WHY WE LIKE IT: Klingon karaoke.
WHY WE DON'T: So silly, Graham Chapman was likely to walk in to stop the sketch.
REVIEW: The previous season's cycle of horror and humor episodes remains unbroken as the writers continue to wish they were doing Doctor Who, though the horror tends more towards Torchwood, and the humor more towards Lower Decks. At least it's in service to the characters. Though the title really refers to the Spock-Kirk dynamic, that's just a small subplot here, and the crux of the episode is resolving the rivalry between Ortegas and Scotty, involving them in a Hangover plot, although it may perhaps turn out to be The Game ("This isn't a scavenger hunt" until it kind of becomes one), except it's never explicit enough that comedy legend Dave Foley's character is engineering this "journey" to the extreme I want him to.
A sort of benign take on The Naked Time, the planet that makes you drunk (or high, everyone has the munchies so don't try to tickle my leg and tell me it's the transporter) is meant to be revealing of the characters, and in some cases it is. Una paying tribute to Bonny Tyler by singing Total Eclipse of the Heart in the original Klingon, while odd in the context of Federation-Klingon relations in this era, is a highlight. M'Benga tending bar (though they have to give "It's green" a rest). Chapel playing bingo (I suppose a reversal of what you'd think she'd be about). Uhura at an obvious stoner party talking about people's journeys is fun, too. I'm less impressed with Pike wanting a face tattoo, and La'an completely off her nut attacking people, taking over a criminal gang, etc. It's really like the effects of the planet's atmosphere aren't really euphoric, but rather make you stupid, like the gas in The Cloudminders. Yes, it's part of inebriation, and perhaps we were warned by all the fine print running on the screen, but you'll still wonder how such a planet can function, as a vacation spot or otherwise. The one tribble we see should mean the planet is overrun since no one can take care of such a pet in this environment. Fun use of the Animated Series art style in their ad, though!
The effect on Spock is particularly weird. He's the only character who has hallucinations (although Uhura's vision is definitely impaired), seeing people as potted plants and, more crucially, imagining Kirk is there. And Kirk is, it's just he can't believe his lying eyes, and Kirk is just as a "drunk", so he's very huggy and doesn't correct the Vulcan until they're off the planet. Spock is then a bit miffed that he told him so many personal things, including an "emotional" rumination on their relationship. Secrets Kirk will take to the grave. This is meant to be where they really become best friends and, well, I wish they'd done more with it. As is, we're TOLD more than we're SHOWN, and it's such an important pitstop on the road to TOS that it should have been more front and center. Except they've just had an adventure together in the previous episode, so it would have been over-egging the pudding, but no one's acting like themselves in that one either. You see the problem.
Thankfully, the OTHER friendship in the episode is a lot of fun to watch develop. They quickly set up the conflict between the pilot and the engineer in the first episode of the season, and here bring it to a boil. It's obvious that they've been thrown together to end the war (perhaps a mirror of the diplomatic mission that serves as C-plot) for a reason, and by the end, they ARE friends, and crucially, we see Ortegas go down to engineering to see just what her "fancy flying" is doing to the ship. Because Ortegas is so angry, it nullifies the atmosphere's effects, except that doesn't really track - she was drunk before and awakens from a blackout this way. I rather think her "journey" involved giving her a cure along with the amnesia. (This is what I mean when I want Dave Foley to be more overtly involved. Similarly, I wish a lot of the other characters also were - after all, Uhura explicitly uses the word "journey" - which might explain SOME of the shenanigans, like La'an's.) Except no, there's some accidental dragon bomb sniffing, not be confused with the bomb the duo find in the missing shuttle, which creates such a fireworks display the delegates take it to be an ancient peace ritual just as the drunken crew fail at negotiations. A lot of silly coincidences that almost work if Foley is messing about, calling the delegates early, etc. essentially forcing everyone to relax and learn to take it easy, not just on the vacation, but afterwards. Instead, we're told it's all one accident after another, and the bomber was caught off-screen, haha. He was probably as dumb as that "gang of thieves" thanks to the atmosphere.
Speaking of accidents, they had a very good opportunity to take Scotty's finger here and missed it. He and Ortegas risk the ultimate sacrifice by piloting the shuttle away from Enterprise while Scotty himself held the bomb's trigger finger in his hands. Transported out at the last zetosecond, it still rips Scotty's thumb off, but the dangling digit will be fixed by Dr. M'Benga. Now, I know James Doohan hid his missing finger on the show, and the production often put someone else's hands on the transporter controls, as well, but why not acknowledge that the engineer DID have a missing finger, and cut it off here instead of the thumb. Like a lot of things in the episode, it's a little undercooked.
LESSON: A cast is a good place to hide something from yourself.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: Some good bits, and we learn a lot more about Ortegas and young Scotty, but SNW really needs some "normal" episodes to make these changes of pace work.
Comments
Most of the alleged humor seemed obvious and predictable, and the effort to be wacky showed through to the detriment of my enjoyment, anyway. Opinions clearly differ, but I thought this was the worst episode of SNW, and one of the worst Trek "funny" episodes.
I keep reading mostly positive reviews of this episode, but it just didn't work for me. As you indicate, some of the interactions could make sense if Foley -- or, really, any one of the KitH -- was behind the whole thing. Without that, though, the internal logic of the resort doesn't make sense. Not everyone seems inebriated, so do some people have resistance? Does that include most of the other civilians we saw? How does this place function and why would anyone risk going there? (Granted, I'm perpetually sober, so a lot of the appeal would be lost on me even if things were as advertised.)
Most of the alleged humor seemed obvious and predictable, and the effort to be wacky showed through to the detriment of my enjoyment, anyway. Opinions clearly differ, but I thought this was the worst episode of SNW, and one of the worst Trek "funny" episodes.