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My, my, my, my Mitchell
D. and I added Star Trek: TOS to our Monday night TV lineup and kicked it off with Where No Man Has Gone Before. That's the one where Kirk's friend Gary Mitchell goes all Absolute Power on their asses and Kirk has to take him down like Travis did Old Yeller, though with more ripped shirts and rolling in the dirt. It's a classic.
What this episode is really about, though, is Spock replacing Mitchell as Kirk's companion. The first thing we see is Kirk and Spock playing 3-D chess together and bantering. Spock is almost smiling. Later, when Mitchell joins them in the turbolift,they all have sex there is visible tension between Spock and Mitchell.
After Mitchell gets zapped by the Apotheosis Field, it's Spock who is suspicious and monitors his actitivies. And easily convinces Kirk to put a 24 hour guard on Mitchell. Kirk never seems to question Spock's judgement. He does suggest that Spock is rather unfeeling, but Spock replies that that makes his observations untainted. Kirk doesn't really disagree.
In fact, I was surprised by how easily Kirk let go of his friend. I would have expected him to resist a little, to believe that Mitchell could fight the changes and retain a good heart. But he not only lets Mitchell go, he kills him himself and ends the episode beside Spock, sharing a special moment.
It's all true, boys and girls, it's all true.
Also, Spock had a really cool ray gun.
What this episode is really about, though, is Spock replacing Mitchell as Kirk's companion. The first thing we see is Kirk and Spock playing 3-D chess together and bantering. Spock is almost smiling. Later, when Mitchell joins them in the turbolift,
After Mitchell gets zapped by the Apotheosis Field, it's Spock who is suspicious and monitors his actitivies. And easily convinces Kirk to put a 24 hour guard on Mitchell. Kirk never seems to question Spock's judgement. He does suggest that Spock is rather unfeeling, but Spock replies that that makes his observations untainted. Kirk doesn't really disagree.
In fact, I was surprised by how easily Kirk let go of his friend. I would have expected him to resist a little, to believe that Mitchell could fight the changes and retain a good heart. But he not only lets Mitchell go, he kills him himself and ends the episode beside Spock, sharing a special moment.
It's all true, boys and girls, it's all true.
Also, Spock had a really cool ray gun.
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Whenever I get "slashed-out," an episode of TOS will recharge me. (Kirk and Spock, so slashy that slash had to be invented to slash them. Will there ever be buddy shows again like the ones from those more-subtextually-innocent times?) But even without slash googles, I adore Classic. Easily my fav of all the Treks.
In fact, I was surprised by how easily Kirk let go of his friend. I would have expected him to resist a little, to believe that Mitchell could fight the changes and retain a good heart. But he not only lets Mitchell go, he kills him himself and ends the episode beside Spock, sharing a special moment.
I know Shatner is a hammy actor, but he's always arresting and interesting--and I think that fed well into Kirk. He's definitely ruthless and does absurd things while persuading those around him that it's all a great idea. And, y'know, it always is. Ultimately, he seems to be very able to have a cold military mind (or maybe a uber-alpha male one) so one could say: he saw his buddy with clear eyes and knew that Mitchell was a goner.
Spock's really useful because he allows Kirk to use cold logic without having to seem like he's the source of it. And then there's also Kirk's... xenophilia, which I love and have really missed from the latest Trek shows. That sense of gee whiz, these people are weird and different and isn't that *cool.*
And, whoa, I am such a dork . Wow. >.
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I love this so very much. ♥
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Love! Can I sig that? So, so true!
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Ooh, good point.
I really do love this show. You're right about the xenophilia. And TOS seems so much warmer than any of the other Treks. Part of that is the colours, but there's also something about it that feels so much more inclusive to me. Like I'm a member of the team.
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And Kirk is all about the xenophilia. Hooking up with hot alien chicks is but 1 thread in the vast tapestry. Um. Yeah.
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He seems derisive (resentful?) of Kirk's intelligence, too, and I get the feeling that's not something that just began after his eyes started turning. The way he talks about their academy days, and the way he deliberately tried to sabotage Kirk's academic focus is telling, I think. Was he jealous of Kirk's talent and ambition, or of his attention? Both? In my little world, it's both, and somewhere in the past it was made clear to Gary that Kirk was not going to put their relationship above his life goals. Gary doesn't seem to have quite accepted that -- again, telling that he calls him "friend Captain." In that order. Except that saying it doesn't make it true for Kirk.
Forgive me, I natter on. All a long way of saying that I think Kirk and Gary's friendship was on the wane before things got hinky.
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And yeah, I think you see Spock beginning to replace Mitchell was Kirk's companion right off - because he's someone Kirk can relate to as the adult he is. He's Kirk's intellectual equal (at least) but content to let Kirk lead - but lead based entirely on info/advice given him by Spock (and McCoy). There's mutual respect there, which I always felt Mitchell didn't show to Kirk.
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And that's why we love the Big Three so much. Even when Spock and McCoy are sniping at each other, we can tell they respect each other.
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It's interesting that so many of us have this impression, given that Gary strongly implies in the episode that he was actually a student of Kirk's. ("Watch out for Lieutenant Kirk. In his class, you either think, or sink." "...well, you wanted me to think.") It's fanon that Gary's the older/dominant one of the pair, but it's fanon that rings true for a lot of people, including me. The dynamics between them and the subtleties of their attitudes toward each other carry so many unspoken levels, I think. And you are absolutely right about the respect between Kirk and Spock, which seems to be missing between Kirk and Gary. I love Gary's first line to Kirk, about how he knew Kirk wasn't on the bridge because Kelso sounded nervous. Such interesting shades of jealousy and derision in there. It sounds like a compliment, but it's a subtly backhanded one -- the unspoken implications can be read as a dig at the blind faith the crew places in Kirk, as well as their incompetence, that they don't function well without Kirk present to tell them what to do.
This is also one of those episodes where you really see what Shatner could actually do as an actor, when he had other strong actors to play against and a director who knew how to handle him. He and Gary Lockwood put so much into this one, we see a lot more on screen than is in the script.
Yay, Star Trek! *geeks out*
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And Gary is never at all sympathetic in this episode. I don't recall him expressing any concern about anyone else, or even about himself, in his situation.
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