Star Wracks

No!  This Is Not The Same As Today's Earlier Post

You're not paying attention, are you?  Firstly, you lucky people are getting two posts today because it's the kind-of equivalent of Saturday, except last Saturday and the Saturday I was working, so only a single post, which has tanked the traffic figures somewhat.  Art!

     I'm putting this one up in order to entice passing traffic into paying attention, and also as an apology for mistakenly getting the second word in the title wrong, which would have referred to a cooking ingredient used in baking and lining tins.  Art!

     This particular episode is regularly voted one of the top 10 by ST fans, as it covers a topic that was embryonic in 1968 when it was made, yet which is a genuine and pressing concern right now.  Also,

SOCKING GREAT SPOILERS AHEAD I REPEAT DOCKING GREAT SPOILERS AHEAD YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

     I won't explain the whole plot; suffice it to say that the 'Enterprise' is ordered back to a Star Base in order to begin trials of a new computer system, the M5, which is going to be installed aboard the starship.  The idea is that it can function better than a live crew.  It's creator is one Richard Daystrom.  Art!

Daystrom to port

     Having a black actor in the role of a scientific genius wasn't quite novel, but it certainly wasn't common.  He sees to the installation of M5, which does indeed run the ship more efficiently, to the point that Commodore Wesley, in charge of both Star Base and a flotilla of starships, mocks Captain Kirk as being obsolete.  Art!

Commodore Robert Wesley.
Splendid first name!

     Running a series of exercises, the Enterprise beats a tag-team of two other heavy cruisers, the Excalibur and the Lexington.  Art!

ART!

     O - wait a minute - yes, he's technically correct.  This was a British 'Cruiser' tank, described as a 'Heavy Cruiser' and it really is quite imposing if you  see it in the f

     ANYWAY the next tactical drill goes CATASTROPHICALLY wrong.  M5 engages and damages the Lexington, before completely destroying the Excalibur, and also prevents any kind of outgoing communication.  Wesley, with the Potemkin and Hood, has to assume that the Enterprise, under Kirk, is now rogue and must be destroyed.

     Ooo-err Matron!  Art, give us a shot of M5.

     In terms of production design, this thing is a marvel of minimalism, which is a good choice, because it won't look dated within a year or a decade.  We of today, who are used to Sinister Software Stuffed Within The Devil's Digital Devices, know that infinite evils can lurk within a seemingly innocuous black box.  This very simplistic design allows viewers to imagine all the horribly-advanced technology whirring away within.  Thumbs up, chaps!

     Why is M5 behaving so wilfully?  I thought you'd never ask!  Because, as Daystrom admits, it has his own encephalographic engrams used as part of the operating system, and Daystrom is beginning to crack under the accumulating evidence of M5 being psychotic.  He does get medically restrained.  Art!

     In a way, he's a tragic figure rather than an evil one, enduring what the Greeks called 'Hubris' and being felled by his own ambition.  It takes Kirk, using cold hard logic, to make M5 admit to the error of it's ways, and it effectively commits suicide, crippling the Enterprise.  Here you see one of the dilemmas about Artificial Intelligence - how can you give a piece of software a moral compass and a conscience?  Also, what happens when you take humans out of the decision loop?  These questions are even more pertinent in the 21st century than they were in the 20th.

     This is all very poetic, but there remain two starships out there getting ready to destroy the Enterprise.  Which is still incommunicado.

     Kirk then gambles: he is aware that his ship is completely vulnerable, without power or shields, yet there is no attack, because Wesley, you know, a HUMAN BEING NOT A COMPUTER, takes the compassionate view.  An AI directing the surviving flotilla members would not have hesitated to vapourise the Enterprise, cutting the series rather short.  Art!

The Lexington cops it

     I say 'Wracks' in the title because - reaching a little here - Commodore Wesley is indirectly responsible for this mess, so he should be wracked with guilt.

     Wow, that was a Pontificate of an Intro!  Sorry, I had no idea it would be that long.  That's what happens when one builds up a head of creative steam.

"Shazam"

NO!  Not the film - which is actually pretty hilarious - nor yet the cartoon series that used to feature on "The Banana Splits Show" and which I bet none of you whippersnappers out there, young or getting-into-their-thirties-so-not-young-any-longer-and-who-are-you-trying-to-fool, are familar with.  Art!

     If only this app had been around 20 years ago.

     ANYWAY we have been forbidden to use our mobile phones in the office, which stricture Conrad has ignored, since L, the head honcho, hasn't been in recently, and I have thus been able to use the app to identify music tracks.  Art!

     Thus I have discovered that the banging dance track with a killer guitar riff is actually "Feel So Close" by Calvin Harris, which surprised me no end.  It really is a corker, go Youtube it if you doubt my musical discernment.

     We will come back to this.  O yes indeed.

"The Sea Of Sand"

Our gallant band of survivors is now venturing into the apparently abandoned supply dump, but they haven't survived this far by being slow, unobservant or trusting. 

Roger decided that the so-called aliens really were monsters.  Only a bunch of monsters could kill a score of civvies like that, even if they were only Arabs.  He didn’t trust the nomadic tribes, who stole anything not watched or nailed down and who supported whichever side was nearest.  Still and all, as Doctor Smith pointed out, they had been humans.

          Leaving the Sahariana behind, they approached the depot on foot, unhappily aware that the sands might turn to molten glass at any second.  The Doctor considered it unlikely, given that they were such a small group. He made a small detour to investigate an unpleasant suspicion, before being hissed back into the line by Roger.

          Creeping slowly closer, they smelt the stink of petrol and diesel fumes.  A haze obscured the marching stacks of piled supplies, the results of last night’s fires.

          Sergente Capriccio encountered a sentry first.  The Italian, with long experience of Spain and Libya behind him, remained crouched behind a crate when Tam moved forward and into the open lane between stacks. 

          A great towering alien broke from cover ahead of the Sergente, who nearly exclaimed in surprise.  The ungainly monster levelled a weapon at the back of Tam Mickleborough.  Sergente Capriccio levelled his own weapon, a Beretta sub-machine gun, and fired first, three bursts.

     Gosh, there's another mention of a mysterious Something out in the desert sands.  I wonder what it could be?

Finally -

Conrad has already mentioned Simon Stalenhag's "The Electric State" both recently as an overview of the art-work and much earlier with images gleaned from a website doing a critique.  He also wondered how much it cost, because a large-format hardback like that can clear out your weekly shopping bill.  Hmmmmm what do I find on Abebooks?  Art!

     Conrad is tempted ...