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DVD Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 20, Episodes 39 & 40: Mirror Mirror/ The Deadly Years
"Mirror, Mirror" When their mission to secure a mineral trade ends in failure, a freak ion storm catches Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, and Scotty in mid-beam-up and sends them to a parallel dimension where Federation leaders are as ruthless as the Klingons, and Star Fleet promotions are attained by assassination. They find themselves on an alternate Enterprise, peopled with evil counterparts to the people they know (all attired in glittery, glam-rock uniforms), including most famously an evil, goateed Spock whom Kirk must convince to overthrow the empire. Kirk and his landing party try to fit in with this crew of villains who are threatening with annihilation the planet where the mineral trade went sour, while searching for a way back to their world and fending off assassination attempts. Mirror, Mirror achieves the best of what Star Trek is capable, which is to say space opera brought to a high pitch by melodrama. Everyone appears to be having great fun turning their characters to the dark side, especially George Takai, whose evil Sulu beams when making his assassination attempt against Captain Kirk, and Leonard Nimoy, who makes Spock's shift from the meditative logician to the ruthless goateed one seem, well, quite logical. This episode in particular fueled popular culture in such a way that in some circles it is now impossible to sport a goatee without being called "the evil Spock." The story of the evil Spock is continued in the Deep Space Nine episode Crossover. --Jim Gay
"The Deadly Years" While on the planet Gamma Hydra IV, Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty are infected with an unknown disease that causes premature aging. The only member of the party unaffected is Chekov (Walter Koenig), who becomes McCoy's guinea pig while searching for a cure back on the Enterprise.
A nifty idea with some poignant overtones, the story by David P. Harmon startles a viewer with the sight of these familiar folks rapidly graying, wrinkling, weakening, and suffering memory loss. At the same time, Harmon is careful to age each character as a unique individual. Kirk slows down more than the longer-lived Spock, while McCoy remains mentally keen, if physically brittle. As for poor Scotty, well...
The dramatic subtext in "The Deadly Years" concerns the perennial conflict over when and how to decide that someone has become too old to execute crucial responsibilities. In that sense, this episode feels constantly relevant and uniquely entertaining: let's just say some of these actors play "old" a little better than others. (Director Joseph Pevney has reported that there was a lot of conflict over who was stealing old-guy moves from whom.) With all this going on, one might not notice that guest star Charles Drake is a truly familiar face, having been cast in The Maltese Falcon and Now, Voyager. --Tom Keogh
Review(s): DVD Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 20, Episodes 39 & 40: Mirror Mirror/ The Deadly Years
Beatniks & Geezers
Ah, the fun I have watching classic Star Trek! I just love the over-the-top acting of our stalwarts, the even-more-over-the-top acting of the guest star(s) who play the bad guy(s), the primitive effects, and those seemingly-impossible-to-get-out-of predicaments our heroes seem to get themselves into show after show. In short, great entertainment for the cheese-hungry!
This particular presentation showcases the landmark alternate-universe eppie 'Mirror, Mirror', where Jimmers & Co. get transported onto an alternate-universe Enterprise in a galaxy where the Federation has now become a ruthless interstellar empire! Not only do we get to see Spock looking truly satanic with his mod goatee, the mirror Mr. Sulu's sporting a pretty nasty if somewhat hokey-looking facial scar (oh my)! As usual, Kirk bags the babe, and with the help of beatnik-Spock they manage to transport themselves back to their own dimension! Strangely enough, red-shirt casualties here were pretty much nil...
Oh yes, then there's 'The Deadly Years', where we see our gallant crew age before our very eyes! Fortunately, a remedy for the problem is found, courtesy of Dr. McCoy Mr. Chekov. Wow, I guess Chekov really WAS useful for something, hmm? Anyhoo, the aging-fx makeup shown here is relatively primitive compared to NextGen's more advanced approach; check out the 'de-aging' Admiral Jameson from TNG's 'Too Short A Season' & you'll see what I mean. Still, their simulated aging in this eppie looked a helluva lot better than the real-life aging they had to endure over the next 35+ years! Whenever I watch this particular show, I think about that fact, and I have to stifle a chuckle or two. Especially in front of my more- ardent UberTrekkie buddies who get on my case every time I convey even a hint of irreverence towards Star Trek! Ah, the hell with 'em-- I'll chuckle all I want! How do ya like THEM apples, huh?!
'Late!
ONE MASTERPIECE AND ONE STANDARD TREK!!!
Volume 20 of the Star Trek DVD collection contains two fairly decent episodes from the second season. One being excellent the other being mediorce but this is classic Star Trek mind you so this is still great.
The first episode here is the excellent MIRROR MIRROR. This is one of the best Star Trek episodes from the second season and not just because it's the only episode we find Leonard Nimoy sporting a goatee. The reason why is because we get to see a completely different Enterprise crew in another dimension. Instead of being kind, peaceful and friendly the crew is ruthless, cruel, and violent! After an ion storm Kirk, Scotty, McCoy and Uhura are thrown into a parallel dimension where the Enterprise crew is completely opposite. Meanwhile in the other dimension our Enterprise crew is dealing with a evil Kirk and crew. Acting as his ruthless alter ego Kirk tries to return to his own dimension but a suspicious evil-Spock realizes that Kirk is not his actual commander. This episode is very good and has had spin off after spin off in other Star Trek series. A truly memorable episode.
However I'm afraid we sometimes have to take the good with the mediocre (which is better than bad) and that my friends is what THE DEADLY YEARS is. It's a mediocre episode of Star Trek that has a decent story but lacks the energy of more memorable episodes. Somehow the Enterprise crew catches some bizarre virus that causes people to age very rapidly until they die of natural causes. This is a great concept for a story but unfortunetly it didn't necessarily work out successfully. Not that this is a bad episode it's decent but it could have been way better. ...P>Overall a decent collection. One wonderful episode and one standard Star Trek show. This one is worth a look without a doubt. Highly recommended for MIRROR MIRROR.
VERY VERY GOOD
Ive always loved "Mirror Mirror" The crew gets in an ion storm thats sends them to an opposite galaxy where thier mirror images are evil and desperate. The good kirk must convince the opposite spock that there is no logic in remaining evil. For some reason the last line before there return to home sticks in my mind. Kirk says to the mirror Spock " in every revolution there is one man with a vision". I recommened all these discs really. Star trek was ahead of its time.
Related DVD's Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 20, Episodes 39 & 40: Mirror Mirror/ The Deadly Years
These two episodes are great summaries of the original series. "The Changeling" is an inexpensive ship-bound script, with a standard defeating-computers-through-logic riff. It still stands better in its own way than the first motion picture, which used the same theme. Ironically, it stands as an example of what happens when one lets personal criteria determine whether or not an encountered culture should survive -- something Star Fleet's Prime Directive is supposed to prevent, and which is no more clearly violated than in the other episode, "The Apple," where Kirk decides that having a computer make you contented nature children is somehow "unnatural" and therefore has to be ended. This episode is noteworthy both for the number of "red shirts" killed (they have to beam down in two groups... More Info about this DVD Director(s): James Goldstone - Murray Golden - James Komack - Don McDougall - Robert Butler DVD Release Date: Released the 13 February 2001 Usually ships within 24 hours
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"Who Mourns for Adonais?" A nifty idea: the Greek god Apollo turns out to be quite real, a powerful extraterrestrial (Michael Forest) waiting some 5,000 years for the human race to develop enough to meet him out in the cosmos. Catching sight of the Enterprise, he immobilizes the ship and demands that the members of a landing party--Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Chief Engineer Scott (James Doohan), Chekov (Walter Koenig), and antiquities specialist Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas (Leslie Parrish)--bow before him and prepare to spend the rest of their lives being cherished through his insistent love. A doubting Kirk recruits his people to secretly find the mechanical source of Apollo's power to throw lightning bolts, become a giant, and punish his... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Star Trek Original Series - William Shatner DVD Release Date: Released the 24 October 2000 Usually ships within 24 hours
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"The Doomsday Machine" Writer Norman Spinrad had in mind a futuristic Moby Dick when he conjured up this story, though things didn't quite work out that way. The original idea was that the Enterprise would encounter an obsessive, Ahab-like captain whose Starfleet crew had been destroyed by a planet-killing robot ship, and who sought revenge by taking command of James T. Kirk's vessel for a private hunt. Alas, the tough-as-nails actor Robert Ryan proved unavailable for the guest spot, and Trek producers cast the more visibly vulnerable William Windom instead, softening the script accordingly. "The Doomsday Machine," as a result, falls short of its potential. The story still concerns the destruction of life aboard the starship Constellation and Kirk's... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Star Trek Original Series - William Shatner DVD Release Date: Released the 24 October 2000 Usually ships within 24 hours
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"I, Mudd" Lovable scoundrel Harry Mudd (Roger C. Carmel) returns following his debut appearance in the first-season episode "Mudd's Women," this time as the leader of a race of helpful (and leggy) androids. Mudd tries to take control of the Enterprise, but soon finds that the androids have plans of their own. This is one of Trek's few purely comic episodes, and it hits a nice level of whimsy as Kirk and the crew fight android efficiency with good old human illogic. "I, Mudd" also sets a benchmark achievement for the Star Trek design crew: It called not just for beautiful women in revealing costumes, but for beautiful twins in revealing costumes. Truly a tough one to top, cheesily foreshadowing the "Fembots" of Austin Powers infamy. --Ali Davis
"Bread and Circuses" Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), and First Officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy) discover that Captain Merik (William Smithers), commander of the long-missing Starfleet vessel S.S. Beagle, has become "First Citizen of the Empire" in a re-creation of ancient Rome on an obscure, unnamed planet. Under orders from the Emperor, Merik forced his own crew to die in gladiator battles and lured other Starfleet personnel to the same fate. Now with Kirk, McCoy, and Spock in hand, the Emperor's barbaric (and televised all over the planet) amusements carry on another day. While the script takes a swipe or two at the sometimes less-than-elevated tastes of global audiences, the episode's most interesting idea is the existence of a... More Info about this DVD Director(s): James Goldstone - Murray Golden - James Komack - Don McDougall - Robert Butler DVD Release Date: Released the 24 April 2001 Usually ships within 24 hours
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