#81-Classically-inspired or not, to some people it sounds, and looks, stupid. Not everybody’s knowledgeable about the Greek classics like you, and to expect them to know this as the basis for the episode is a bit much.

Here’s some food for thought:

The TOS writers grew up in an age where the classics were more widely taught and read than today:

The idea of a planet full of emotionally repressed, “flat” people was probably inspired by the “island of the lotus eaters” segment of _The Odyssey_.

The notion of the “Red Hour” festival where everyone suddenly goes berserk and starts rioting, is IMHO loosely drawn from the ancient Greek cults of Dionysos. At certain times and places, the ancient Greeks would feel themselves “called” by Dionysos, and run off into the hills to drink wine, dance madly, and generally carry on outside the prescribed social limits for a few days … then eventually wander back into normal life. There is a play by Euripedes called _The Bacchae_ that (fictionally) represents such an “outbreak”.

“Back in the day” — at the time the originally aired — most people would have gotten these references, not much exposition or explanation needed, as what the episode posited was well-attested in classical history.

And …

The (then-contemporary) version of a “Red Hour” could be found at any Doors or Grateful Dead concert :-)

Cheers,

J.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Primal_Scream

“Dr. Janov received his B.A. and M.S.W. in psychiatric social work from the University of California, Los Angeles and his Ph.D. in psychology from Claremont Graduate School. Before turning to Primal Therapy, he practiced conventional psychotherapy in his native California.”

I think this episode is one of the most bizarre things ever filmed for television. From the artificial placidity of the controlled population, to Red Hour, festival and Tula’s rape, the timid underground movement of old men immune to absorbtion to the creepy summoning of the body turning the population into malevolent zombies. It’s extraordinary.

Kirk has little patience for the culture amid Landru’s attempted destruction of the Enterprise.

The first time I saw it I was impressed by the revelation that Landru, who presented himself as a god, was a computer. I think people these days have no conception of the paranoia people felt about the computer revolution in the 1960’s. I loved Kirk’s bravado and ease of destroying an authoritarian ruler whose motives had never been questioned.

You made me laugh with the Mr Sulu and the dancing bears bit. I wish there really had been dancing bears!

I think this episode is cool. But then, I thought And the Children Shall Lead was cool…

1) The next shot, E pulling away, anyone else notice something amiss? I replayed it on tivo a few times. It seemed to me that the planet rotation movement simply froze for a few frames just before the scene ended. This kinda wrecked the illusion.

2) The next-to-last shot shows a rear-view mirror shot of the planet whipping away into the distance, so fast you think it’ll be a pinpoint in one more second. Then in the final shot, you see the E pulling by with the planet still big and the E moving so slooowwwwwllllllyyyyy past. Those 2 shots sure didn’t fit together.

Nitpickers rejoice. Tis the season to be nitty.