1.15 — “The Eye of the Beholder”

1.15 — “The Eye of the Beholder”

Plot: Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to a planet in search of survivors from a six-member science research vessel. There, they encounter a wide range of creatures and environments, before finding themselves locked in a zoo for the amusement of the planet’s native slug-like inhabitants, the Lactrans.

Thoughts: Solid episode. We have a strong dramatic setup, classic sparring between Spock and McCoy, and Kirk’s heroic resolve to charge into rescue before receiving full data from the sensor scans. Since 6 weeks have already passed, I might have waited for the scans, especially in light of the risk of harm to additional crew members. Since Kirk leads the rescue party himself, however, at least you can’t accuse him of forcing others to take risks that he wouldn’t take himself. Although I’m on McCoy’s side about waiting, that doesn’t mean that Kirk isn’t right–I may just not have the stuff to be Captain.

This may not be the best episode of TAS, but I think we have a contender for best line of the series. McCoy: “It isn’t every day a dinosaur falls on you.”

As Spock was commenting on the abrupt transition between environments on the planet (going from desert and rainforest), I could hear him saying “Captain, we appear to be on a gameboard for Settlers of Cataan.” There seem to be a number of episodes where the crew finds itself on a manufactured world (“Once Upon a Planet,” “The Magicks of Megas-Tu”)–I wonder if this is inspired by the animated format of the series itself.

I think “The Eye of the Beholder” makes a good point that our ability to communicate easily with other intelligent life, on other planets or even on Earth, should not be taken for granted. Lack of comprehension is probably far more likely than not, even with advanced translation technology. Our very definition of intelligence (socially created) hinges on ability to communicate in the mode in which we are used to communicating.

My TAS DVD set is thin on extras, but Trek gurus Mike and Denise Okuda selected this episode to provide a text commentary. They evidently think this is a strong example of an “ordinary” TAS episode (most people, if they focus on TAS at all, focus on the tribble or Harry Mudd episodes), that could have worked on TOS, but as presented showcases the strengths of TAS by presenting a variety of exotic alien creatures and expansive alien environments. They say that this episode presents a variation on a classic Trek theme: overturning preconceived notions by showing that things aren’t always as you expect. To that I would add the Lactrans’ assertion that humans are in the process of evolving, however slowly, into a higher order. Optimism!

3 out of 5 baby Lactrans. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eye_of_the_Beholder_(Star_Trek:_The_Animated_Series)