Star Trek – The Original Series, Vol. 6, Episodes 12 & 13: Miri/ The Conscience of the King
Nov/095
Product Description
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 02/22/2000 Run time: 100 minutes Rating: NrAmazon.com
The continuing adventures of the starship Enterprise, as recorded for posterity on DVD, move into their sixth volume with a very interesting pair of shows from the original series. “Miri,” one of the most popular episodes, featured a couple of soon-to-be-semi-icons from two very different kinds of films from the late 1960s: Michael J. Pollard (who would appear in Bonnie and Clyde) and Kim Darby (John Wayne’s costar in True Grit). The intriguing story concerns a race of children on an Earth-like planet who are in fact 300 years old, kept pristine in the summer of their lives by a disease that also causes madness and death with the onset of adulthood. The Enterprise’s landing party, including Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), are instantly contaminated and forced to remain on the planet until McCoy can find an antidote. In the meantime, Darby’s character, Miri, falls for Kirk and becomes jealous of his attentions toward anyone else. Easily one of Star Trek’s strongest shows, “Miri” is a must-see for Trekkers and Trekkies.
Also on this disk is “The Conscience of the King,” a memorable drama about a traveling Shakespearean troupe led by one Anton Karidian (Arnold Moss), who may or may not be the same man as Kodos the Executioner, former governor of a Federation planet who oversaw the mass murder of thousands of people rather than watch them starve to death during a food shortage. (Shortly after the deaths, Federation supply ships arrived and Kodos disappeared, right around the time that Karidian arrived as a classical actor touring the planets.) A nice twist: among victims of Kodos’s wrongheaded mercy killings were relatives of Captain Kirk (William Shatner), adding a personal note to the mystery of Karidian/Kodos. Well-written (by Barry Trivers) and sensitively directed by a not-well-known but very interesting Hollywood filmmaker, Gerd Oswald.–Tom Keogh
Star Trek – The Original Series, Vol. 6, Episodes 12 & 13: Miri/ The Conscience of the King
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7:29 am on November 27th, 2009
These two episodes have their good points but suffer from poor execution.
In “Miri,” Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), McCoy (DeForest Kelley), and their landing party must cure a disease that prolongs the life of children but kills them when they reach puberty. There is some good atmosphere and early performances from Kim Darby and Michael J. Pollard, but disease-of-the-week episodes are always problematic. Every SF show seems to be compelled to do them (”Star Trek” did several), but they are never believeable. When was any disease ever discovered and then cured within the time span encompassed by an hour-long TV drama?
“The Conscience of the King” introduces an important piece of Kirk’s backstory: he was present when thousands of inhabitants of a Federation planet were executed by the governor (Robert Moss) so that thousands of others could survive a planet-wide famine. Now, he suspects that a Shakesperean actor touring the galaxy may be Kodos in disguise, particularly since the acting troupe’s movements coincide with the mysterious deaths of the last surviving witnesses. Scenes in which Kirk, Spock, and McCoy debate the true identity of Kodos and Kirk’s true motives show how well the character dynamics among these three have developed. The rest is pretty bad. Apparently, fine acting in the 23rd Century equates with bombastic emoting (perhaps the legacy of the great 20th Century thespian, William Shatner.)
Rating: 3 / 5
7:54 am on November 27th, 2009
As wretched as these two are, it’s worth owning Miri just to witness a 27 year-old Michael J.Pollard passing as a 14 year-old and hearing Shatner emote “NO BLAH-BLAH-BLAH!”
Rating: 2 / 5
8:15 am on November 27th, 2009
“Miri” is an episode in which the Enterprise encounters a planet which is an exact duplicate of the Earth. (It seems impossible, but there it is) The entire planet is plagued by a fatal disease which creates facial blemishes to all grown ups (or Grups–as they are called in this episode) The children are a product of a longetivity experiment…they are 300 yrs old! Kirk encounters a young girl named “Miri”…she falls in love with Kirk, but gets jealous when she sees Kirk & Rand embrace. Grace Lee Whitney (Rand) really pours it on with her feelings about Kirk.
“Conscience of the King”—Certain people in the galaxy who witnessed a massacre on Planet Q are mysteriously being killed! Who’s behind it? Suspicion falls on Anton Karidian…who is later discovered as Kodos the Executioner. Is he guilty? Watch & find out. Last appearances by Janice Rand & Kevin Riley.
Rating: 5 / 5
8:32 am on November 27th, 2009
REVIEWED ITEM: Star Trek® Original Series DVD Volume 6: Miri© / The Conscience of the King©
MIRI© PRELIMINARY BRIEFS:
Basic Moral, Ethical, and/or Philosophical Subject Driven Into The Ground: The Menace of Children Running Free Without Proper Adult Guidance / Foolhardy Efforts To Make Things Better That Result In Making Things Worse
Expendable Crewmember (`Red Shirt’) Confirmed Casualty List: None
REVIEW/COMMENTARY: If you were a bit too squeamish to check out Lord Of The Flies©, this little tale of unattended kids will likely be more your speed. The Enterprise discovers a surprisingly cloudless alternate Earth where all the adults have perished in a plague, forcing their children to fend for themselves. The events that follow are basically a kitbashing of The Naked Time©’s virus-that-needs-to-be-cured-toot-sweet plot device, the `Spock’s Non-Human Anatomy Explaining Why He’s Not Affected By The Disease’ gimmick, and half the series’ catalog of eppies where the gallant Enterprise™ crewmembers must race against the clock to avert certain doom. So much for originality, hmm?
Still, I do find a few of Miri©’s moments to be rather entertaining, especially the climactic scene where Kirk confronts the gang of rogue young’uns. The kids give Jimmers a pretty good roughing up here in one of classic Trek’s most disquieting moments (Sheesh– getting’ beat up by a buncha kids?! That had to have been a major blow to the good captain’s machismo…). This episode is also notable for adding a few words & phrases to the hardcore Trekkie/Trekker’s repertoire, including `foolie’ (a game), `grups’ (adults), `onlies’ (the planet’s survivors), and the somewhat annoying `Bonk-bonk on the head!’ Words &phrases that are quite useful when you’re playing a round of Fizzbin against Captain Dunsel, The Great Bird Of The Galaxy, and Herbert, by the way…
THE CONSCIENCE OF THE KING© PRELIMINARY BRIEFS:
Basic Moral, Ethical, and/or Philosophical Subject Driven Into The Ground: Justice versus Vengeance; Someone’s Past Misdeeds Returning to Haunt Him
Expendable Crewmember (`Red Shirt’) Confirmed Casualty List: 0 Dead, 1 Incapacitated (Poisoned, Recovered)
REVIEW/COMMENTARY: Long before Picard was plugging Shakespeare on NextGen, the original show decided to throw a bit o’ the bard into an episode, resulting in `The Conscience of the King’. Is the head actor-director of a traveling Shakespeare drama show actually a mass murderer attempting to escape his past? Kirk starts putting the puzzle together whilst trying to avoid getting’ himself killed in the process. He even manages to grab a little bit o’ romance from the accused’s daughter… Speakin’ of romance, one of the most innuendo-laden lines ever uttered on Star Trek® popped up in this particular episode: “all this power, surging and throbbing, yet under control”. Kinda makes ya wonder what the writer was thinkin’ `bout when he came up with that one, hmm?
Arnold Moss, the man playing Karidian and (maybe) Kodos, does the stereotypical over-acting Shakespearean thespian to a T, going so far as to keep playing the character somewhat even after the curtains close. Throw in a very disheartening ending gushing with poetic justice, and you’ve got yourself one of classic Trek’s most pitiful tragedies! Um, pitiful in a good way that is. Well, not in a `good’ good way, in a… umm… ahhh, forget it. Let’s jump to something important: make sure you’ve got the Mute button on standby when Uhura starts to sing to a lonely Kevin Riley down in engineering! I was rather amazed to see that his pained reaction to the tainted milk he drank reflected my own discomfort as the lovely communications officer belted out her off-kilter tune! But hey, at least her singin’ ain’t quite as bad as the vocal `talents’ of a couple of her commanding officers! I gotta give her that at least…
Rating: 4 / 5
11:25 am on November 27th, 2009
These are not two of the stronger eps from the first season but they are still worth viewing. The first ep, “Miri” is the stronger one with a very strong “Lord of the Flies” theme running through it addressing the premise: how would a bunch of kids react in a situation without adult supervision for a long period of time? A mysterious virus infects all adults with a dreaded terminal illness but Bones comes to the rescue with a vaccine. Very competent performances especially by the guest actors in what is overall a good episode.
In the second ep., we address the premise: which is more important; justice or mercy and forgiveness? Reminiscent of the Nazi War Crimes Tribunals of Nurenburg after WWII, a fugitive mass murderer is tracked down as a lead actor in a travelling acting troupe whose daughter becomes Kirk’s love interest. Kirk and crewman O’Reily actually have lost family members due to the deeds of this man and now have to struggle with feelings of revenge and justice versus mercy and forgiveness. Overall an average ep with passable acting but mostly forgettable.
Verdict: Save your money for some other volume as this is not really a keeper.
Rating: 3 / 5