Wanderlust

1.18 — “Arena”

1.18 — “Arena”

We are given to understand that warp speed is multiples of light speed. I don’t think, as a practical matter, that you can have a chase at that velocity. How far ahead exactly does the quarry have to get before you say it’s escaped? From here to Proxima Centauri? Can you imagine the energy it must have taken for the Gorn ship to decelerate from Warp 8 to a dead stop in a matter of seconds? After that, it takes the Enterprise another couple minutes of travel at Warp 8 to pull abreast. How good are the ship’s scanners to be able to track an object with a diameter of perhaps 100 meters at such a distance? Come on. I don’t know what they taught in school in the 1960s, but we who came of age in the 1980s know that when the Millenium Falcon goes into hyperdrive, it’s gotten away.

These are the thoughts I have left about “Arena”–an episode that tries so hard!–six days after watching it. It’s an episode that doesn’t quite work, however indelible is the image of the Gorn captain in the desert, locked in hand-to-hand combat with Kirk. Never mind how this is contrived (Metrons? Could this be the origin of the term metrosexual?), the still pictures of Kirk locked in that combat are priceless. I can imagine an essay contest in which unindoctrinated schoolchildren are asked to write short stories to accompany them. Actually playing the episode kind of ruins it.

I had other thoughts immediately after the viewing which I recorded. So it’s yards in the future, is it? I liked the focus in the teaser on Scotty’s technique as he operates the sliders on the transporter console. Slow at first, hold in the middle, then a burst of speed at the end. I liked the twist when the base is discovered to be destroyed, although the ship’s sensors should have detected it first. The red shirt, of course, buys it immediately.

We have the series’ first mention of photon torpedoes, Starfleet Command, and the Federation. The repetition of Spock’s concern for all sentient life from “The Galileo Seven” sets this up as a defining characteristic for him, although it is odd that his advice to let the Gorn ship go is the reverse of his view about the Romulans in “Balance of Terror.”  My favorite line comes after Kirk is transported with the Gorn captain to the planet: “An incredible fortune in stones, yet I would trade them all for a hand phaser, or a good solid club.”  Reminiscent of Richard III, “A horse!  A horse!  My kindgom for a horse!”

Why do the Metrons do any of this? Wouldn’t it be easier to lay low, or just destroy both ships summarily? They must have thought the fight would be cool, like the show’s producers.

What bothers me the most, other than the use of Warp 8 for hot pursuit, is the way they dumb down Kirk, making him savage and obtuse in the first half hour, just to make room for a big change of heart at the end. It pisses me off when they do this in Star Trek VI, as well. I get the point they are going for–Kirk has to overcome his natural repulsion for reptilians and experience a paradigm shift in order to see matters from the Gorn point of view and achieve forgiveness. It doesn’t work for me because the audience is two steps ahead of Kirk, so he just comes off as a dummy. Maybe with a higher budget and a feature-length script they could have fixed these problems, and figured out a resolution that doesn’t depend on a deus ex machina from the Metrons.

I didn’t hate the episode–I just felt disappointed, in a way that grows the more you think about it. Did you like it better?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arena_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)

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11 responses to “1.18 — “Arena””

  1. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    How fast is warp speed? When “Arena” was made they hadn’t decided yet, but:

    http://www.startrek.com/boards-topic/33154447/How-fast-is-Warp-speed-_1077682040_33154447

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

    Reply
  2. Michael Hanscom Avatar
    Michael Hanscom

    Interesting start to this one — I’d totally forgotten that they were lured to the outpost and then down to the surface with faked messages.

    First use of photon torpedoes (rather than phasers behaving like photon torpedoes)! All in all, a fairly exciting start: ambushes, mortar attacks (with actual pyrotechnics!), and space battles, all with an unseen foe. In just a few minutes, they do a good job of establishing the enemy’s impressive military and technological (through using feedback to turn Spock’s tricorder into a bomb) capabilities, then drive it home with the report from the lone survivor of the attack on Cestus III. (In a way, this does double duty: It establishes the Gorn as a formidable enemy, and helps to offset the reality of the guy in the rubber suit that we see later on.)

    And the Metrons step in — something between parents disciplining unruly children and a WWF promoter setting up a wrestling match.

    Now we see a Gorn. By today’s standards, perhaps not that impressive — but at the same time, I find this version of the Gorn far more interesting than what they’ve been turned into in the nuTrek universe (only briefly mentioned in the most recent movie, but the primary antagonist in a video game, and just featured in the ongoing comic book series). I haven’t played the game, but as presented in the comic, they do seem to share much of the culture and background established in this episode, but they’ve been redesigned to look pretty much like every other modern “scary” alien — in other words, boring and unimaginative.

    I can’t remember anymore whether I read the short story that this episode is based on before or after first watching this episode. Probably after, but it was long enough ago that I’m not sure. I know I have the story in at least one anthology on my shelves, though for the life of me, I can’t remember at the moment which anthology it’s in.

    Longest. Fight. Ever. I am impressed that Kirk was actually able to aim that boulder right at the Gorn. If I tried to do that, I’d bet the rock would go bouncing all over the place, ending up nowhere near my target.

    Oh, and now the Metrons prove themselves to be jerks: “You’re captain is about to die. Since we’re so sympathetic and recognize that you care for him, we’ll allow you to watch as he’s torn to tiny bloody bits by this vicious rubber dinosaur.”

    Wait, you mean that someone else might be upset when someone new moves into the neighborhood and plants their flag? The Federation isn’t always in the right? The Gorn might have had a reason to attack? But how could that be?

    Kirk just better be glad that his Starfleet Academy training included lessons on how to create homebrew gunpowder.

    So what would have happened if the Metrons (whose fashion is a weird mix of Ancient Greek and disco) hadn’t accepted Kirk’s gesture of mercy? How stubborn are they? Would they have forced Kirk to just sit there on the planet watching the Gorn slowly die?

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  3. Michael Hanscom Avatar
    Michael Hanscom

    [Here’s][1] some background on the “Arena” short story by Frederick Brown. It seems it wasn’t so much that the Star Trek story was based on it, but that they shared enough similarities that Brown was given partial writing credit.

    [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arena_(short_story)

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  4. Randi Cohen Avatar
    Randi Cohen

    On watching the first half of this ep so far:

    1) I get the Metrons’ point.  They prefer to decrease violence but are aware that without the feud being in some way settled the combatants will continue to fight on, and they figure being primitive as we are, a chess game will not feel sufficiently final.  It’s not a completely weird way to approach things.

    On the other hand, they could have at least enforced a talking period first, in order to see if the two captains could get on the same page without mortal combat.  You know, like they did in the Middle Ages, sending heralds back and forth prior to eventually deciding they’ll fight it out anyway. I guess the Metrons cut out the middle-man.  And, I like their little rainbow logo.  I wish I could use that as my logo when I call people on the phone.  

    2) This is not the Kirk or Spock from Balance of Terror.  Annoying.  It would make more sense if Spock suggested they communicate with the Gorn ship prior to destroying it in order to establish for sure what the motivation is, rather than simply lamely suggesting they let the Gorn ship escape because “the pursuit is sufficient”.  And it would make waaay more sense if Kirk immediately beamed up after seeing the base destroyed and beamed up survivors too.  Why can scanners not pick them up?  Why is it necessary to beam down 50 medical personnel instead?  And, clearly if the enemy ship randomly stops it is either a) a trap, b) something weird about that region of space, or c) a malfunction of their ship, with likelihood approximately in that order, which the Kirk from Balance of Terror would clearly have known!  Super-annoying.

    More later when I see the rest.

    R

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  5. Randi Cohen Avatar
    Randi Cohen

    “The loser and his ship will be destroyed in the interest of peace…”     “And after we destroy them, we will eat a pint of Haagen Dazs in the interest of our waistlines.”

    The Gorn Captain reminds me of a Sleestak from the Land of the Lost.  He also sounds like he has a massive head cold.

    Do we ever find out his name?  In my mind, I am calling him Gornelius.

    I do like Nimoy’s delivery as he narrates the slow-motion fight between Kirk and Gornelius.  Very suspenseful.  I remember finding this episode quite scary when I was a kid.

    Regarding “maybe it’s Starfleet’s fault”… really??  I mean, how is Starfleet supposed to know it’s someone else’s space?  One would think the Gorn would at least broadcast a warning.   The writers could have certainly come up with a better reason to give the Gorn a beef, like Starfleet unwittingly settled atop one of their hatcheries and screwed up their young or something… 

    Not totally relevant, but here is my favorite quote on the topic of arenas:

    It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.  (Theodore Roosevelt)

    R

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  6. Yvonne Pawtowski Avatar
    Yvonne Pawtowski

    Not much to add except a comment on the re-mastering.

    The Gorn BLINKED!  😀

    (So, I’m easily distracted.)

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  7. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    I know! He blinked like three times, although I think it was only in one shot. Does a lot to sell it–I actually found that I wasn’t thinking of him primarily as a guy in an awkward suit.

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  8. R. Alex Reutter Avatar
    R. Alex Reutter

    I need to post sooner so that I’m not simply agreeing with what everyone else, especially Randi, says.  😉

    So, an unknown force has not only destroyed this Federation outpost, but tricked the Enterprise into coming there in order to attack them, and failing that, the unknown spacecraft flees.  It’s pretty much the duty of the Enterprise to pursue — not to come out guns ablazin’ at first [and this is an important difference from “Balance of Terror”, where we know who the enemy is and it makes sense to go after them with intent to kill], but to find out (1) where the threat is coming from, and (2) why they attacked, and then take the necessary steps.  This isn’t something that Kirk should be figuring out on the fly, but standard operating procedure.

    I agree it’s hard to feel pity for the Gorn when all we know is that the Federation established a colony in their space.  We need more motivation to believe the Gorn actually really felt frightened and threatened by this intrusion on their territory… so let’s fix this.  The Metrons take the Gorn commander and Kirk (and this time, Uhura doesn’t scream in terror when he disappears off the bridge, because she didn’t when that happened in the Squire of Gothos — hello, writers?  could we get some consistent characterizations in here?) and put them on the planet to talk to each other (like Randi suggests), which gives the Gorn a chance to rant at Kirk about the Federation encroaching on their territory, but Kirk’s initial revulsion of reptiles and Gornelius’s aggressive approach to the negotiations quickly causes it to devolve to fisticuffs.  The crew has been allowed to watch all along, and they now have real reason to speculate that Starfleet might be in the wrong here.  The episode largely proceeds as it previously did, though perhaps with less footage of Shatner’s hideously bad stage fighting.  There, we fixed the Gorn and the Metrons!

    Also: I disbelieve that the BFD (big effin’ rock) dropped from that height only slows Gornelius down momentarily, but some handmade gunpowder nearly does him in. 

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  9. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    That’s true… I’d druther take a gunshot wound than be hit by a falling rock of that size any day.

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  10. Katharine Bond Avatar
    Katharine Bond

    I think this episode highlights the fact that episodes were shot and shown out of order. In my mind, there’s no way that Balance of Terror happened before this episode. It just doesn’t make sense from a character point of view on many levels.

    Reply
  11. Allen Knutson Avatar
    Allen Knutson

    The most interesting thing in this dumb episode are the faked messages, including

    TRAVERS [OC]: Be sure to bring along your tactical people. I’ve got an interesting problem for them.

    KIRK: We’ll beam down immediately, Commodore. Kirk out.

    SPOCK: Captain. I wonder why he’s insistent that our tactical aides come down.

    Too bad this is completely dropped.

    Reply

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