Thursday, May 12, 2016

17 to 01: Wink of an Eye (for real)


We try to talk about the bad science in this episode so we can focus on the dumb culture and stupid ways of the roofie rave planet Scalos.

The sexual/power dynamics of this episode are front and center. They're the most substantive part of this conflict. "Wink of an Eye" wasn't made to discuss that, but nothing it was made to discuss is worth discussing. 

Is sex usually a medium to exert power? Are its commensurate emotional bonds the edge of a blade that most balance upon? Will Kirk ever have sex with a woman and become the womanizer he's portrayed as in popular fiction?

17 to 01 is available on iTunes. It updates Thursday mornings at 2:00 AM ET / 1:00 CT. We're also amazingly on Stitcher.

EDIT: The episode from two weeks ago has been updated. It's "The Tholian Web." I'm sincerely sorry for all of the confusion, but hey, at least you don't have to wait for the episodes to come out on VanVelding.com.

3 comments:

SkilTao said...

Shit happens, it's cool.

Good discussion of the femme fatale, power dynamics, and layers of subterfuge. I hope that kind of spy-vs-spy thing pops up again in DS9; I honestly can't remember if it does or not.

You say the original script included a cure for the Scalosians? I wonder if switching to casual genocide was just one of those things that happens, or if it was a deliberate indictment of the Scalosians' methods.

Kirk's reputation for womanizing is undeserved? Zap Brannigan, surprisingly true to life!

PS: Derek's "I countered your ambush because I expected it" spy-vs-spy remark, of course, reminds me of Rowan Atkinson's The Curse of Lethal Death.

VanVelding said...

Hey! As of this episode, I think Kirk is only on conquest number three. Lenore (Kodos' daughter), the slave from "Of Bread and Circuses", and Deela here. Most of his other romantic entanglements (except Spock) have been calculated honey pots. Even sleeping with Deela was him manipulating him to get out of her trap. He doesn't often sleep with women just to have a sexual conquest. I mean, he married Miramanee.

But I love, love, love The Curse of Lethal Death. I love how they made a fart joke into a set of logic that makes the whole story stick together with a logic a lot of Doctor Who episodes would be jealous of.

SkilTao said...

Kirk's doing better than Zap, then.

Hah! I forgot the thing was an extended fart joke!