1.8 — “Miri”
My mind got blown in the first 5 minutes–a duplicate Earth? Massively weird! Yet, this is never explained. Thematically, having a second Earth kind of works to support the cautionary tale of science gone bad. The 1960s were contemporary when the episode aired, so the writers are saying “be careful with your hubristic experiments, or when we are visited by spacemen 300 years from now, this may be what they’ll find!” The more cynical (and probably correct) view is that they knew they were going to skimp on production costs using existing studio back lot sets and costume pieces, and didn’t have any other convenient explanation why the Enterprise is suddenly in America. I understand the duplicate Earth was retconned out of James Blish’s novelisation and one of the extended universe Trek novels.
It’s cool the way the episodes tend to start in the middle of the action, such as this one, where the episode starts moments after the Enterprise receives a mysterious distress signal, not before. Besides heightening the drama, this device underlines that the show is primarily about the Enterprise and its missions, not individual members of the crew. This idea gets lost to various degrees in later versions of Trek.
On the planet–is that a friggin’ Zombie? Technically, it’s a person rapidly aging and infected by disease, but it sure looks like a zombie. Spock can estimate the age of pianos on sight.
Miri ages one month every 100 years, but puberty is death. This raises some questions about what is maturity–physical development, or experience? Can 300 years of life not change a person, even if the glands and hormones refuse to develop? The scenes with the kids as a group get pretty Lord of the Flies. I get the idea from the script that Spock doesn’t like children. “They’re like animals.” “Like mice.”
I love all the wide shots. The back lot was the same used for The Andy Griffith Show, so Kirk & co. visited Mayberry! Lazy as this is, there are still some touches of strong design in this episode, such as the red web that they shoot part of Kirk’s confrontation scene with the children through. I also like the composition of the scene where Kirk first “befriends” Miri.
This episode uses a couple of recurring themes: First, Kirk being willing to exploit/manipulate native women by playing the seducer–this time of a child!–for the greater good of the ship. And second, Kirk making a big speech and talking his way to resolution of the conflict. I don’t know about the seducing, but the talking trope is a good thing–it jives with the show’s emphasis on reason overcoming ignorance and the possibility of antagonists coming together to achieve the greater good without violence. More or less the opposite of what is emphasized in J.J. Abrams’ Trek.
Episodes like this, stuck on the planet for seven days, always make me think of practical questions. What are they eating? Where are they sleeping? Is there laundry? Toilets? Who maintains the plumbing on this planet? Without functional plumbing, the children would probably die from disease, aging or not. Such questions aside, I thought the episode was interesting and tense, with great lines and performances throughout. I can’t say I’d want to watch it again, however–like Spock, I guess I don’t care too much for children. No crew deaths. What did you think?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miri_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)
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