Wanderlust

1.23 — “A Taste of Armageddon”

1.23 — “A Taste of Armageddon”

Plot: On a diplomatic mission, Kirk beams down to an apparently peaceful planet to discover that it is locked in computer-simulated warfare with a neighboring planet–and has been for 500 years. After the Enterprise is denoted a casualty in this war, its crew is directed to report to disintegration chambers. Kirk must stop the insanity and save his crew.

Thoughts: The Enterprise on a diplomatic mission to negotiate with alien cultures–that’s a first, and a promising start, even if the mission idea was quickly dropped. I appreciated the casting of the Asian female yeoman. The diverse main cast are not tokens; Star Trek is proving to be a diverse show that employed a lot of non-white actors in respectable roles.

It’s interesting to watch scenes between just McCoy and Scott. I don’t recall that happening before. Scott showed some cleverness and backbone in command of the bridge. Uh-oh, that’s the last nice thing I wrote down about this episode.

So, this is a high concept episode with a message of peace. Why don’t we just stop making war today? I would like to give it credit but… I can’t. Too many holes. If this culture is advanced enough to negotiate for the suicide chambers, why have any deaths at all? No communication with their adversaries for centuries–I don’t buy it. Nor do I buy the council, or the half-hearted staging of the action scenes. Kirk confronts Anan 7 in his chambers, completely fails to cover him properly or protect himself from counterattack, just so they can discuss how they are obligated to include this scene to prevent the episode from being too short. Or that’s the best I can remember. The concepts of this episode must have sounded good on paper, but it doesn’t work for me on screen.

I have some other nitpicks. The wah-wah music when the landing party is met by–gasp!–a beautiful woman is something I could do without. Also, this is a completely alien planet. Can we really ignore the language issue? Or the marvelous coincidence of biology that makes these beings indistinguishable from Caucasian Earthlings? I hope the costumes on Mea 3 and the guards were meant to look silly.

The disintegration process we witness can’t be how they plan to eliminate half a million people. It would take years. Doesn’t the Enterprise have to lower its defense screens to use the transporters?

Spock’s new mind-control powers are interesting–I guess. Through a wall? Doesn’t make much sense. Isn’t very cinematic, either.

The diplomat Ambassador Fox reminds me of Commissioner Ferris from “The Galileo Seven.”  

Mark Cushman’s incisive analysis in These Are the Voyages reminds me that this episode may have looked different through the lens of the Vietnam War, which was in full swing when the episode was produced. Metaphorically, getting called up for disintegration is like getting called for the draft. Resisting the draft, the tale went, would undermine national security. Meanwhile, the hot war was being fought in Southeast Asia (like this episode’s war inside the computer) to avoid destruction of the home civilizations in the USA and USSR. “A Taste of Armageddon” was an outlet for the writers and producers to protest this atrocity. I get it. To me, however, the episode is too carelessly made to hold up today.

2.5 out of 5 sonic disrupter rays.

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

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10 responses to “1.23 — “A Taste of Armageddon””

  1. Randi Cohen Avatar
    Randi Cohen

    Well, I liked it.  Firstly, loved how Scotty handled McCoy: “Well, what would you have me do?”.  And I loved how he figured out that this was not the Captain’s voice.  And loved the yeoman, not just for being Asian but for being a competent woman valuable as a crewman and not because she is sexy.  She didn’t say anything but in some way that was part of the charm because it makes her presence appear so normal.

    I also think that blonde lady who kept trying to kill herself is smokin’ hot.  Agree the others look like Smurfs, and maybe the rest of the outfits were cannibalized from the “What are Little Girls Made Of” set?

    I think the cultural aspects are somewhat believable – I don’t think advanced technology necessarily means advanced interpersonal skills.  I think if the culture had been made to seem more alien then it would have been more believable that culturally for this race the stand-off kind of made sense.  

    I think the point of “make the situation hurt more and a people will try harder to escape it” was kind of interesting, and I can certainly see its relevance to Vietnam, in which the loss of American lives was so removed from America that we as a people lost contact with the humanity of the young men we sent over there.

    The fight scenes were kind of ridiculous, with Spock just sort of walking up and taking over.  But I found it kind of campy and amusing rather than annoying, and perhaps it’s meant to show the sheep-like mentality of the aliens.

    Overall I guess I enjoyed that the episode felt rather light-hearted, despite the whole “culture-endorsed suicide” theme.  Oh, and I liked that the diplomat guy did not stay a complete ass, because we have already seen that archetype on the show, and it was getting old.  I thought that actor did a nice job.

    Sometimes it’s just nice to see the good guys win.

    Overall I rate this ep 4 out of 5 phaser-blasted disintegration chambers.

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  2. Randi Cohen Avatar
    Randi Cohen

    PS – I also think that the theme of technology removing the reality of warfare and how awful it is is entirely relevant today.  

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  3. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    That’s a good point about technology and warfare. I just wanted it to be executed better. Maybe I watched it in the wrong frame of mind? The Viewscreen folks liked it: http://www.theviewscreen.com/a-taste-of-armageddon/

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  4. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    I was also a bit disturbed by General Order 24 (destroy the planet using the ship’s weapons). I kept waiting for them to reveal that this was a bluff, a la “The Corbomite Maneuver,” but they never seemed to commit about whether the ship was prepared to follow through on the threat (or capable of it).

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  5. Randi Cohen Avatar
    Randi Cohen

    Oh yeah, good point about general order 24!  It just seemed so obvious this was a bluff that I did not even notice they never fully acknowledged it was.  Maybe fleshing this out would be a better use of screen time than that convo between Kirk & the council leader.

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  6. R. Alex Reutter Avatar
    R. Alex Reutter

    Our mission is clear: establish diplomatic relations at all costs, even the cost of diplomatic relations by ignoring their requests that we don’t come into orbit!  WORST.  DIPLOMAT.  EVER.

    “Spock, what are you doing?”

    “Practicing a peculiar variety of diplomacy, sir.”

    Interesting premise here; we also thought that it was relevant today because of the current video gamification of warfare.  Kirk gets to be bold and decisive, Spock gets to do Spock things, Scottie gets to run the ship and trade lines with McCoy and the diplomat, and the diplomat gets to be a nuisance and then redeem himself (and the profession of diplomacy) at the end.

    I like the fact that, despite the wah-wah music, the blonde alien who keeps trying to kill herself never falls for Kirk; for that matter, that Kirk doesn’t try to kiss her into wanting to live.

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  7. Randi Cohen Avatar
    Randi Cohen

    OMG!  Now that you mention it, I can just see that scene in my mind!  (Kirk kissing Mea 3 into rebellion).  I am now going to try to forget that I saw it…

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  8. R. Alex Reutter Avatar
    R. Alex Reutter

    Initially I wanted to scream “Prime Directive” when Kirk started mucking about, but Sarah talked me down by pointing out that it applies to pre-warp civilizations, and the Enterprise was here openly on a diplomatic mission, so presumably all bets were off?

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  9. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    This might be a case where they should have consulted the secondary or tertiary directive that says “Whoa there, Captain Smashy-pants!”

    I guess this criticism only applies to the initial efforts at contact, since according to the terms of the story the crew were later prisoners with the Enterprise under threat. But why didn’t they reach out to the other advanced civilization, Vendikar? This is where the premise of “we’ve been at war for 500 years and yet have adamantly refused to communicate with anyone for centuries, including our adversary with whom we nevertheless have several complicated agreements requiring close monitoring to ensure compliance” starts to look threadbare.

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  10. Michael Hanscom Avatar
    Michael Hanscom

    At first I was curious how Eminar 7 would know the Federation’s “Code 710” to warn the Enterprise away, but I suppose they could have picked that up from the Valiant fifty years prior.

    Ambassador Fox is a jerk. I guess I know what the Fox says now, and I don’t like it. Maybe he’s just mad about that collar.

    I actually really like the premise of this one, and in some ways, it seems even more relevant today, with the popularity of various online MMO games. We already have the capability to do just what the war computers in the episode do, we just don’t actually apply it to real-world warfare (yet?). It’s really not terribly hard to see how a situation like this could develop over enough time, with the right combination of cultural hatred and revulsion of the destruction of actual war.

    Spock is still saying “Vulcanians”.

    I love the colors; all the washes of various color lights across the walls. Apparently much of this was because Star Trek was a flagship show for the then-recent color broadcasting capabilities. Lots of great lighting.

    A rare instance of Spock presenting an out-and-out, baldfaced lie! I wonder what justification he might give for that.

    They captured two complete outfits of male clothing. So…did they find a closet or storehouse somewhere? Or are there two naked Eminarians wandering around somewhere?

    Ambassador Fox reminds me a lot of virtually every character [William Atherton][1] ever played.

    [1]: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0040472/?ref_=nv_sr_1

    I got a laugh out of Yeoman Tamora’s “tough” look after Spock leaves her to guard Mae. She’s just so cute, it’s hard to see her as fierce.

    Did Fox’s lackey ever get named? And do those disruptors have a stun setting? I’m not sure if they left his corpse in the hall with little reaction to his death, or if they just left his stunned form slumped in the corner.

    I get a weird kick out of when shows of this era set their sets and props on fire. Many of today’s shows use CGI fire, and it never looks quite right.

    “We can admit that we’re killers, but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes.” I’ve always liked that.

    Yup — I like this one. For a then far-fetched scenario, it really doesn’t seem all that far fetched, and Kirk’s solution (though perhaps wildly contrary to the Prime Directive) works quite well.

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