Originally Posted by Fake Shemp (Post 1019392)

unfortunately I can't see those. they aren't showing up except as still images.

Originally Posted by Fake Shemp (Post 1019394)

Speaking of out of context, those actors are so stuck with their star trek roles that they look hilarious.

Originally Posted by Fake Shemp (Post 1019396)

drinking.

Originally Posted by Fake Shemp (Post 1019388)

Sooo....they've been running the old Star Trek cartoon from the 70's on Sundays, which I watch when I remember it's there. It's enjoyable enough in a He-Man way, and probably one of the stranger cartoons I've ever seen as the content seems odd for children. None stranger than the last one aired; "The Magicks of Megas-tu", wherein the Devil himself appears on the ship and is defended by Kirk in a witch hunt style trial (prosecuted by Asmodeous dressed up like a Puritan). WTF-ery abounds. Witness Spock drawing a pentagram, and trippy sequences somehow augmented by the cheapness of the animation. Weirdly sympathetic to the devil, yet it was originally supposed to feature God Himself (the network shot the idea down; the replacement of Lucifer does not serve to clarify matters.)

Not fair to put this on this forum as it's not really horror-related per-se, Satan being a fun-loving fellow and not threatening in the cartoon... but I was so baffled by the whole thing (actually I was rolling on the floor laughing in an astonished way) that I had to say something about it.

However this is not the first time horror appeared out of context on Star Trek; Robert Bloch wrote three episodes, typical of him but not of Star Trek, the most Bloch-ish being "Wolf In The Fold" and "Catspaw". One wonders how these things come about.

I had thought the famous "evil Kirk" episode "The Enemy Within" was written by Bloch, but that was another horror-oriented writer: Richard Matheson.

A lot of people love Star Trek and will defend it's quality to the death; I find it entertaining but rarely as deep as some think it is. I love Matheson and like Bloch and wonder about the strange mishmash stories they wrote for a show sort of outside their sphere-- although not entirely, to be fair. Just think it's odd.

Originally Posted by Sculpt (Post 1019418)

Interesting Devil episode you've described. Sounds a bit like Devil's Due (a really good Next Ep). Of course Roddenberry was a Humanist and fairly virulent anti-christian, some eps ring that up, some don't.

Originally Posted by Fake Shemp (Post 1019451)

I've often wondered what Roddenberry's views are.... Bread and Circuses is rather strange as it doesn't seem to put Christianity in a bad light, it's just weird that it's there at all; maybe I'm projecting my own views on it... the one about Apollo is pretty obviously a criticism though, as are some of the others.

The breakdown of good and evil in Star Trek is pretty black and white. There are many interesting and even relatively challenging ideas put forth, just in a clumsy manner. I've seen some of Next Gen and they seem to play with those ideas a little more, but still in a surprisingly simplistic way. The Enemy Within is typical of Matheson as far as some kind of "lone man with internal struggle" goes, it just doesn't translate well, but as with most old Star Trek, if you don't think about it too hard, it's almost compelling. I sort of like the image of a guy physically holding up and supporting his "evil" side-- very strange.

And I like the image of the guy from The Thing you have there :)

Originally Posted by nontonfilmonline (Post 1019746)

Interesting Devil episode you've described. Sounds a bit like Devil's Due (a really good Next Ep). Of course Roddenberry was a Humanist and fairly virulent anti-christian, some eps ring that up, some don't.

Originally Posted by Fake Shemp (Post 1019450)

No, there is a devil episode, that's what I've been on about. I did also mention Devil's Rain.

Originally Posted by Fake Shemp (Post 1019813)

You should have been more careful when you visited Dr. Korby's planet...or did you recently try to beam up during an electric storm?