151: Star Trek TOS Season 1, “Dagger of the Mind"

[@mark_loveless]

Plot of Miri: Spock hits his head while shaving, and this causes a minor problem in his brain where he can't say "mirror" but instead says "miri". Hijinks ensue as several of the crew try to come up with clever ways in conversation to get Spock to say miri.

[@aj_chan]

Miri - a giant cloud approaches a Federation deep space outpost, causing problems. The Enterprise arrives and Spock does a spacewalk/mind meld which reveals that the cloud is actually the former Soviet space station, Mir, which evolved for two centuries and now calling itself Miri.

[@AnnoyingCritic-is7rp]

"this is the same type of great-concept-but-surface-deep sci fi writing that gets episodes from other treks (mostly VOY/ENT) a good mud-dragging" --JTiberius, Jammer's review How are the mentally ill treated in the future? If we lose our memories do we lose who we are? It's an intriguing premise that's mostly ignored in favor of action and suspense. Some of it works, as you all mention, and some of it not so much. But if you want to see all the negative things about this episode alone, just watch Lord Garth in Whom Gods Destroy.

[@Wayouts123]

Had a philosophy professor that added the Transporter to his “Ship of Theseus v Cutty Sark” argument. Thanks for the memory

[@stile8686]

A possible source of the original scripts is to read the "novelizations" of the episodes by British author James Blish. He was commissioned and wrote these based on the scripts he was sent long before Star Trek was broadcast in his country and before he ever had the chance to see the show for himself, and there are interesting differences between them, while also being a good read in themselves. For example I quite enjoyed his version of "Spock's Brain" which I read long before seeing the episode, and it works because Spock never leaves the Enterprise. They were originally printed in 12 paperbacks and have been collected in "Star Trek: The Classic Episodes".

[@Kindredsgirl]

What I hated was that the stated moral of the story was that a person could die of loneliness.... What? No! I yelled at the screen at this ending. It was bad enough that the evil doctor died at the end instead of having to experience the consequences of his vile actions! At least there could have been a good message for us viewers. Maybe the point could have been that people should never take away other people's humanity.... other acceptable takeaways: question authority, trust your instincts, don't let hero worship blind you to what's really going on, silence and compliance are not contentment. Also, don't test unknown equipment on yourself. DO BETTER, TOS

[@HappyFlappyFarm]

I guess Star Trek writers love mythological references. The planet is Tantalus 5, Tantalus is a Greek mythological figure who was punished by the gods by being unable to soothe his hunger or thirst as water and fruit stay just out of his reach. Lethe is the female inmate turned doctor ‘success story’- in Greek mythology it is a river in the underworld that, if consumed, would cause a person to forget everything.

[@Dan-Simms]

Couldn't agree more with Matt on how the psychiatrist should have been the one pointing out how messed up the situation was. I don't think she is a very good Dr. but hey yeah cool action scenes with her at least, what a backward episode.

[@HappyFlappyFarm]

I agree, I was disappointed with the female Doctor character in that she ‘fan girl’ed Dr Adams and didn’t catch on to the potential problems with the Neural Neutralizer. I am a Psychology major and only a bachelor’s degree but I would have been skeptical.

[@samhigdon979]

Great episode. What are your thoughts on the 50 min runtime in toTOS episodes compared to like ent, TNG and DS9, and Voy's 45-minute runtimes? Which one does u like better? Personally, I like the 45-minute run time because I sometimes find with the 50-minute run time that there is a lot if drag with a few exemptions.

[@stevecphotos]

Miri - Sadly, the last appearance of Janice Rand in TOS, I believe. Glad that she did appear in the movies, even though they were very small roles. -Matt: The only thing from Trek that makes "Star Trek V" seem watchable are large groups of children as guest stars in any episode. #migraine

[@OldTrekkie23]

I'm sorry, as you were describing what a Hammer film is, all I could hear was "Rocky Horror Picture Show"

[@Dan-Simms]

So weird when some comments seem to be deleted for no reason, like I've had a comment about overclocking RAM, a 1 sentence fact about lower numbers = better for RAM speed timings deleted before.