "What bothers me is the stars, Mr.Spock... they're all wrong." Spock: "There's something wrong with your head, Missy. The stars are fine just as they are..."
5. McCoy: "I wonder what killed him..." Kirk: "I don't know... But something or someone did." This is almost the same sort of exchange as in "Plan 9": "I don't know... But one thing's for sure: there's a dead body here, and someone's responsible!"
6. Scotty: "Mr. Spock, the ship feels wrong." Spock: "What do you mean 'feels wrong'?" Scotty: "The field is all wrong." Spock: "Oh, the FIELD is all wrong. I thought you said 'it feels wrong'." Scotty: "I DID say that!"
7. Losira: "I am... from this planet." Sulu: "So the planet IS hollow!" Losira: "No, Sulu, the script-writer's head is hollow."
8. Losira: "I have come for you, Mr.Sulu... I want to touch you." Sulu: "Touch Kirk! I'm gay..."
9. Sulu: "How can such evil BE, Captain?! She's so beautiful..." Kirk: "I know... Evil only comes from ugly people."
10. Sulu: "I'd rather be on the Enterprise." (Translation: "Mommy, I wanna go home!!") Kirk: "I agree, Sulu... I'd rather rest my head between Uhura's massive pillows now than be fighting aliens on this damn planet."
One of the most amazing, absurd, unique hence entertaining aspects of this wildly funny episode is Spock's atypical grumpiness, which manifests itself at least a dozen times in sarcasm(!) and put-downs(!!) of crew members. The cranky side of Spock, that we didn't even know existed until TWS, really comes into the forefront in this episode. Perhaps male Vulcans have their period every seven years?
No-one was safe from Spock's venomous ripostes. Examples:
1. When Uhura asks "what happened?", after the ship is shaken up, Spock proceeds to literally and in full detail explain the physics of his fall - like some demented robot, and without a trace of sarcasm. (He was still warming up for the upcoming sarcastic remarks.)
2. Uhura: "How did she get off the ship, sir?" Spock: "Presumably the same way she got on it." This was such a cheap shot by Spock, the kind of dumb comment one could expect from a 6th-grader!
3. Sick-bay Doctor: "Your guess is as good as mine, Mr.Spock." Spock: "I would suggest you refrain from guessing and focus on the task at hand." So the TWS Spock can dish out sarcasm, but is too dim too detect it from others, or at least to recognize a common phrase when he hears one.
4. Uhura: "What are the chances the Captain and the others are still alive?" Spock: "Lieutenant, we do not engage in gambling." This, coming from Starfleet's Annual Intergalactic Useless Statistics/Odds Champion!
Meriwether, looking vaguely Raquel Welchian, going around killing people in spite of feeling ambivalent about hurting them is a bit amusing, too. (The wishy-washiest killer of them all.) At the end, Kirk and co. even engage in quasi-slapstick, when they keep changing the order of how they stand to avoid being touched by the strange pacifistic-yet-murdering alien woman/robot.
Apart from bombarding the viewer with unintentional nonsense every single minute, TWS is also a visually high-quality episode, with great sets and wonderfully bombastic 60s colours. The Losira-gets-folded special effect is very effective.
Listed below are some lines/dialogues from TWS. See if you can figure out where the actual dialogue ends and where invented parts begin... (perhaps not that easy!).
1. Sulu: "The Enterprise must have blown up, Captain!" Kirk: "Yeah, well, who cares...?"
2. Helsmwoman: "Mr. Spock, the planet's gone!"
3. Sulu: "Captain, the ship simply disappeared! What does that mean??" Kirk: "Well, it means we're stranded here." Sulu: "But, Captain, aren't you worried about the lives of 400 of your crew??" Kirk: "I already told you: I ain't. This is Season 3, and I'm a little more apathetic about things."
4. Helmswoman: "What bothers me is the stars, Mr.Spock... they're all wrong." Spock: "There's something wrong with your head, Missy. The stars are fine just as they are..."
5. McCoy: "I wonder what killed him..." Kirk: "I don't know... But something or someone did." This is almost the same sort of exchange as in "Plan 9": "I don't know... But one thing's for sure: there's a dead body here, and someone's responsible!"
6. Scotty: "Mr. Spock, the ship feels wrong." Spock: "What do you mean 'feels wrong'?" Scotty: "The field is all wrong." Spock: "Oh, the FIELD is all wrong. I thought you said 'it feels wrong'." Scotty: "I DID say that!"
7. Losira: "I am... from this planet." Sulu: "So the planet IS hollow!" Losira: "No, Sulu, the script-writer's head is hollow."
8. Losira: "I have come for you, Mr.Sulu... I want to touch you." Sulu: "Touch Kirk! I'm gay..."
9. Sulu: "How can such evil BE, Captain?! She's so beautiful..." Kirk: "I know... Evil only comes from ugly people."
10. Sulu: "I'd rather be on the Enterprise." (Translation: "Mommy, I wanna go home!!") Kirk: "I agree, Sulu... I'd rather rest my head between Uhura's massive pillows now than be fighting aliens on this damn planet."
One of the most amazing, absurd, unique hence entertaining aspects of this wildly funny episode is Spock's atypical grumpiness, which manifests itself at least a dozen times in sarcasm(!) and put-downs(!!) of crew members. The cranky side of Spock, that we didn't even know existed until TWS, really comes into the forefront in this episode. Perhaps male Vulcans have their period every seven years?
No-one was safe from Spock's venomous ripostes. Examples:
1. When Uhura asks "what happened?", after the ship is shaken up, Spock proceeds to literally and in full detail explain the physics of his fall - like some demented robot, and without a trace of sarcasm. (He was still warming up for the upcoming sarcastic remarks.)
2. Uhura: "How did she get off the ship, sir?" Spock: "Presumably the same way she got on it." This was such a cheap shot by Spock, the kind of dumb comment one could expect from a 6th-grader!
3. Sick-bay Doctor: "Your guess is as good as mine, Mr.Spock." Spock: "I would suggest you refrain from guessing and focus on the task at hand." So the TWS Spock can dish out sarcasm, but is too dim too detect it from others, or at least to recognize a common phrase when he hears one.
4. Uhura: "What are the chances the Captain and the others are still alive?" Spock: "Lieutenant, we do not engage in gambling." This, coming from Starfleet's Annual Intergalactic Useless Statistics/Odds Champion!
Meriwether, looking vaguely Raquel Welchian, going around killing people in spite of feeling ambivalent about hurting them is a bit amusing, too. (The wishy-washiest killer of them all.) At the end, Kirk and co. even engage in quasi-slapstick, when they keep changing the order of how they stand to avoid being touched by the strange pacifistic-yet-murdering alien woman/robot.
Apart from bombarding the viewer with unintentional nonsense every single minute, TWS is also a visually high-quality episode, with great sets and wonderfully bombastic 60s colours. The Losira-gets-folded special effect is very effective.